Making Waves: connecting art, science and principles of ecomuseology

Abstract

How can geometric abstraction contribute to supporting the preservation of biodiversity and sustainable design?

Grids dominate the visible and invisible landscapes that design and plan our world. Fast algorithms are paired with meshes to collect and compute data. The thesis addresses what I consider to be the biggest hurdle for the future, integrating design and nature in ways that are sustainable. In proposing solutions, it explains the development and value of slow algorithms in the creation of instruction-based artworks to produce large-scale wall drawings that are immersive, participatory, site responsive and convey fundamental concepts about diversity. The thesis examines the synergy between two distinct areas of activity in my arts practice. One is a contemporary art practice that explores conceptual and intuitive processes of abstraction to make geometric, non-objective art. The other is a collaborative, applied arts practice, working with a variety of everyday people and specialists to develop exhibitions and educational tools connecting local history and the environment in using an eco-museum framework. The thesis focuses on my development of a method of geometric abstraction that combines insights from eco-museology, physics and intuition to create new artworks which act as visualisation tools to convey patterns in nature and beyond in response to the current imperative to preserve biological and cultural diversity. The resultant artworks serve as reflective spaces in which to observe and experience the generation of diversity via abstraction. The thesis identifies future applications of the process of organic geometry, including the generation of adaptive meshes for use in conservation management to help refine our interrelationships with the natural world. Various artworks, projects and exhibitions are documented throughout the thesis and in two appendices to illustrate concepts within the pages of the thesis:

The first Appendix, 'Whoosh #1', is a prototype instruction-based artwork used as a template for several series of wave drawings and future instruction-based artworks. As this Appendix is an original artwork, a redacted version is included here, access to the complete version of 'Whoosh #1' is conditional, see page 321 for further details.

A second Appendix, 'Making Waves: activities and outcomes' (2012-19), documents artworks completed during the research period, these including four series of wave drawings, three public artworks and several workshops and talks as well an ecomuseum art program. This Appendix is attached to the thesis, see page 334.