Simulation

This is a sloppy dump of a bunch of notes relating to simulation and art.

• “Simulacra and Simulation” by Jean Baudrillard
  • Human signs and symbols begin as representations of reality, but eventually transition (during the industrial revolution) into representations of nothing. “Simulacra” is a simulation of nothing; it hides the fact that there is no reality.
  • Distinction between reality and representation vanishes

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Map–territory_relation

Polish-American scientist and philosopher Alfred Korzybski remarked that “the map is not the territory” and that “the word is not the thing”, encapsulating his view that an abstraction derived from something, or a reaction to it, is not the thing itself. Korzybski held that many people do confuse maps with territories, that is, confuse conceptual models of reality with reality itself.

If the conceptual map is imbued with life via computation. If it is painted 60 times a second with light upon a screen. Then the map becomes a new reality.

“The menu is not the meal”

Is an emergent system on a computer a screen really a map? Or is it a natural system?

Is math discovered or invented?

A low-fidelity rendering of a simulation strips away the effects and illusion and emphasizes the reality of the emergent system itself. It is a wire frame visualization of an algorithm rather than an immersive experience.

Simulation in art Simulation hides reality Computation is fundamental Art that explores computation allows us to understand something about the universe Flatness Low fidelity rendering — there is nothing to hide Honesty of materials

Immersive 3D graphics seek to create a simulacrum. A simulation that not only copies reality, but replaces it entirely.

My work seeks neither to copy or replace reality, but simply to be real. The use of the algorithm has the primary object of artistic expression, in contrast with the image, implies a literal equivalence of subject and object. The image is a rendering of the real, whereas the algorithm is real.

Not to say that algorithms cannot be used to produce simulacra. In fact, that is arguably their primary use. The desktop computer, the internet, all just a bunch of signs and symbols that imitate and cover up reality. Supported by algorithms. The algorithms are like the steel supports that hold up disneyland. But if you look really closely at the steel itself — you see the real.

My art focuses on the supports. It is a transparent view onto the algorithm. The low fidelity rendering means there are “no tricks”. No special effects meant to convince the viewer that something is happening which is not. The simulation, in and of itself, is the focus; it does not pretend to be something it is not.

One thing that art can do, as an experience outside of the norms of everyday life, is shock us back into reality. Like a splash of cold water. It can make us present and force us to notice the real.

Dynamical systems

Over the past years my work has been mostly concerned with something called dynamical systems. Not that i am a mathematician or even have a particularly good amateur grasp on the topic, but I find certain ideas inspiring, and that is enough.

To understand what a dynamical system is, it is first easier to consider related, but simpler types of systems. Let us consider a time dependent system; that is, a system that evolves over time, and whose output / state is completely determined by the time.

For example, if you throw a ball in the air at some velocity, the position of the ball is a function of time.

A dynamical system is different in that the system’s state depends on its previous state. In other words, there is a feedback loop. This statefulness allows the system to evolve in interesting and complex ways, often defeating our ability to predict the system over time.

These systems are interesting from an artistic perspective for a few reasons. Firstly, artists seek to create novelty, and a dyanmical system, via its a fundamentally chaotic nature, yields novel behavior. Secondly, as motivation for the artist, the dynamical system offers a captivating playground of behavior. Art is a conversation between artist and material. The artist reacts to the material and vice-versa. The dynamical system offers a lively conversation partner, and it is easy to stay engaged. And finally, from a conceptual standpoint, my art is about the beauty of dynamical systems, not just their material properties.

Debord traces the development of a modern society in which authentic social life has been replaced with its representation: “All that once was directly lived has become mere representation.”[2] Debord argues that the history of social life can be understood as “the decline of being into having, and having into merely appearing.”[3] This condition, according to Debord, is the “historical moment at which the commodity completes its colonization of social life.”[4]