tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33057145977022777262024-03-18T18:48:34.727+01:00Having knowledge about actions promotes our understanding of these actionsGuushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03166389806894254342noreply@blogger.comBlogger175125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3305714597702277726.post-9169086252919491472024-01-22T21:51:00.003+01:002024-01-31T17:49:24.709+01:00Testing, Testing.<p>Recently I wrote about <a href="https://blog.geeveedeevee.com/2023/12/chapter-12-surface-tension.html" target="_blank">some watercolours I've made</a>. Since then I've found some scientific literature on the subject, after discovering that the 'coffee ring effect' is the scientific name of a ring shaped deposit found after a drop of liquid has dried. It's a relatively new field of study, with major research only being done since the late 1990's. This literature does confirm my basic assumption of the movement of the paint particles, which is explained by capillary flow. The literature also shows that there are many competing phenomena and variables at play, which are difficult to measure and analyse. Many of the papers I found focus on variables like temperature, relative humidity and electromagnetic influences, most of which effect the rate of evaporation. </p><p>I've done some experiments to test the influence of some of these parameters on the appearance of my own drops of watercolour, with some notable results.<br /></p><p>First I tried to measure the influence of temperature. The results of this were mostly inconclusive. To test the influence of temperature, I uniformly applied the droplets at three different temperatures, to see if their appearance would differ after drying. The expected result from some of the literature would be that a higher temperature creates a more even distribution throughout the drying droplet. Various mechanisms have been suggested on how this works, including a greater evaporation at the contact surface with the air, which causes greater flow inside the droplet, as well as a 'surface capture' effect of particles at the contact surface.<br />In the rudimentary testing I have done I however didn't notice any significant effects of temperature on how uniformly the paint spread through the drying droplet:</p><p></p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEin1Z7EodpE5b-wnAowh3RkL-KmFwonSoC0L790wHAHCcMIqctV_0Eh3RgOq4B0o-NKBU_BU225ldKvfoCZvH6-WvOos2dB994Y_f7F7d9eg7WO-vkVSfgFO7wG0rPIglncCwFm4aLcrD4UlwKBO-OJfqv2s_QxsWSFaWqlfKgIPQRjFvqRXCkKhPK6kCs/s900/3.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="390" data-original-width="900" height="139" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEin1Z7EodpE5b-wnAowh3RkL-KmFwonSoC0L790wHAHCcMIqctV_0Eh3RgOq4B0o-NKBU_BU225ldKvfoCZvH6-WvOos2dB994Y_f7F7d9eg7WO-vkVSfgFO7wG0rPIglncCwFm4aLcrD4UlwKBO-OJfqv2s_QxsWSFaWqlfKgIPQRjFvqRXCkKhPK6kCs/s320/3.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><i>Three drops dried at different temperatures</i></span><br /></td></tr></tbody></table><br />In this image there are three droplets of about 2 mm in diameter, made with Winsor and Newton's Payne's grey watercolour paint. The first was made on a substrate that's cooled below 0ºC, the middle was made at room temperature and the last one was heated after application in an oven to about 70ºC. It's clear that there is little significant variation between these three droplets, thereby giving indication that temperature, at least on this scale and with these materials, is not a significant contributing factor for the distribution of the pigments in the drying droplet. <br />However, the influence of temperature might be dependent on the exact chemical composition of the pigments, in combination with corresponding changes in the binders used. The following image consists of the results of the same experiment, showing Daniel Smith's Hematite Genuine watercolour paint, in duplicate, at <0ºC, room temperature and ~70ºC, respectively.<br /><p></p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgGqFHH7OuVq3lFduEz-X9f3JepofhB3rxK7cINihtgpvvR0lkZZ-YXyDRwDtY3yuChiM627og5OTxcxfXHByzbJ3k2Ru-stb6-UN_Oh0UUOWdTwWXqIZoKqeu6Dsk0iHludWnmcZIjilyxqyZonDmSrJcCqKxguHbgwt0j1n4Z3G7bimit-ZLHgaDOtoc/s800/4.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="747" data-original-width="800" height="299" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgGqFHH7OuVq3lFduEz-X9f3JepofhB3rxK7cINihtgpvvR0lkZZ-YXyDRwDtY3yuChiM627og5OTxcxfXHByzbJ3k2Ru-stb6-UN_Oh0UUOWdTwWXqIZoKqeu6Dsk0iHludWnmcZIjilyxqyZonDmSrJcCqKxguHbgwt0j1n4Z3G7bimit-ZLHgaDOtoc/s320/4.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i><span style="font-size: x-small;">Two sets of three drops dried at different temperatures</span></i><br /></td></tr></tbody></table><p>What one can observe here is greater ring formation with a cooled substrate and more concentration at the center at elevated temperatures. So much so that the ring where the pigment is deposited is not even found at the outer edge of the droplet, which is something I have not observed in other situations. This behaviour is also the exact opposite of what the literature would have us expect. </p><p></p><p></p><p>When examining the literature, it must also be noted that most of the literature on the coffee ring effect seeks to eliminate it, because in an analytical or manufacturing context its existence is commonly detrimental to achieving uniform depositions or measurements. Relatively little literature thus exists on controlling the formation of the ring itself, and as far as I can tell, all research is done on colloids that are mixed prior to droplet formation. Little to no research has been done on the effects of introducing a colloid to an existing droplet. Yet I've found indications that for our purposes this provides a lot of control on the exact formation of the coffee ring, as can be seen in the following image:</p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjSoB-PbGLN4-9_Ivan1hSYAukx0G7FHdBm1W42jLTbYgYdwQQvP2dv8gp3m5N7yA0OXV8DO59l-otGiDQifOOHn102Gy-r5xf2ddSDRDg2_u0oFhSWRsG-Ctjlbd9LlBC4eVP6Cy4mkR64iZnDw8cuJ6Sg0VCPtDOPP1Pl9TM3g5-KswQE_YqDFDHuoPQ/s1200/2.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="483" data-original-width="1200" height="129" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjSoB-PbGLN4-9_Ivan1hSYAukx0G7FHdBm1W42jLTbYgYdwQQvP2dv8gp3m5N7yA0OXV8DO59l-otGiDQifOOHn102Gy-r5xf2ddSDRDg2_u0oFhSWRsG-Ctjlbd9LlBC4eVP6Cy4mkR64iZnDw8cuJ6Sg0VCPtDOPP1Pl9TM3g5-KswQE_YqDFDHuoPQ/s320/2.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><i>Four different ways of introducing the paint</i></span><br /></td></tr></tbody></table><p>From left to right, this is a simple droplet of a diluted suspension of Winsor and Newton Payne's grey watercolour, a water droplet to which a diluted suspension was added at the centre point of the droplet after droplet formation, a water droplet to which a diluted suspension was added at the right edge of the droplet after droplet formation and a water droplet to which a near-saturated suspension was added at the right edge of the droplet after droplet formation.<br />As you can see, the two leftmost droplets dried nearly identical, even if their method of application was very different. For the third droplet from the left, paint was added later at an angle on the right edge with the paper, and this saw most of the pigment end up around the full perimeter of the droplet. This process was repeated with a higher concentration of pigment in the last droplet and while this contained far more pigment than the other three droplets, still most of it stayed at the perimeter of the droplet, with even more seemingly remaining at the initial point of introduction.</p><p>My explanation for this is that a similar outward pushing effect is at work here, inhibiting the possibility for pigments to enter the centre of the droplet through gravity or other forces.<br />It must however be also noted that in some degree this is dependent on the exact shape of the droplet and again the composition of the paint.<br /></p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjRBr3hbXDR4KlztWSAHb0NCy6OTI9T7872em35lpfHByFPZ0YEyzQ5egedi8iceYS1yaUWA3CLzm72UoxKwANhFKoo73GFt2EnGZg46mpqWiYlfGDCBTS1OpZljtjC7cA1k8dWeN0z706MmDGVd2-9pBy3Y58sNRUl7lvF5yffU2oD6CO5ULv0sVIxND0/s900/1.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="900" data-original-width="622" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjRBr3hbXDR4KlztWSAHb0NCy6OTI9T7872em35lpfHByFPZ0YEyzQ5egedi8iceYS1yaUWA3CLzm72UoxKwANhFKoo73GFt2EnGZg46mpqWiYlfGDCBTS1OpZljtjC7cA1k8dWeN0z706MmDGVd2-9pBy3Y58sNRUl7lvF5yffU2oD6CO5ULv0sVIxND0/w138-h200/1.jpg" width="138" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><i>Three different ways of introducing the paint</i></span></td></tr></tbody></table><p>In this image we have a droplet with a homogenous solution of Daniel Smith's Venetian Red water colour paint, followed by a saturated solution of the same paint added at the right edge of a droplet of water and ultimately a heavily diluted solution added at the right edge of a droplet of water. They each have their distinctive appearances, which differ subtly from the previous experiment with Payne's grey, most notably with the later introduction of a saturated solution. This produced a light centre with a thick edge in the previous experiment, while it created a mostly even spread with a thin edge in the latter example.<br /></p><p>Even though it's difficult to observe this behaviour in real time and at actual scale, I believe the observations from the previous two figures is related to the behaviour of the pigment at the droplet's contact surface with air. I did a test where I placed a small saturated spot of Payne's grey watercolour on a piece of paper, let it dry, and then added a water droplet, without physically disturbing the spot of paint. What I found after this droplet had dried is that the paint had spread uniformly throughout the droplet, with a clear coffee ring effect present. There thus is a tendency for the paint to be distributed inside the droplet if it gets far enough inside. </p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjKQ9hK-tkm3rO5ImpcS7v-Syuf-4tL_MCWSgZRkzGd7J-guwCf93nvTh4Dl0NJHJcdl49cCxyp3rZCBXmCEu1_iFnD_o6PWgnONTqZJ6rb3sal-yASQBZPSVqAeBEJA_znTjceLu3PGicLz0ngs9oZ9OFbnAr8umhZL6s0pdC2mVbz_A5TveYypvvp_WE/s1015/5.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="800" data-original-width="1015" height="252" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjKQ9hK-tkm3rO5ImpcS7v-Syuf-4tL_MCWSgZRkzGd7J-guwCf93nvTh4Dl0NJHJcdl49cCxyp3rZCBXmCEu1_iFnD_o6PWgnONTqZJ6rb3sal-yASQBZPSVqAeBEJA_znTjceLu3PGicLz0ngs9oZ9OFbnAr8umhZL6s0pdC2mVbz_A5TveYypvvp_WE/s320/5.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i><span style="font-size: x-small;">Adding water to a dried spot of paint</span></i><br /></td></tr></tbody></table><p>Generally speaking, predicting the exact behaviour of the interaction of a fluid and a colloid is complex and very difficult, as can be seen in the following example:</p><p></p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjX9qgUOIY4S5zbduBEcaFCQC_u2qJ-zzdv5SrdAspWhLCwA2lVJ-dHvZEztQ8_3G3EQd7GVa6OSmvTP8qLB6MTkS_HAy9X45iizdK8EDspCt2yGA2VaVE7SgR9ogMwzInT0Ft7PWeLzBJluy5LSBhoDYruXDQ9ix0OWfWl8ZqJXBFNjcz5uzFRZECIV8w/s756/6.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="600" data-original-width="756" height="254" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjX9qgUOIY4S5zbduBEcaFCQC_u2qJ-zzdv5SrdAspWhLCwA2lVJ-dHvZEztQ8_3G3EQd7GVa6OSmvTP8qLB6MTkS_HAy9X45iizdK8EDspCt2yGA2VaVE7SgR9ogMwzInT0Ft7PWeLzBJluy5LSBhoDYruXDQ9ix0OWfWl8ZqJXBFNjcz5uzFRZECIV8w/w320-h254/6.