Last night at Eyebeam a series of multimedia presentations accompanied the launch of Book of Ice by Paul D. Miller a.k.a. DJ Spooky. Book of Ice is one facet of DJ Spooky ongoing multimedia and multidisciplinary project on Antarctica —the only uninhabited continent, belonging to no single country and with no government. Miller’s book merges a fictional manifesto with scientific concepts and historical facts, using photographs and film stills, original artworks and re-appropriated archival materials: the theme is how Antarctica can liberate itself from the rest of the world.
The author started his presentation introducing concepts which immediately captured my attention: "ice is a geometric form" and "network effect". The accompanying images were also familiar: fractals configurations (Koch snowflake) and Wilson Bentley photographs of snowflakes —themes of one chapter of my upcoming book Form Geometry Structure | from Nature to Design. Miller emphasized the importance of system thinking and the elegance of symmetry in nature, quoting the “elegant universe” from Brian Greene’s string theory. Miller spoke of sonification as a sonic metaphor embodying geometry in transverse and longitudinal waves, and showed the Terra Nova trailer: an interpretation of how sound and the planet interact. Mentions of recursions and concepts from Gödel, Escher, Bach: An Eternal Golden Braid the book by Douglas Hofstadter —described by the author as "a metaphorical fugue on minds and machines in the spirit of Lewis Carroll".
The video imagery was presented with a live string quartet, Telos Ensemble, playing Miller’s compositions. Miller's presentation was also accompanied by interactions with Green Patriot Poster project curator Edward Morris.
An important evening, emphasizing the relationship between nature and geometry, and how their harmonic synergy we can have a better relationship with our planet.
