My work is rooted in an interest in and understanding of nature. But I do notice the desire to distinguish from it and to express the distance that results.
I respect nature. But I also use it, change it and manipulate it in my work as engineer.
This tension directs much of my work and study.
There is a strong mutual dependency: what I observe I want to make, what I make I look for in nature. The pleasure of recognition origins from two sources.
This is an ongoing discussion, but as a visual artist i learned over the years I learned to visualize my work without commenting or defending it excessively with words or explanations. That enables reflection and I can continue building on what I created.
Artworks
Turingbox
12 x 12 x 4 cm
wood
2012
I studied patterns and their use for individualization of products. I wanted a pattern that follows the borders of a given object, just as with fishes in the sea that have different patterns on fins and body. Old practices were not useful for me; they were slow or looked artificially. I wanted a contemporary, natural looking form. Alan Turing’s work, the reaction diffusion equation, offered a good way to simulate natural patterns, this was what I searched for. I adapted the formula into a script for Photoshop. This is convenient because it is omnipresent. The results are useful for design, but also as autonomic work. I think the patterns are interesting: natural but made with a PC, automatically. They question us what is natural and what is not. I still have to add expression and meaning. As designer I am disappointed, as person and scientist I like the challenge to see where this leads to and if another consciousness about nature will emerge.
turing print
10 x 7 cm
print
2012
Application in a print works good. It enhances the square and turing shape. The ink is tangible, the imprint visible and it refers to crafts, human work and tradition. It enables me to make the pattern more earthlike and rough. It is a way to alter the mechanical form into an expressive thing, a function that prints can perform very well: the rough character of a print combined with the computer generated shape provides the necessary tension.