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i><span style="font-size: x-small;">Introducing two paints into a single droplet</span></i><br /></td></tr></tbody></table><br />In this image two different watercolour paints are added to a single droplet. The droplet at the top was a diluted solution of Daniel Smith's Quinacridone Gold water colour paint, to which a saturated solution of Daniel Smith's Quinacridone Red was added on the right side at an angle. The droplet at the bottom was pure water, to which Quinacridone Gold was first added at the top and then Quinacridone Red was added on the right side at an angle. As is clearly visible, the latter process resulted in a nearly homogenous mixture, while the first gave a degree of separation between in the colours in the dried droplet.<br />However, I then repeated this experiment using Daniel Smith's Quinacridone Gold and Winsor & Newton's Payne's grey.<p></p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiUMEgcDNiI5e8ue2sNVIoSy5SNd_2FJyO2mU5AY2g6pjlPqoTrAP2Y3pXNJZdRTAYHaGESQpUwMpPRJK9_h8rWIoT6X0Zjkaix1v1zOcPwGxXSwK86TaIE1dLaaGTlra0qbmEwAuDvk9wHY4XujBQQ86s-BHw05vXlzcAsbv5ZJn-rbdsS0_EPqUaBVXs/s756/7.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="600" data-original-width="756" height="254" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiUMEgcDNiI5e8ue2sNVIoSy5SNd_2FJyO2mU5AY2g6pjlPqoTrAP2Y3pXNJZdRTAYHaGESQpUwMpPRJK9_h8rWIoT6X0Zjkaix1v1zOcPwGxXSwK86TaIE1dLaaGTlra0qbmEwAuDvk9wHY4XujBQQ86s-BHw05vXlzcAsbv5ZJn-rbdsS0_EPqUaBVXs/s320/7.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i><span style="font-size: x-small;">Introducing two paints into a single droplet</span></i></td></tr></tbody></table><p>Here the same procedure was followed, with the Payne's Gray being added first, followed by Quincridone Gold on the right side at an angle. The way the paints mixed was the opposite of what I observed in the previous experiment. On this occasion the Quinacridone Gold mixed better with the droplet of diluted water colour, while the two paints stayed separated when added in sequence to a droplet of pure water. At the present time I have no simple explanation for this seeming contradiction in behaviour.</p><p>Lastly I want to note another characteristic I hadn't considered up until this point, which is the influence of magnetic effects on the droplets. Naturally electromagnetic effects are strong if there are ferromagnetic
pigments present in the paint. Especially in the case of paints that
contain a mixture of magnetic and non-magnetic pigments, introducing a
magnetic field during the drying process produces interesting effects
that can be easily controlled with the presence of any magnetic field. <br /></p><p>In conclusion, about a month has past since the previous post and I have still made some new observations about the behaviour of the watercolour paint inside a droplet. Some of these observations seemingly contradict the explanations found in current scientific literature, while others provide a possibility for new methods that are hitherto unexplored.<br /></p>Guushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03166389806894254342noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3305714597702277726.post-10019346988004441842024-01-16T11:44:00.003+01:002024-01-16T11:44:48.084+01:00The Artist's Artist's Critic's Critic<p>During 2023 I recorded most of my visits to exhibitions on a website called <a href="https://www.artistsartistscriticscritic.eu/" target="_blank">The Artist's Artist's Critic's Critic</a>. On this website I scored each exhibition one to five stars on six characteristics: difficulty, entertainment, originality, legibility, consistency and craftsmanship. I also recorded the time spent at the exhibition as an indication of my affinity with the work.<br />Part of the reason I started this undertaking was to see if I could develop an alternative to the subjective and nonsensical star rating system that's used by various media outlets. By trying to formulate those aspects of an exhibition I adhere importance to, I thought it might be possible to provide some insight into my own viewing behaviour, while still having a numerical ranking system.<br /></p><p>Now the year is over I have crunched some of the numbers and it gave some interesting results.</p><p>In 2023 I recorded 79 exhibitions. 65 of those were solo shows, of which 31 were at museums, 21 at galleries and 13 at other institutions. Of the 14 group exhibitions I recorded, 7 were at museums and 7 took place at other institutions. I visited no group shows at commercial galleries.</p><p>When rating something 1 to 5 stars on six different characteristics, the range of the total scores lies between 6 and 30, with an average of 18. This equates to a 3-star score on all six characteristics.<br />The average total score I've given to those 79 exhibitions is 18,25, with a median of 18 and modes of 12 and 22. This was surprising to me, to find that I ended up with the factual average as my personal average. That does mean there was some degree of consistency to my judgements, which could be interpreted as a degree of objectivity.<br /></p><p>In terms of average score per characteristic, difficulty had the lowest with 2,6; then entertainment with 2,7; originality with 2,9; craftsmanship with 3,3; consistency with 3,4; and legibility with 3,5. Although all scores only deviate from the theoretical average of 3 with maximum 0,5 points, it was surprising to find that legibility scored slightly higher overall. Part of the reason I included legibility as a characteristic was to measure the degree in which the exhibition requires explanation beyond the works themselves. It's good to see I rated only 15 of 79 exhibitions with one or two stars on this point, as I definitely think this is a problem within art in general. But I guess by measuring I found that it's not as big a problem as I thought it was.<br />That difficulty is the lowest scoring metric doesn't surprise me however. I defined difficulty as the ability of the exhibition to make think and challenge me intellectually, and while I enjoy many exhibitions, these days its rare that they show me something I can't make sense of. In fact, only one exhibition scored five stars on this subject, which was Philip Metten's solo exhibition at Zeno-X gallery in Antwerp.<br /></p><p>Broadly speaking, I rated solo shows at galleries the highest, with an average score of 20. Solo shows at institutions received an average score of 19 and solo shows at museums received the true average of 18. Group shows at institutions scored a slightly below average score of 17, but group exhibitions at museums on average scored a mere 14. This is also the biggest deviation from the norm with 4 points. These low scores for group exhibitions reflect my overall impression that curators aren't very good at making exhibitions and that this is especially true for curators working at museums. In fact, the only group show that scored above average was The insincere charm of things at the Balcony in the Hague.</p><p>Some interesting low scores came from shows by Anne Imhof, Jenny Holzer, Simon Denny, Kasper Bosmans, Helen Frankenthaler, Ragnar Kjartansson, and Elmgreen & Dragset. These are all normally considered highly rated artists, if not globally then at least in their respective countries of origin. Yet the shows I saw of them in 2023 apparently weren't exactly up to snuff.<br />I personally found it interesting that Daan van Golden at Micheline Swaczjer had a below average score as well. That just wasn't a very interesting show with works from an artist I otherwise greatly appreciate.</p><p>Of course I also have a top five of shows that I've recorded in the past year.<br />My top show, with a score of 28, was Tomma Abts at galerie Buchholz in Cologne, followed by Thomas Schütte at De Pont in Tilburg. The latter got there purely on the quality of the works themselves, as the curatorial effort was average at best. Third was Jeff Weber's Image Storage Containers at the CNA in Dudelange. I doubt many people have seen that exhibition, but it was very well put together on all fronts and punching well above its weight.<br />Fourth and fifth place are actually by the same artist, namely Aglaia Konrad at the FOMU in Antwerp and then later in the year also at Mu.Zee in Ostend. Once again just excellently put together shows that merely faltered a little bit on the entertainment factor.<br /></p><p>Only one show actually got the average score of all 3-stars and this was Blank. Raw. Illegible..., curated by Moritz Kung at the Leopold Hoesch Museum. It was a comprehensive group show of 'empty' books and about as average as an exhibition can be. The presentation was adequate enough to be unnoticeable, simply unremarkable in every way possible. For an audience it's often hard to understand books when displayed in
glass vitrines, but each book was carefully considered and shown in such a way to be as
accessible as it could possibly be. The books on display presented a very broad, thoroughly researched overview and thus for every uninteresting work in the exhibition there was also a gem that got you excited. And as unusual the premise of the exhibition was, it was simultaneously also somewhat obvious. If you want to have a yardstick for what a neutral and average exhibition looks like, that is it. It was spectacular how unspectacular it was.<br /></p><p>As a final remark I only found a very weak correlation of 0,28 between time spent in the exhibition and the overall score. The bulk of this number comes from the correlation between the scores for entertainment and for difficulty, with a correlation to time spent of respectively 0,40 and 0,32. All other metrics had a correlation of 0,18 or less. So if you make me laugh or think, I'm going to spend (slightly) more time at your exhibition. </p><p>Keeping track of the exhibitions I've visited like this has been an interesting experiment. I would also say that I've mostly succeeded in my attempt to rate the exhibitions as objectively as possible on each of the six characteristics. When all the scores are added up, each exhibition is found in the quartile that corresponds to my more intuitive and 'unfiltered' opinion of that exhibition. I'm not sure if I will continue to keep track of the exhibitions I will visit in the future, but it's been personally interesting to systematically record one's thoughts and I believe it has given some indication that a more objective rating system for exhibitions is possible by using different metrics than those that are commonly used.<br /></p>Guushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03166389806894254342noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3305714597702277726.post-8694459247463155722024-01-01T19:00:00.001+01:002024-01-01T19:15:27.130+01:00A Well-Constructed, Meaningful Table is Worth the Extra Money<p>As an adolescent I never liked chemistry because it didn't make any sense to me. Our high school teacher had us copy equations with strange symbols that seemed to strictly adhere to inexplicable and invisible rules whose full scope and mechanisms couldn't be shown to us students. This is also an experience that seems to be a relatively common one for the people that I've spoken to about the subject. <br />Now that I've actually learned some of those invisible rules and understand a reasonable amount about how chemistry works, I've come to the conclusion that a substantial part of the perceived difficulty of the natural sciences is partially a problem of graphic design.</p><p>And I'm not talking about the kind of 'scientific illustration' design, I'm talking bare bones letterspacing, kerning, tabulation, ink coverage and em spaces.<br />At its core graphic design is about the structuring of information. While many chemists I know are concerned with how to structure information, very few approach this problem in the same way a graphic designer does. Yet the graphic designer, on their part, rarely understands the context and content of the scientific texts presented to them. Without such understanding it is impossible to accurately structure that information for easier comprehension.</p><p>The problem of creating legible texts has naturally existed from the beginning of scientific publishing, especially to those who wish to standardise certain aspects.<br />The American Chemical Society, or ACS, thus first published its 'Handbook for Authors of Papers in the Research Journals of the American Chemical Society' in 1965. Most of this book is of course about naming conventions, how to write correct molecular structures, and so on. A small part is however concerned with what one would call 'design', even if it is in the abstract sense of the word. For example, the three page long section on tables contains phrases like: <i>'Tables should be self-explanatory and should supplement, not duplicate, the text and figures'</i>; '<i>When numerical data are presented in columns, the decimal points must be aligned', </i>and '<i>ruled lines and brackets may be used in moderation, particularly after column heads and stubs, but they should never be included as a substitute for good alignment, adequate spacing, or clarity.</i>'</p><p>Such phrases echo those found in other more graphic design oriented reference works, such as 'The Elements of Typographic Style' by Robert Bringhurst, who has phrased the latter sentiment in the following manner in its section on tables: '<i>There should be a minimum amount of furniture (rules, boxes, dots and other guide rails for travelling through typographic space) and a maximum amount of information.</i>'<br />This is perhaps a little more poetic than the previous expression, but both sentences nevertheless stress the fact that the form of the table should befit its content and that the legibility of that content should be the main priority.<br /></p><p>Even if the ACS already considered the appearance of such 'table furniture' in 1965, this interest in graphical details quickly seemed to wane and a stronger focus on technical matters took hold.<br />A new edition of the Handbook was printed in 1978, now titled the 'Handbook for Authors of Papers in American Chemical Society Publications'. This revised edition no longer makes any mention of the appearance of the tables themselves, but further elaborates on the correct formatting of many technical aspects. It suggests, for example, to express multiple measurements in a table as a mean, rather than separate entries. At the instances when this revision does present new guidelines on the visual structure of texts, they are often of questionable merit, such as the suggestion that one should '<i>keep column widths of comparable size, whenever possible</i>', which can hardly be considered a universal truth. <br /></p><p>By 1986 the Handbook was superseded by 'The ACS Style Guide: A Manual for Authors and Editors'. This publication sees the problem of graphic design in terms of practical concerns such as the available space and technical reproducibility, not as an inherent factor contributing to the legibility of the presented information. <br />The section 'How To Construct Tables' starts with the inspiring reminder that '<i>tables are much more expensive to typeset than text; the larger the table, the more expensive. A well-constructed, meaningful table is worth the extra money, but anything else is a waste of money and does not enhance your paper.</i>' Further considerations are insights such as: '<i>if you have three columns that do not relate to each other, perhaps the material is really a list of items and not a table at all</i>' and '<i>if your table has alignment and positioning requirements, perhaps it should really be a figure</i>'. Which are of course exactly the kind of universally applicable guidelines any chemist is looking for when attempting to construct a legible and concise table. </p><p>The ACS Style Guide was last published in 2006 and kept the same technical focus throughout its lifetime. A general belief in technology solving the problems of design seems to be prevalent in the attitude of its authors. The section on tables in the 2006 edition remained largely unchanged, although it now had some tips on using word-processing software: '<i>In Microsoft Word or WordPerfect, use the software’s table feature, rather than aligning columns using the tab key. Entries arranged with the table feature are more likely to be properly aligned in publication than entries that have been tabbed.</i>'<br />That this was very likely a useful tip to a number of their contributors gives some indication of how inexperienced your average scientist may be with genuine problems and solutions of design.<br /></p><p>In 2020 the American Chemical Society replaced its style guide with 'The ACS Guide to Scholarly Information'. This is a completely rewritten digital-only guide, which in their own words is the '<i>go-to tool to help students, librarians, researchers, and educators communicate effectively</i>'. <br />Unfortunately I couldn't tell you whether or not this 'go-to tool' has any clearer information on the uses of graphic design in scientific texts, as it is shielded by a prohibitively expensive subscription model which is separated from their other publications. While I have easy access to a number of the earlier editions through used bookshops and various libraries, no public or universitary library in Europe presently provides access to 'The ACS Guide to Scholarly Information', even if a large number of them actively subscribe to the journals of the ACS.<br />Ironically, the only two chapters the ACS provides free access to on their own website are the brand-new chapters on open access and inclusivity, which includes a subchapter on 'socioeconomic status'.</p><p>Thus while the importance of legible information is commonly acknowledged in various scientific fields, the large and constantly changing requirements from within those fields have kept scientists unable to focus on increasing the legibility of their work through graphic design.<br />In turn, the resulting body of poorly structured information has placed a significant cognitive burden on nearly all scientific texts, which has further complicated the transfer of information in fields that already require specific knowledge. Resolving this issue will however require editors with working knowledge of (various) scientific fields, as well as graphic design principles. Adding extra steps in the editing process will also cost time and effort, and therefore money, which is something no business is ever looking to do.<br /> It is therefore unlikely that the issue of legibility in science communication, perhaps especially amongst professionals, will improve substantially over time.<br /></p><p></p>Guushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03166389806894254342noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3305714597702277726.post-56872534000516163612023-12-31T19:13:00.002+01:002024-02-06T16:31:13.549+01:00Heel erg filosofisch werk<p>However you might feel about it, this is a simple show:</p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi5cjICPXGFNN8J6M-_RkHKECaSs80MpQ2hGOajHpd9V6OjPxcvZBd5xpjQQl3THSwcWKizIG_jOwTG40VhfXWTVxBvqNGhPksmbBNQ7XeClzGJISYlsY49gYY5zMAkiagRiGtREouA-wlGqaqVXI5b35_sARrUemx7iYKRXc4N1ViHunk_sSgAxiRAlpI/s800/Blog4.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="600" data-original-width="800" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi5cjICPXGFNN8J6M-_RkHKECaSs80MpQ2hGOajHpd9V6OjPxcvZBd5xpjQQl3THSwcWKizIG_jOwTG40VhfXWTVxBvqNGhPksmbBNQ7XeClzGJISYlsY49gYY5zMAkiagRiGtREouA-wlGqaqVXI5b35_sARrUemx7iYKRXc4N1ViHunk_sSgAxiRAlpI/w400-h300/Blog4.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhg5UdCq0aS0Ue9PZqPgJTR0jdqcX6nXurFeAklFkRfTUSb7cLavc-SZhpifCocy43GMbCMPFymr7n2-mS8XP0Ab8AJ9sNyHoO-HWGoMwNQ55hrjqvQ06ZRXDcCsexXDxjyZ-HuCz5iT8qSJlwR2-Srna9kDHS0mPrhAduD8Ut7a0DhsgGF7eP_R2QtckA/s800/Blog5.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="600" data-original-width="800" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhg5UdCq0aS0Ue9PZqPgJTR0jdqcX6nXurFeAklFkRfTUSb7cLavc-SZhpifCocy43GMbCMPFymr7n2-mS8XP0Ab8AJ9sNyHoO-HWGoMwNQ55hrjqvQ06ZRXDcCsexXDxjyZ-HuCz5iT8qSJlwR2-Srna9kDHS0mPrhAduD8Ut7a0DhsgGF7eP_R2QtckA/w400-h300/Blog5.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><p></p><p>It has a front and a back, and everything you need to know about this exhibition can be found in how those two things relate to each other.</p><p>With the following three works, one can also make a simple show:<br /><br /></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgU6HRG51KXQ9PnMNWVireen9fyqhbGbCecGJVwYffqzEISnPjjl9IZEvjqz_a-l_6leBS89YO-9CajLRgPvMmeceDueU9TMt3GZn3PDK6l8pQi8goPlJcOXEh1joCiianB7cDcQeKVjoImAyZJR4iyu8oVlQRRgDZ7TYDxUgPbbRT_5tz6E3k7nCXQeqU/s900/Blog3.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="600" data-original-width="900" height="266" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgU6HRG51KXQ9PnMNWVireen9fyqhbGbCecGJVwYffqzEISnPjjl9IZEvjqz_a-l_6leBS89YO-9CajLRgPvMmeceDueU9TMt3GZn3PDK6l8pQi8goPlJcOXEh1joCiianB7cDcQeKVjoImAyZJR4iyu8oVlQRRgDZ7TYDxUgPbbRT_5tz6E3k7nCXQeqU/w400-h266/Blog3.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjyOUToKP0TK2Iv88ssoaUUWl5CZ_pA40tKoJAhRZD8I8wmIPNaeT5gD9Iz81ZwKqooM_prKyIX7Qvd6BwmTn8YCIihQ4wCMCBTT9WhMURzC4R4H-Bgj4irlmVWpqGJoR8iD2lycUyUAl7rt3L-giNis7F4I7QYe9XdH0ZYW-x7VPcgxzvWT6p6BsVRhxA/s900/Blog2.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="600" data-original-width="900" height="266" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjyOUToKP0TK2Iv88ssoaUUWl5CZ_pA40tKoJAhRZD8I8wmIPNaeT5gD9Iz81ZwKqooM_prKyIX7Qvd6BwmTn8YCIihQ4wCMCBTT9WhMURzC4R4H-Bgj4irlmVWpqGJoR8iD2lycUyUAl7rt3L-giNis7F4I7QYe9XdH0ZYW-x7VPcgxzvWT6p6BsVRhxA/w400-h266/Blog2.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgTuT0Ha6ur3XnidANC6sVjqIArpq4eBfAYZGPhv4PzVk6NyOZ8stbODfCmtGkbdQimNd8SdRrSdYafvWt_O3thWbo_6MwIyjCgWn7oHJ1kDNapDKQHo3z1mX5N6Q4FSNeX0eT-D0XohEMhlUChwslqPjtHiyZcLm8C-Zq3GbPymGdwWp2-zb0oX0J9V_I/s900/Blog1.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="600" data-original-width="900" height="266" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgTuT0Ha6ur3XnidANC6sVjqIArpq4eBfAYZGPhv4PzVk6NyOZ8stbODfCmtGkbdQimNd8SdRrSdYafvWt_O3thWbo_6MwIyjCgWn7oHJ1kDNapDKQHo3z1mX5N6Q4FSNeX0eT-D0XohEMhlUChwslqPjtHiyZcLm8C-Zq3GbPymGdwWp2-zb0oX0J9V_I/w400-h266/Blog1.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><p>It's clear that these works are connected by a coloured rectangular element and a white, rounded, rectangular element. Each of them are also mounted on the wall at a slight angle. It then becomes an interesting search where these works deviate from this basic 'rule'.<br /></p><p></p><p>Yet by showing these two groups at the same time, one can make an multifaceted exhibition that doesn't have any clear singular resolution:<br /><br /></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhaHDH-oS6mEDkWE3RfpAThgCQytrjhzVqHx-OakbsidOXZJDF0Dt0Ko8BCKDz0YAwCnMxtD3XBa6NlqYV-TAZ8wm1oPfb4grFfxZGVj36s0jByghX6R37iwmWfwp5CYoMcifd04RASVh0WKhTY5bfg3_a5p2D4LVQ2irzgVBfFGt8N1Iii646zDT_Y21g/s900/Blog6.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="600" data-original-width="900" height="266" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhaHDH-oS6mEDkWE3RfpAThgCQytrjhzVqHx-OakbsidOXZJDF0Dt0Ko8BCKDz0YAwCnMxtD3XBa6NlqYV-TAZ8wm1oPfb4grFfxZGVj36s0jByghX6R37iwmWfwp5CYoMcifd04RASVh0WKhTY5bfg3_a5p2D4LVQ2irzgVBfFGt8N1Iii646zDT_Y21g/w400-h266/Blog6.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><br />At the surface these two groups of work appear to be very similar. They are both painted wooden objects of a similar size, in almost, but not quite, geometrical shapes.<br />Yet beyond that first impression, they share very few similarities. The crux of each of these works lies within their individual peculiarities, of which there is little to no overlap. <br />So when looking at these works altogether, there is a disconnect that you try to resolve by searching for more characteristics of these works that might tie them together. While you'll find more things that could unite them, you also encounter more individual traits that separate them. Together these two groups thus become an unsolvable problem of universals. Even if it was possible to do so seperately, once these two groups are put together, no combination of individual members is able to define the larger set.<br />Guushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03166389806894254342noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3305714597702277726.post-91186705490797437932023-12-22T10:25:00.002+01:002023-12-31T17:56:53.872+01:00Chapter 12: Surface Tension<p>In 2021, after about five years of various related experiments, I started a group of work I now call <b>γ</b>, or gamma. This name came from the symbol physicists use for surface tension.<br />These works are very small watercolour paintings, of about one to three millimetres in size, framed in white frames with a white matte that has an appropriately sized cut-out at the position of the painting on the leaf.</p><br /><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh_Erxpk2X6BBZCpnSRxL11oTQAdUFMlTmCEn_P1MEhlzwbSHuPlCJgFsIQBZMuB948ae1hRBEVB1xefHXpThT1Z2UhEr8jzZGi8ZNPO28IHayoX3YQNusq7etLnAMAjc60WEUoyz2r47iInEBe-pqjN7kJNYAXjtM9J22dPVpURd0pSdNOUB1JvsnuqAg/s900/installatino.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="594" data-original-width="900" height="264" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh_Erxpk2X6BBZCpnSRxL11oTQAdUFMlTmCEn_P1MEhlzwbSHuPlCJgFsIQBZMuB948ae1hRBEVB1xefHXpThT1Z2UhEr8jzZGi8ZNPO28IHayoX3YQNusq7etLnAMAjc60WEUoyz2r47iInEBe-pqjN7kJNYAXjtM9J22dPVpURd0pSdNOUB1JvsnuqAg/w400-h264/installatino.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhK8GFh34gv_O5_kJ-1fJ2uC3DgK3DDh8k2O2hqXWGV3gzZYo3kOVRigulezebanXJ_kX4TabQQCGK4i-lGIAVXfPp0UdUUeGCOAZB4UbbO5YjYAtB19i11hDipiCSwz_ZWHBUbSKIbS78n4ks8OaAurAtm2NLFhvTztjMlEJF0Dul1IRqFZd5clGnUV3k/s900/aquarel.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="600" data-original-width="900" height="266" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhK8GFh34gv_O5_kJ-1fJ2uC3DgK3DDh8k2O2hqXWGV3gzZYo3kOVRigulezebanXJ_kX4TabQQCGK4i-lGIAVXfPp0UdUUeGCOAZB4UbbO5YjYAtB19i11hDipiCSwz_ZWHBUbSKIbS78n4ks8OaAurAtm2NLFhvTztjMlEJF0Dul1IRqFZd5clGnUV3k/w400-h266/aquarel.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><p></p><p>Although these paintings are very small, the fact that they are small is by itself not what's interesting about them. What is interesting is that they are a very specific kind of small that emphasizes attributes that will only be significant at this scale.<br />Over the years I've developed a way of painting that gives these painted shapes a very sharp outline of about 20 to 70 micrometers thick. This is about half the width of a human hair and right on the limit of what the human eye can see. Although it is almost imperceptibly thin, this line is what gives a well defined shape and outline to what otherwise would be vague blobs that are barely distinguishable from the paper they rest on.<br /></p><p>I had a hypothesis about how this edge is formed which involves cohesion, or the tendency of similar molecules to 'stick together'. As paint is introduced into a water droplet, the water molecules want to stay together and so they 'push' the paint downward, where the effect of the water 'pushing' the paint down is greater in the centre than it is at the edges, resulting in more paint accumulating towards the edges of the droplet. <br /></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiUUta0lwm8m29rV3zbW2fQ-qt93ZPzgw4nZpQ_Inye4u62L04eqB_qMrBZ8abhjzjb2aVuwUUQxJQtL-NCvs31KFeteFNoGMcY2eKMhUSrzpzjsmctJ6qUg2zW0-fPKTQXasei9nZBrJcltwWYUIwr0rw9hGF5QAdOR8jhbavw0ZshyphenhyphenjhItDnZevy4rsQ/s900/droplet_research_8.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="238" data-original-width="900" height="170" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiUUta0lwm8m29rV3zbW2fQ-qt93ZPzgw4nZpQ_Inye4u62L04eqB_qMrBZ8abhjzjb2aVuwUUQxJQtL-NCvs31KFeteFNoGMcY2eKMhUSrzpzjsmctJ6qUg2zW0-fPKTQXasei9nZBrJcltwWYUIwr0rw9hGF5QAdOR8jhbavw0ZshyphenhyphenjhItDnZevy4rsQ/w640-h170/droplet_research_8.jpg" width="640" /></a><br /><br />When I work on these paintings, I only observe them from above through a small loupe, giving me a limited view and thus limited information about what is actually happening inside the droplet. In order to test my hypothesis, I therefore decided to record the process under about 10x magnification. For reference, the brushtip in the following pictures is about 0,4 mm in diameter, making the droplets about 1,5 mm wide. In this process I observed two major things that happened that seemed to be in opposition with each other: <br /><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjlJYGT6ZduTQimbZne8ZMDvRfTS8HEl_frOkkHI9GemujKvBlaNahV5tZCU9Y3tCUncU8BpeGYAELoVcnxVlUUgIrql3BlRmWwlksMWZmK1sgCNHIbJuddS4wLsAlLVnSywbuPWQyMZ-VqPucNluefWv_02e9BQW-Kt5MMJehvJde87_y-y23Uqk9fJMg/s900/droplet_research_4.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="770" data-original-width="900" height="343" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjlJYGT6ZduTQimbZne8ZMDvRfTS8HEl_frOkkHI9GemujKvBlaNahV5tZCU9Y3tCUncU8BpeGYAELoVcnxVlUUgIrql3BlRmWwlksMWZmK1sgCNHIbJuddS4wLsAlLVnSywbuPWQyMZ-VqPucNluefWv_02e9BQW-Kt5MMJehvJde87_y-y23Uqk9fJMg/w400-h343/droplet_research_4.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><p>The first thing I observed is what I naively expected to happen. When watercolour paint, itself a suspension of pigments in a solution of water and gum arabic, enters into an existing droplet of water it kind of sinks to the bottom and spreads. This leaves a uniform covering of pigment on the paper that takes the shape of the droplet after it dries. <br />However, as can be seen in the above photographs, this mechanism also seems to leave a thin barrier of clear water at the bottom edges of the droplet. If that area contains little, if any, paint, then how can that be the part that contains a much stronger concentration of pigments after it has dried?<br />Clearly something else is also at work here, and one thing I noticed is that on the right side a little blob of paint doesn't seem to enter into the water droplet, but instead kind of slides down the surface of the droplet. I thought this would be caused by that part of the paint not breaking the surface tension of the droplet and thus never entering into it.<br /></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh5C8fWfRL_RXVx99WJlNgRuty9mBpp9kp0vEZt8ppX5LfE5cc8jFSeFQobLbZCynxpPTmiwuKGKbovUaEfeIDuMnpKPrv2nuKlHVtfy-Tx_vo5sE_4EGK0_XKempemMrWxJMPq8fYMq5PjuWr7m80y7tKQwqp9Vh84d_trHnFU7F-sAVJWhsl11qS9nB0/s900/droplet_research_3.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="770" data-original-width="900" height="343" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh5C8fWfRL_RXVx99WJlNgRuty9mBpp9kp0vEZt8ppX5LfE5cc8jFSeFQobLbZCynxpPTmiwuKGKbovUaEfeIDuMnpKPrv2nuKlHVtfy-Tx_vo5sE_4EGK0_XKempemMrWxJMPq8fYMq5PjuWr7m80y7tKQwqp9Vh84d_trHnFU7F-sAVJWhsl11qS9nB0/w400-h343/droplet_research_3.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><p>I tested this by creating another droplet with a higher contact angle, which from what I understand should increase the surface tension. While in the previous example the contact angle was approximately 60º, in this droplet it is roughly 90º.<br />As you can see, the behaviour of the added watercolour paint changes in this situation. The paint indeed 'sticks' more to the edges of the droplet, instead of 'falling' straight down.<br /></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhwGCVbAmdK2N6w4KFBi9JtxoO2BBCyDifSNFc_FHBOHrySS7kZdHLGcR5moZlPb0xzHnc_3Ugeb63oEtuc73lRG_H04znd9PhX-6DGgk5wEE-OeWRwq8oQtfBQKJf7LLS0zZzcI3H5zsJ7LDOjJcyuiRaeiOLokY2j-Bvdqr3FKJBBTsFCvhM4TdcTO84/s900/droplet_research_2.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="769" data-original-width="900" height="341" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhwGCVbAmdK2N6w4KFBi9JtxoO2BBCyDifSNFc_FHBOHrySS7kZdHLGcR5moZlPb0xzHnc_3Ugeb63oEtuc73lRG_H04znd9PhX-6DGgk5wEE-OeWRwq8oQtfBQKJf7LLS0zZzcI3H5zsJ7LDOjJcyuiRaeiOLokY2j-Bvdqr3FKJBBTsFCvhM4TdcTO84/w400-h341/droplet_research_2.jpg" width="400" /></a> </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"> </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">A third water droplet has a contact angle of about 120º. In this larger droplet, clearly under more tension, the paint seems to stay almost exclusively at the surface of the droplet, with only a small strand of paint passing the barrier. What's interesting to note is that this strand seems to reach the centre of the droplet almost instantly and it stays connected to the rest of the paint as it glides down the side. It also does this much more quickly than the larger blob in the first example.<br /><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj-fUZ_ObWCwWb6OGrrxFJ5AQ0_wqVpdr8zPjYGgT6p_eAA5eQim2KN034CdXFGLMiJhOeJ9AjCaHzch2HUGjNc3NDvkL7IH_ROPfXsx4d7Hjqln1jri_nl6qoakAi00PhpUkF4Gg3KIsOKgu6qfs9XJJPeNE-NtYBg95NAUWVwo20u07aJ9TUDuPQZPEw/s2477/droplet_research_9_1.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2120" data-original-width="2477" height="343" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj-fUZ_ObWCwWb6OGrrxFJ5AQ0_wqVpdr8zPjYGgT6p_eAA5eQim2KN034CdXFGLMiJhOeJ9AjCaHzch2HUGjNc3NDvkL7IH_ROPfXsx4d7Hjqln1jri_nl6qoakAi00PhpUkF4Gg3KIsOKgu6qfs9XJJPeNE-NtYBg95NAUWVwo20u07aJ9TUDuPQZPEw/w400-h343/droplet_research_9_1.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><p>These are the second and seventh frame from the first and third examples. The time between these two points was 3,13 seconds in the top example and 1,77 seconds in the second. Dissolution takes time, and on such a small scale these differences can have a significant effect.<br /><br />A difficulty related to documenting these phenomena is that although the previous images give a reasonable idea about the paint being on the side or on the centre of the droplet, it doesn't show what is happening at the bottom at all sides. As understanding what happens there is vital to the impact the final paintings may have, a different experimental set-up is required in future research.<br /><br />Yet another aspect that has to be kept in mind with these paintings is that different pigments will have different molecular composition, which will dissolve differently in both pure water and a solution of water and gum arabic.</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjhLawJjVr7NIlh5q9_XqU-4qfIDchPXREITnOzmV1I1uYui5vrZyvJYgFN0EdcYGX_ZcAHywfCzCXG_xSCROTRoSlP6mewPZ-JdovGzPQ0OY3wr9j41MrtGoHoJ3XFaowrCSLywA-pnIE1xDEos4WE9WFgwAKb24sESqCGtJmIUb7kwVBgrfSiTDzDY9g/s900/droplet_research_5.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="774" data-original-width="900" height="344" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjhLawJjVr7NIlh5q9_XqU-4qfIDchPXREITnOzmV1I1uYui5vrZyvJYgFN0EdcYGX_ZcAHywfCzCXG_xSCROTRoSlP6mewPZ-JdovGzPQ0OY3wr9j41MrtGoHoJ3XFaowrCSLywA-pnIE1xDEos4WE9WFgwAKb24sESqCGtJmIUb7kwVBgrfSiTDzDY9g/w400-h344/droplet_research_5.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><p>This is an orange pigment, which produces much more coarse flakes of pigment. It quickly sinks to the surface of the paper and doesn't move much from its inital position. What is interesting to note is that the small amount of pigment that does dissolve in the water ultimately ends up at the edge of the droplet, as can be seen in the final frame.<br />This effect of pigment clustering at the edges can also be seen in a different test, that had a minimal droplet volume:</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjV4ie-xIlNNzFXsepbYzmi77-ZtyEUxahHRG7BgmpHzO6Rw4acTloezXxNtk41QMMQMReORPmkG5W7IxjQsFGK7ZI-e4aOUW42WP4axmYzLV4DfGfW2rThc1R1NhrGx8Z52Y4s1QU3WUzvKCJK1qQBms9vlFmgElppM27yH0dPnhFKE2N9RDiFjao3_5o/s900/droplet_research_6.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="513" data-original-width="900" height="228" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjV4ie-xIlNNzFXsepbYzmi77-ZtyEUxahHRG7BgmpHzO6Rw4acTloezXxNtk41QMMQMReORPmkG5W7IxjQsFGK7ZI-e4aOUW42WP4axmYzLV4DfGfW2rThc1R1NhrGx8Z52Y4s1QU3WUzvKCJK1qQBms9vlFmgElppM27yH0dPnhFKE2N9RDiFjao3_5o/w400-h228/droplet_research_6.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><br />After drying, this gave a nearly closed outline of the droplet, with little to no pigment in the centre:<br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgMDdd_-EGIGQNPhRBOcH27KGgkTMTVjDsvoiXmkcPYw6RSgryLWHD982jEr6tiDYtw3gzVa-9Hnl9FxrsM0fywvNbxlTpk11FHAOgKQC4qlBfz9AlKJVTH9MkYuf56i17wS35lev4Uf8hCcFIFXtK4sabt4olklGhzcaQChf_dTlkihwempu3ILCD-gsY/s900/small.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="600" data-original-width="900" height="266" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgMDdd_-EGIGQNPhRBOcH27KGgkTMTVjDsvoiXmkcPYw6RSgryLWHD982jEr6tiDYtw3gzVa-9Hnl9FxrsM0fywvNbxlTpk11FHAOgKQC4qlBfz9AlKJVTH9MkYuf56i17wS35lev4Uf8hCcFIFXtK4sabt4olklGhzcaQChf_dTlkihwempu3ILCD-gsY/w400-h266/small.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><p>Again, please remember that the diameter of this circle is only about 1,5 mm.<br />Although these observations have given me some insights into the behaviour of the paint when introduced to a droplet of water, the system is in constant motion and dependent on many variables. It takes anywhere from a few minutes to an hour for a droplet to fully dry, so there is plenty of opportunity for the paint to dissolve and move about.</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgnBtbChAjCC_bqIU09g_mO0lLrwYgn4xQOSAuwNxhro3p2U0c0LTE1-45Gk2qxYyj-hnjZNZMdBHGiWIksQzFRmB5LopQo1SHM2Mt1RQlzs6ZLfwwX5cuzXB1auE1EzDolluMaLHZAqtY91kuks6fo5QJ-XC4AdmSpauchVt8TpB4o2xMPwBIVaYWPyG8/s1282/droplet_research_1.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1282" data-original-width="900" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgnBtbChAjCC_bqIU09g_mO0lLrwYgn4xQOSAuwNxhro3p2U0c0LTE1-45Gk2qxYyj-hnjZNZMdBHGiWIksQzFRmB5LopQo1SHM2Mt1RQlzs6ZLfwwX5cuzXB1auE1EzDolluMaLHZAqtY91kuks6fo5QJ-XC4AdmSpauchVt8TpB4o2xMPwBIVaYWPyG8/w450-h640/droplet_research_1.jpg" width="450" /></a></div><p>This sequence shows the full drying process. The first six images span the first few seconds and the last six images comprise about a minute. The three middle images on the other hand are about fifteen minutes apart.<br />The last few images also clearly show a strong interaction with the fibres of the paper, something that hasn't yet been considered in the previous images.</p><p>Since making these images I have continued to create some paintings, with some experiments using varying temperatures, separating differently coloured pigments inside one droplet and controlling the exact shape and intensity of the 'ring' at the edge of the droplets. <br />Yet further research is still warranted. As it is a system that is constantly in motion, there are many variables and the accompanying theory is complex, with observations from one instance not necessarily carrying over to another. Important variables like pigment and paint composition, paper structure, temperature, drying time and methods for introducing the paint are not yet mapped. <br />All of this also doesn't say anthing yet about the artistic effects that could be obtained after the mechanisms are properly understood and can be predictably deployed. <br />Even though I have been working on it on some way for the past two years, I thus feel like my knowledge about the subject is still in its infancy.</p>Guushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03166389806894254342noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3305714597702277726.post-35001120669285177512023-12-22T04:30:00.002+01:002023-12-31T20:09:29.527+01:0012800-25600 DPI<p>In the previous post it is mentioned that the paintings are given their distinctive appearance due to the sharp outlines of the shapes, which are about 20 to 70 micrometers in width. What I didn't describe there is what kind of consequences this has for the reproduction of these works.</p><p>Although we don't often think of them that way, digital printing and display technology always work with discrete dots. These dots are droplets of ink in printing and pixels in electronic displays. The maximum attainable resolution depends on the amount of these dots one can fit next to each other. This is usually measured in dots per inch (<span style="font-size: x-small;">DPI</span>) for printing and pixels per inch (<span style="font-size: x-small;">PPI</span>) in electronic displays. For example, Apple's top of the line 6k Pro Display XDR has a <span style="font-size: x-small;">PPI</span> of 218. This means it can fit 218 pixels on a one inch line. The minimum width it can display with a single pixel is thus 117 micrometers.<br />117 micrometers is already almost double of the thickest part of the outlines in the paintings. And that would just be a single, straight line. To capture at least some of the nuance in the subtle changes in shape and colour, you would require the width of a painted line to span at least 10 pixels or so. This in turn would require the space between pixels to be 1-2 micrometers, which translates to 12800-25600 <span style="font-size: x-small;">DPI</span>.</p><p>With the current technology this is simply unatainable. For comparision, this would mean that a 1920x1280 full HD screen would measure about 2 by 3 millimeters.<br />Current inkjet printers top out at about 1280 <span style="font-size: x-small;">DPI</span>, or 1/10th of the minimum required resolution. Laserprinters fare somewhat better at about 2400 <span style="font-size: x-small;">DPI,</span> but this is still only a fifth of what one would need to display the shape of the line acurately in a single colour of ink.<br />As physical limitations, as well as practical limitations of potential uses, aren't going to change drastically in the near future, it will very likely always remain impossible to accurately reproduce these paintings in print.<br />There is some hope for electronic displays, however. While general-purpose displays tend to reach only about 200 <span style="font-size: x-small;">PPI</span>, Sony is currently producing high resolution OLED micro displays. They are used in electronic viewfinders, VR headsets and other applications where viewers' eyes are only a few centimeters removed from the screen. Sony's highest resolution offering presently reaches 4031 <span style="font-size: x-small;">PPI</span>, or about 6,3 micrometers per pixel. While still not able to display much nuance, at least they would be able to accurately display the general width of the outline. <br />Presently it's thus unfortunately physically impossible to reproduce these works at their actual scale.<br /></p><p>As the argument for this has been somewhat mathematical, I'll also try to make a more visual demonstration of this impossibility. The following illustration shows a 200 <span style="font-size: x-small;">PPI</span> 4 by 3 pixel grid, with the the red, green en blue subpixels clearly visible. Overlaid on this image is the outline of a small painting at approximately the same scale. </p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhoV-4xvBbLUSPTCPIsj1bYxisV7v9BBphYrTLnaKln14GaatNQIyrGwpNETCiFqLS-iKm_5vVACTIkwLR3xReowChU7BpRq4dGHuooevv1DMMa1bt3EvOG0z_DBCnDcQrz_1OGN4UpD4Bw78MQYaLBuM4Qtcx8ZPepw66APgUY4h3tuQRO6N2jvxIz9RI/s206/pixelgrid.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="154" data-original-width="206" height="154" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhoV-4xvBbLUSPTCPIsj1bYxisV7v9BBphYrTLnaKln14GaatNQIyrGwpNETCiFqLS-iKm_5vVACTIkwLR3xReowChU7BpRq4dGHuooevv1DMMa1bt3EvOG0z_DBCnDcQrz_1OGN4UpD4Bw78MQYaLBuM4Qtcx8ZPepw66APgUY4h3tuQRO6N2jvxIz9RI/s1600/pixelgrid.jpg" width="206" /></a></div><p>In order to get a sense of how much detail is present in these paintings, the following image is an all-red pixel grid that also measures 4 by 3 pixels, which may render only as an empty thumbnail if you're reading this on a phone: <br /></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhU5z5eKE6dWpknaxzlkjwwz6xh4bKFXlQbJCi3rqjPhf4E7DQ_nTpeiAQCtJotD6Udo1nhD6yRWVfxdHKZPodVEadtMJR1bVQNm8FAFNe7dgJZRZERlt2ogbw6h8UKtSqsTjbMn57D_XWlhCmoI3-8eeFC6aqwLyzLHfvi3dDT3VroUp7U1UuPjxzUm4s/s4/4x3.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3" data-original-width="4" height="3" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhU5z5eKE6dWpknaxzlkjwwz6xh4bKFXlQbJCi3rqjPhf4E7DQ_nTpeiAQCtJotD6Udo1nhD6yRWVfxdHKZPodVEadtMJR1bVQNm8FAFNe7dgJZRZERlt2ogbw6h8UKtSqsTjbMn57D_XWlhCmoI3-8eeFC6aqwLyzLHfvi3dDT3VroUp7U1UuPjxzUm4s/s1600/4x3.jpg" width="4" /></a></div> <p></p>Guushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03166389806894254342noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3305714597702277726.post-74388508378212481542023-12-10T15:57:00.002+01:002023-12-31T22:54:16.067+01:00Window Dressing<p>Speaking about traditional window dressing at a 2023 lecture for Museum Dhondt-Dhaenens, Lucy McKenzie says: '<i>And of course as, ..., it makes sense that, you know, as a sort of art form, or..., as something becomes obsolete it suddenly becomes... an artform. [...] It's always as they get superseded they become kind of art, or they become kind of precious. And it's the same as our high streets die, as the physical shopping just whithers, we started to see windows as much more precious and as this kind of tangible art form.</i>' </p><p>See also the <a href="https://blog.geeveedeevee.com/2017/04/introduction.html" target="_blank">introductory post</a> of this blog.<br /></p>Guushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03166389806894254342noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3305714597702277726.post-10200736494588962742023-12-02T17:14:00.001+01:002023-12-02T17:14:24.484+01:00Kasplantje<p> <table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgdPsfWGSEAtuxZ_hRT3b_OemiuvXMTqVJ-b0OZ2GXITwhEAX0d2BU0J-CipE2Xcf02gM0OmmcSYG2GsOTfJjDxn6_cXXZ1MOmhqWycRobNpL7T29i0QSXH-DBhobLS3iBwSySfrMipTIzZVGYUOVhvyOEWXoVGNGcFwIf82KvvpDn1r8O-CPH2IzaYQHw/s998/Screenshot%202023-12-02%20at%2017.10.27.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="998" data-original-width="654" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgdPsfWGSEAtuxZ_hRT3b_OemiuvXMTqVJ-b0OZ2GXITwhEAX0d2BU0J-CipE2Xcf02gM0OmmcSYG2GsOTfJjDxn6_cXXZ1MOmhqWycRobNpL7T29i0QSXH-DBhobLS3iBwSySfrMipTIzZVGYUOVhvyOEWXoVGNGcFwIf82KvvpDn1r8O-CPH2IzaYQHw/w263-h400/Screenshot%202023-12-02%20at%2017.10.27.png" width="263" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Pizza Gallery, Antwerp<br /></td></tr></tbody></table></p><br /><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh2BQQ6HROqvu5v2K7sIfy8WeUANRFIV4obniascRAxn0la9TRe2Pp3SJ40zp6165LinwiR0WtXV9P-XZq1QL0tXbwQmxNBm_N06Bc2uLF-4M4zh9A1W5QbKLJSZRcFYRQLWQcnrl3b9FvgpvtfbeC1IDMk81LoeSLd_wGYJ9PJf11kYd4U7PTmcXqfsvA/s974/Screenshot%202023-12-02%20at%2017.13.20.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="974" data-original-width="656" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh2BQQ6HROqvu5v2K7sIfy8WeUANRFIV4obniascRAxn0la9TRe2Pp3SJ40zp6165LinwiR0WtXV9P-XZq1QL0tXbwQmxNBm_N06Bc2uLF-4M4zh9A1W5QbKLJSZRcFYRQLWQcnrl3b9FvgpvtfbeC1IDMk81LoeSLd_wGYJ9PJf11kYd4U7PTmcXqfsvA/w270-h400/Screenshot%202023-12-02%20at%2017.13.20.png" width="270" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Heuvel Galerie, Eindhoven<br /></td></tr></tbody></table><br />Guushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03166389806894254342noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3305714597702277726.post-29260856618973352322023-11-26T11:35:00.007+01:002023-12-22T11:20:04.755+01:00Principal Understanding<p>In the past I've already spoken about how much of the Jan Van Eyck Academy's 'Future Materials Bank' programme is somewhat misguided.</p><p>In that post I didn't point fingers at individual contributors, because I do believe the general aim of the Future Materials Bank is a positive one and I don't like to deride people who make honest mistakes.</p><p>That being said, I recently visited their website again and one of their featured recent additions was listed as '<a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20231116213927/https://www.futurematerialsbank.com/material/phenol-sodium-ascorbate/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Phenol, Sodium Ascorbate</a>'.</p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEikPwlXrNxB7ocvukzFr3BONYNXQFPYYTnc9E8TSd4FaYX3XaILqNyvTAe46D-emANfrV_59FnHmHLzjReQZRRag80eoQ1xyeg1Ez53UTxVd4pqMfnICMfpD_MOaTFDTI0nQ_QQ6B0Xj2aoZLtyakfT0HIJXvbqGNIhkaB89D2GhFAezrgp2fb33qno3mE/s349/Screenshot%202023-11-19%20at%2016.13.04.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="349" data-original-width="280" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEikPwlXrNxB7ocvukzFr3BONYNXQFPYYTnc9E8TSd4FaYX3XaILqNyvTAe46D-emANfrV_59FnHmHLzjReQZRRag80eoQ1xyeg1Ez53UTxVd4pqMfnICMfpD_MOaTFDTI0nQ_QQ6B0Xj2aoZLtyakfT0HIJXvbqGNIhkaB89D2GhFAezrgp2fb33qno3mE/w161-h200/Screenshot%202023-11-19%20at%2016.13.04.png" width="161" /></a></div><p></p><p>This caught my eye, as phenol is extremely toxic and definitely not safe for use outside a laboratory. Naturally it occurred to me that this is in stark contrast with the aims of the Future Materials Bank.<br />The accompanying article is confusingly written and contains a number of errors, so I was surprised to learn at the end of it that its author, Giulia Principe, was a 'tech fellow' at the Rijksakademie in 2022. The tech fellow programme was instituted that same year and gives a small number of 'artists with advanced knowledge of materials and/or techniques' the possibility 'to become a technical specialist. [...] In addition, the tech fellow conducts research into materials or technology in the workshop(s), and makes a report'. The year-long fellowships are supported with a budget of €22.000 for each of the fellows.<br /></p><p>The article at the Future Materials Bank seems to be derived from Principe's research results of this fellowship as published on the website of the Rijksakademie. That text is somewhat easier to read, yet contains the same errors, so I will base my criticism here on that short paper.<br /></p><p>Principe's 'research' was concerned with finding more environmentally friendly solutions to photographic film development. The main body of the text is thus split in four parts: Developer, Stop, Fixer and Waste Management.<br />The first sentence of the developer section already is a good indication of things to come: '<i>All film developers are made from phenols, a molecule that consists of a phenyl group bonded to
a hydroxyl group</i>.' None of this is strictly speaking true. Most commercial film developers are in fact made from phenols, but this is because phenols are good reducing agents for silver halides. In theory any reducing agent can work as a film developer, so even something like iron(II) can be, and has been, used as such. The second part of the sentence confuses the nomenclature, as phenols are benzene rings with one or more hydroxyl substitutes. When a benzene ring is itself a substituent on another molecule, then it's called phenyl-. This confusion of nomenclature also helps explains the strange indication of 'phenol' as a 'future material', as phenols, multiple, are a class of molecules that can have many different properties. Some of those molecules are helpful and essential to complex life, while others, like simple phenol, are dangerous and toxic.<br />The rest of the section is full of these kind of statements that miss the mark and they do nothing but show Principe's own lack of understanding of the things she is professing. <br />The main 'result' of her 'research' is that you can use ascorbic acid as a film developer. This has been known, as Principe herself asserts, since at least the 1930's, so this is hardly news. A clear understanding of what makes a good reducing agent might have lead her to some other possibilities of compounds that could act as successful film developers, but no explanation is given by her as to why ascorbic acid works well as a film developer. Neither is there an outline of what kind of properties a good film developer should have. The only theoretical background she presents is a screenshot of another paper, that shows an image of two isomers of ascorbic acid. She doesn't provide any form of citation or context for this paper. The screenshot does include some clarifying text by its authors, however this is cut-off mid sentence when it gets to the clarifying part.<br />Directly after Principe merely repeats that '<i>the addition of sodium carbonate is necessary to render the ascorbic acid solution alkaline in
order for it to work properly</i>' and no explanation is given why this is would be so. No proportions are given by which these two should be mixed, not a single bit of elucidation is presented in these 'research results' as to why or even how one could use ascorbic acid to develop film. Nor is there so much as a broad outline of what is happening when film is exposed and developed.<br />For the record, developing film means that an electron is added to (a cluster of) silver ions, which then become permanent and visible silver metals. All film developers are thus molecules that are able to donate electrons which selectively reduce the exposed Ag<sup>+</sup> to Ag<sup>0</sup>. Film developers are thus all reducing agents, with some other characteristics, like being soluble in water. Ascorbic acid is a particularly good reducing agent because of the resonance with the double bond next to the hydroxyl group, which partially stabilises the negative charge in the ascorbate ion. Phenolic compounds are even better reducing agents for this purpose because the conjugated pi-orbitals in the aromatic ring have even greater resonance stabilisation. This reaction needs to happen in basic conditions because the ascorbic acid will remain neutrally charged unless it's deprotonated. All of this is still a somewhat clunky explanation that requires more elaboration to most readers, but at the very least it gives some indication of what is happening and why.<br />In her project Principe also attempted to combine the ascorbic acid with extracts from plants, as in her words '<i>any source from the fungi or plant kingdom will add something to the developer</i>'. Again no theoretical explanation or reasoning is given and the whole section is pretty difficult to follow. It can however be gleaned that she is somehow searching for phenolic compounds from 'natural' sources. '<i>After testing several phenolic sources, I found a successful combination of sodium ascorbate and phenols extracted from blueberries. It works perfectly and just as fast as a regular developer with both film and paper</i>.' This extraction from the blueberries apparently happened through simple macerating and boiling. I found it bold, if not brazen, to claim that it's specifically the phenolic contents of blueberries that are extracted and contributing to this reaction. As we have already seen, any reducing agent is a possible film developer. Most acids are reducing agents, some sugars as well, and berries are full of those. Proper extraction and characterisation of wanted analytes is its own field of study, so to claim that you isolated a certain mildly water-soluble group of compounds by nothing but some soaking is questionable at best. Principe's own adventure into this complex field is when she realised that '<i>the extraction process can involve ethanol depending on the polarity of the source'. </i>I'm not exactly sure what 'the polarity of the source' is supposed to mean in this specific context, but her next assertion that '<i>certain natural phenols have different polarities and they can be extracted by solvent with opposite polarity</i>', is unfortunately false. All phenols are somewhat polar due to the high electronegativity of the oxygen atom, so the use of 'certain natural phenols' here is a clear safeguard against strong claims which might be wrong. As for the second part of the sentence, solvents tend to dissolve molecules of similar polarity, not the opposite. A clear example is the inability to mix water and oil, as water is a very polar substance, and oil an a-polar substance.<br />The developer section of the text ends abruptly, with no real conclusion other than the previously cited unbased assertion that '<i>it works perfectly and just as fast'. </i><br />Even the most elementary lab reports contains some theoretical background on the performed experiment, together with a detailed, and preferably reworkable, description of the experimental method(s) used, the raw results of those experiments and a discussion of those results. All of this is referenced with a bibliography of cited sources. This quote-unquote report contains none of these. <br />But we are only halfway through the text, so maybe it will get better.</p><p>The next section, stop, is very short. There is some talk about how even though it isn't considered harmful it should still be replaced, as <i>'waste may have to be pre-treated before discharge and should not be discharged to the septic system.'</i> The manufacturer likely included this message because they know their product will be used to wash away other chemicals, but they don't know which chemicals, in what manner, or in what quantity. Very likely harmful candidates are bromide salts originating from the silver bromide in the film and perhaps the aforementioned harmful phenols. Thus replacing the stop doesn't necessarily change anything about its environmental effects.<br />Nevertheless, according to Principe, '<i>replacing the stop was easy, since the solution should be simply acidic in order to work</i>.' Finally we have found something that is unequivocally true in this text, but unfortunately she offers no explanation as to why it is true. As we have already seen before, the stop introduces a (weak) acid to the development solution in order to (re)protonate the ascorbate, at which point it is no longer active as a reducing agent. It can then simply be washed away.<br /></p><p>The next chapter, fixer, is then regrettably one big pile of misinformation.<br />The main assertion of the section is that '<i>a low-toxicity photographic fixer can be made from just salt and water'</i>. This is just not true and we will discuss why in a second. First it must be addressed that the most common fixer is ammonium thiosulphate, which, as Principe says '<i>is not classified as environmentally hazardous. However,</i>' she continues, '<i>it is classified as a Hazardous Decomposition Product: heating to dryness will cause production of ammonia, oxides of sulfur, ammonium sulfate and sulfur.</i>' The key phrase there is 'heating to dryness'. If your aqueous solution of ammonium thiosulphate is boiled until all water has been evaporated and only some hot powder is left, then, and only then, will such decomposition occur. As commercial photographic fixer is used in water at room temperature, such a decomposition event will never never happen. There thus is no danger in using ammonium thiosulphate.<br /></p><p>Yet according to Principe it is still necessary to replace this fixer and her preferred replacement is salt, or sodium chloride. Sodium chloride is itself an ionic bond of Na<sup>+</sup> and Cl<sup>-</sup>. The reaction that thus supposedly occurs with silver bromide should be AgBr (s) + NaCl (aq) → AgCl (aq) + NaBr (aq). A very clear indication that this cannot and will not happen is that AgCl, or silver chloride, is itself insoluble in water and that NaCl is in fact often used to precipitate Ag[NO<sub>3</sub>] <i>out</i> of solution. <br />But perhaps we're wrong in this straightforward assertion of knowledge that can be found in the solubility charts taught in high school chemistry.<br />In Principe's description, <i>'at least 40% of the solution should be salt</i>' and it will take <i>'24 to 48 hours to clear the film'</i>. The extremely high concentration of NaCl and the long reaction time should also be indications that using table salt might not be a solution to the problem.<br />Principe claims that '<i>the water should be saturated with salt</i>'. As the definition of saturation is the maximum amount of a substance that can be dissolved in another, it should be obvious that saturating a solution with one substance is always counterproductive if the goal is to get another substance into that solution.<br /> For a more mathematical example as to how ridiculous this proposition is, let's remember that the proposed reaction has a stoichiometric ratio of 1:1, where one molecule of AgBr reacts with one molecule of NaCl. AgBr weighs about 3,2 times as much per mole than NaCl does, so with one gram of NaCl, you can theoretically dissolve 3,2 grams of AgBr. In a picture of the process, some film strips are sitting in about 250 mL of water. If 40% of the solution, by weight I assume, is NaCl, then that 250 mL of water contains 100 grams of salt. That 100 grams of salt, if Principe's assertions were somehow true, could then theoretically react with about 320 grams of silver bromide. For some reason I doubt that a little five centimetre strip of photographic film contains 320 grams of silver bromide. <br />But, you might say, it has already been said that the reaction is slow, so that's why you need so much salt. This ignores the fact that the reaction can only happen at the surface of the film strip, so all those other molecules that aren't present at that surface don't contribute to the reaction. Hence the need for agitation in any of the steps in film development. <br />In an attempt to speed up the reaction, Principe also considers the temperature. She quotes the Arrhenius equation, which broadly says that for a 10 ºK increase in temperature, the reaction rate roughly doubles. This has mostly to do with activation energy, or the amount of energy needed to start a reaction, which is not necessarily relevant here. In her text she somehow gets to a very specific increase of the rate of 2,7 times at 30 ºC. She thus obviously attempted to calculate something, although its not clear to me what exactly that could be. As we have already seen that in the salt solution there is barely any reaction happening at all, a far simpler explanation is that solubility tends to increase with higher
temperatures. You can see this when you add sugar to warm tea and it readily dissolves, but then when the tea cools down, most of this sugar will become a sticky lump at the bottom. <br />Clearly there are problems with the feasibility of Principe's proposed reaction, that's why <i>'thanks to the Rijksakademie resources, I was able to work with a chemist over the summer to find a sustainable way to increase the velocity of the fixer</i>'. I'm not sure what the background of this supposed chemist was, or what instructions they were given, but despite them not convincing Principe in the errors of her ways, they nevertheless gave some possible solutions that may have some impact in getting the AgBr to dissolve. <br />The simplest of these was the addition of methylsulfonylmethane (MSM). Once again Principe gives no explanation as to why this would work, but she does go on about how it has '<i>many claims of uses in healthcare and beauty products</i>'. It also supposedly '<i>speeds up the reaction to 5 hours</i>'. Although not a great result per se, we can still see why it might do something if we compare the structures of methylsulfonylmethane and thiosulphate:</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiZ3y2Z1GW0VdDKoEeCGhoOZZ0amE2sQ12EX7B0Zm05SB-m3IiWNST5FuW6uPhVSiXXxeDbzxYuGA7ftQ6tajf-o7pKREwqvpqizK6mcXRp0N4DyABM8LiIUT4NQSZC5a2g_0Fz4aoJSss41bB1zbI2T7GuwxOCLZdyBW2T7ZO71hVgigKMRHXS7AvTe5g/s820/sulfing.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="340" data-original-width="820" height="133" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiZ3y2Z1GW0VdDKoEeCGhoOZZ0amE2sQ12EX7B0Zm05SB-m3IiWNST5FuW6uPhVSiXXxeDbzxYuGA7ftQ6tajf-o7pKREwqvpqizK6mcXRp0N4DyABM8LiIUT4NQSZC5a2g_0Fz4aoJSss41bB1zbI2T7GuwxOCLZdyBW2T7ZO71hVgigKMRHXS7AvTe5g/w320-h133/sulfing.png" width="320" /></a></div><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p>As you can see, there are some similarities in their composition, with a number of oxygen atoms bonding to a central sulphur atom. Even if in MSM the oxygen atoms aren't negatively charged, they still have two free electron pairs that may draw in some of the positively charged silver ions. The effectiveness of MSM without experimental measurement is to be debated however, as even sulphite, or SO<sub>3</sub><sup>2-</sup>, which can be considered an intermediate between sulphonyl and thiosulphate, only poorly dissolves Ag<sup>+</sup> according to our trusty solubility chart. However, since the MSM is probably present in a large excess and the amount of silver to be diluted is miniscule, it might actually be something that works, albeit not very effectively.<br />A final suggestion that Principe makes for the fixer recipe is adding potassium bromide, that according to her will speed up the process and '<i>also dissolve the silver bromide</i>'. The only mechanism by which potassium bromide can react directly with silver bromide is: AgBr + KBr → AgBr + KBr. Clearly this is a pointless tautology, but Principe nevertheless asserts that '<i>adding 25 grams of potassium bromide to the salt fixer speeds up the process</i>.' If this is experimentally found to be true, then it might do this by reacting with some other molecule that reacts more strongly with bromide and would otherwise hinder the reaction with silver. However, in more general cases, the presence of an excess of bromide will impede any other reaction with the silver in what is known as the common ion effect.<br /></p><p>So now we have clearly seen that it can't be NaCl, or KBr, that dissolves the silver bromide, then what might be the mechanism at work here? A suggestion I've found which sounds plausible is that the silver bromide reacts with the small amounts of anti-caking agents present in industrially produced table salt. As these additives are generally larger ligands that usually are able to dissolve metals to some extent, there might be a possibility that the small amounts present in the saturated table salt solution are enough to dissolve some of the silver bromide over the course of a day. However, I'm not fully convinced of this explanation, as the only legal anti-caking agents in the EU are likewise poorly soluble in water when combined with silver. It could be equally as likely that the slow dissolution process Principe observes is simply the time it takes for the miniscule amount of silver to dissolve in pure water. It is unclear, however, whether or not this possibility has been tested or even considered.<br /></p><p>In the final chapter, waste management, it once again becomes abundantly clear that Principe understands very little of the chemistry she's working with. She firstly claims that '<i>because of the organic nature of these chemical alternatives, waste management is easier to
handle</i>, which is a non-sequitur, especially if one considers the use of the word organic, as meaning carbon-based, in chemistry. Shortly after she asserts that '<i>discarding fixer solutions is more difficult due to the traces of silver left in the spent solution</i>'. Her first answer to this problem is electroplating the trace amounts of silver out of solution. This is technically possible, if not very effective, but she completely overlooked a very big problem with this method when applied to her fixer recipe. Principe's fixer recipe is a saturated solution of sodium chloride. Electrolysis of sodium chloride will mostly produce chlorine gas, which was famously used as a chemical weapon during the first world war. So although the tiny amounts of silver might have some environmental impact, electrolysis is definitely not the answer to that particular problem.<br />In her report Principe never considers the side products of her reactions, which are usually also the waste products. After all, these are the things that aren't part of your desired reaction, but are nevertheless present. Bromide, for example, is never mentioned by her as a waste product, even if halogens are commonly a major consideration in processing laboratory waste.<br />To come back to the problem of silver waste; an obvious answer is making the silver highly soluble, with, say, thiosulphate. In a 2009 review of the bioaccumulation and toxicity of silver compounds, H.T. Ratte already concluded that '<i>silver thiosulfate, a highly soluble compound and main component of
wastewaters of photoprocessors, has a very low toxicity (e.g., it is
15,000–17,000 times less toxic than silver nitrate). This can be
attributed to the silver complexed by thiosulfate, which reduces the
bioavailability of free silver ions.</i>'<sup>1</sup> So if diluted and refreshed properly, using the commercial fixer is most likely the easiest, best, safest and most environmentally friendly solution. There's really very little reason to be complicating matters much further.</p><p>In conclusion, Guilia Principe's 'research' merely posits a single well-known fact from the 1930's. In addition to a number of false or incomplete assertions, the only novel solution she presents cannot work in the way she claims it does and the first method she suggests for handling the waste products produces a deadly gas.<br />She spent a year and twenty-two thousand euros to come to these conclusions, which were supported by a major institution in the form of the Rijksakademie and were mindlessly regurgitated by another in the form of the Jan van Eyck Academie. <br />I would like to end on positive note about all this, but considering their lofty claims of expertise I unfortunately can't see it as anything other than an embarrassment for everybody involved.<br /></p><p> </p><p> <span> <span style="font-size: x-small;">References</span></span></p><p><span style="font-size: x-small;">1. <br /></span><span style="font-size: x-small;">Ratte, H.T. (1999), Bioaccumulation and toxicity of silver compounds: A
review. Environmental Toxicology and Chemistry, 18: 89-108. <a aria-label="Digital Object Identifier" href="https://doi.org/10.1002/etc.5620180112">https://doi.org/10.1002/etc.5620180112</a></span></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p>Guushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03166389806894254342noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3305714597702277726.post-31659697038903652092023-11-20T18:54:00.000+01:002023-11-20T18:54:23.141+01:00We've always done it this way.<p>Every once in a while a product's design and packaging needs to be updated.<br />I've never quite understood why this is a hard-and-fast rule, but it nevertheless seems to be ingrained in the current business culture. As long as I can remember I've been interested in it though, where the 2009 redesign of the Hema logo stands out in my mind as a clear moment where I became very aware of these changes.</p><p>Often the changes are more subtle than such a complete overhaul, and instead of being a total rebranding, the packaging design is just a bit 'freshened up'.<br />It was then a few years ago that I noticed that a particular style of crisps I enjoy, 'à l'ancienne' from Croky, had its packaging redesigned.<br /></p><p>The crisps are thin and very crunchy, which is supposedly reminiscent of the old, handcrafted way of preparing crisps. It is for that reason that for as long as I could remember, the bag featured a drawing of an older spectacled man in a vest with rolled up sleeves. He holds up a single crisp in admiration, while holding a bag of the same crisps to create a Droste effect. This drawing clearly evokes the advertising style of the early 1900's, as well as associations with craftsmanship and pride in one's work.<br />Regardless of how one may feel about this, it was a marketing strategy that communicated this message of historic craftsmanship unambiguously and effectively.</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiseQWDfFJPB00dHe2HQSAZpScyaYt7h72pqmBLHgdopaHZBzszGZOUC-umkA-egt7LBGPLu5sSaocTa9W5PSWwZ_OUhduJM5zIjThRDoPLHsyHj5jbkbg5Mh-ZE3_zXEiNs5o7v-0uHKBf_Nh8pXcjLhdQ93PrBLqizAbNAyBwxBwSQzhPqGLdc2tmLqA/s404/0044ceac11bc2632fbd5608b21a74516--selon-chips.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="404" data-original-width="236" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiseQWDfFJPB00dHe2HQSAZpScyaYt7h72pqmBLHgdopaHZBzszGZOUC-umkA-egt7LBGPLu5sSaocTa9W5PSWwZ_OUhduJM5zIjThRDoPLHsyHj5jbkbg5Mh-ZE3_zXEiNs5o7v-0uHKBf_Nh8pXcjLhdQ93PrBLqizAbNAyBwxBwSQzhPqGLdc2tmLqA/w187-h320/0044ceac11bc2632fbd5608b21a74516--selon-chips.jpg" width="187" /></a></div><p>When Croky redesigned their packaging, however, they got rid of the image of this craftsman, instead replacing it with an superficially similar image of an older woman in the same position.</p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiNWCqHdlesHlN8knWbdaDvl4nqa5Yx1Sw4vzdM_gFSgcoTgUidZiWMPCN-by1fR7vRhsvN-Jr6xL3nBgIfgWs2W7a07DYARthCVQgk5JkMChx5WygbA9zYObS4HgjZwc3g0XotnVZtWtvNxL65yjt_9DdP-ty7NMOxgCEtwLQsLGMANEOYNTMLrA76jwc/s266/Screenshot%202023-05-25%20at%2010.14.21.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="266" data-original-width="266" height="266" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiNWCqHdlesHlN8knWbdaDvl4nqa5Yx1Sw4vzdM_gFSgcoTgUidZiWMPCN-by1fR7vRhsvN-Jr6xL3nBgIfgWs2W7a07DYARthCVQgk5JkMChx5WygbA9zYObS4HgjZwc3g0XotnVZtWtvNxL65yjt_9DdP-ty7NMOxgCEtwLQsLGMANEOYNTMLrA76jwc/s1600/Screenshot%202023-05-25%20at%2010.14.21.png" width="266" /></a></div><p>There are a number of things wrong with this design and the first is the name. They changed the name of the crisps from 'a l'ancienne' to 'op grootmoeder's wijze', which translates to 'the way grandma used to make it'. The problem with this should be obvious, as I don't think there is anybody left alive on this planet who remembers fondly how their grandma used to fill the house with the smell of crisps on Sunday mornings. Industrial production of crisps was started in the early 1900's and I think the vast majority of crisps have been industrially produced since. Their convenience is maybe the most appealing quality of the potato chip, and grandma doesn't want to labour for hours to give their grandchildren a similar or even inferior product. Thus the premise of the redesign is nothing but a falsehood.</p><p>One can only guess as to what misguided principles led to such a decision, but it was nevertheless further exacerbated by the design itself.<br />For one thing, the supposed grandma in the image is holding a bag of the crisps she supposedly made herself. As if grandma would package her own crisps in aluminium-lined bags for home consumption. Even if we think that grandma was actually at the helm of a large industrial corporation, it still depicts grandma not as a woman who takes great pride in her craftsmanship, but rather as a calculating businesswoman who sacrificed her home cooking for bigger profits. <br />Presumably they kept the Droste effect intact in the design for the association it has with advertising of the past, but then it begs the question why they made the drawing itself so clearly digital. It's a poorly made image that looks like some underpaid person slapped together in fifteen minutes on a tablet, which isn't exactly something that would evoke nostalgic feelings in a potential customer. If anything it creates a cognitive dissonance, which is something that should be avoided in marketing at all costs. <br />Grandma's also doesn't hold the crisp to the light to inspect inspect it, like the craftsman did on the old packaging, but rather uncomfortably close to her face, making her appear less like a discerning professional and more like somebody who needs to see an optician for her poor eyesight.<br /></p><p>All in all it can thus be said that this redesign wasn't a particularly effective one.<br />I immediately felt at the time that the company had made a mistake that would limit the appeal of their product. Because I liked the crisps themselves and understood sales might diminish because of this ill-informed decision by the marketing department, I sent them a letter outlining why it this redesign was a terrible idea.<br />I never received a reply, or even an acknowledgement, to this letter, but about a year later I did find my favourite crisps again in the supermarket. This time with another redesign that reinstated the original name and a slightly modified version of the original drawing of the craftsman.</p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhW4yztwaNBywJs6MNTcVc3RIWqxQ6AlZYOtFypzNNMKVbKSvSyVHE8okbNz7kf0fGXrO7H83yNJnzqL6aK29Rrp05204lP_AwCt-7-qiquJH4FntqgpqOv3LoSJnhCTKMeFXem417QdIlm2THxy4mgO4Yssq3sUCQOagyT3kikUgRbqSzzP-gqTCewYNI/s695/Croky%20a%CC%80%20l'Ancienne%20chips%20Naturel%20200g_2022_gecomprimeerd_1.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="695" data-original-width="400" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhW4yztwaNBywJs6MNTcVc3RIWqxQ6AlZYOtFypzNNMKVbKSvSyVHE8okbNz7kf0fGXrO7H83yNJnzqL6aK29Rrp05204lP_AwCt-7-qiquJH4FntqgpqOv3LoSJnhCTKMeFXem417QdIlm2THxy4mgO4Yssq3sUCQOagyT3kikUgRbqSzzP-gqTCewYNI/w184-h320/Croky%20a%CC%80%20l'Ancienne%20chips%20Naturel%20200g_2022_gecomprimeerd_1.png" width="184" /></a></div><p></p>Guushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03166389806894254342noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3305714597702277726.post-76971220698415411892023-10-04T13:49:00.002+02:002023-12-19T21:54:21.761+01:001337<p>During the summer of 2023 the Frans Masereel Centrum, a centre for printmaking, hosted an exhibition by Simon Denny called Metaverse Landscapes, primarily to present some lithographs he made at the centre. Denny is an artist who according to his gallery Petzel 'makes exhibitions and projects that unpack the stories technologists tell us'.<br />The text for this exhibition was written by Adina Glickstein, who according to her website previously done '<i>editorial and research at studio simon denny</i>' and is a '<i>writer and editor working between art, tech, and time-based media</i>', with a '<i>particular interest</i>' in '<i>critical approaches to emerging technology</i>'. </p><p>She starts her text stating that '<i>Lithography drives the metaverse. This is not merely a poetic thought: the microchips in GPU's [...] are made using lithographic printing procedures.</i>'<br />Except they aren't. <br />Sure, the process of making microchip wafers is called photolithography, but the factual process has little in common with the kind of lithography used in printing. Lithography, the printing process with inks and paper, is most simply explained as creating a hydrophilic layer on an otherwise hydrophobic surface. <br />Photolithography, on the other hand, is more akin to a combination of stencilling and etching. There, a so-called wafer is first covered in a photosensitive material. This material is subsequently either hardened or removed by light that's passed through a mask. This exposes parts of the wafer, which is then etched before the photosenstive material is washed away and you're left with an etched surface, a semiconductor.</p><p>The only thing the two techniques have in common is the name, which is probably related to the fact that photolithography is ultimately done on wafers made of silicon, of 'stone'. That this misunderstanding is the basis for the rest of the text, as well as the exhibition, doesn't bode well for the self-proclaimed technological interests of Adina Glickstein nor Simon Denny.<br /></p>Guushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03166389806894254342noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3305714597702277726.post-48197300219665781442023-09-27T16:59:00.000+02:002023-09-27T16:59:32.135+02:00Dead Light<p>The starting point for this post is the article '<a href="https://www.mistermotley.nl/ze-zeggen-dat-de-wereld-kleurlozer-is-geworden/" target="_blank">Ze zeggen dat de wereld kleurlozer is geworden</a>' by Dutch artist Barbara Collé. The article is a passionate, but meandering, treatise on the increasing presence of dull and grey colours in industrial production.</p><p>While I agree with many of the observations that she makes in regards to subjective colour experience, the arguments she employs to make her points tend to be confused and disjointed. <br />In particular I would like to focus on one section of the article, which elaborates on the observation of Hella Jongerius that colour in design has gotten more flat over the decades. This fading of colour is attributed to 'carbopigment', established in the next sentence as Carbon Black. It isn't clear whether this attribution is made by Jongerius or Collé, but what follows are a number of wrongly construed statements that make an emotional appeal against the use of Carbon Black. </p><p>Collé states that Carbon Black is an 'industrial product' that consists of 'soot particles of heavy petroleum and coal tar'. It seems like this phrasing is based on a poor translation from English to Dutch for various descriptions of related carbon-based compounds, because as written it's mostly incorrect. While Carbon Black is the result of incomplete combustion of hydrocarbons, it's distinguished from soot through size and chemical composition. Furthermore, both heavy petroleum products and coal tar are characterised by their high content of aromatic rings, while Carbon Black is mostly aliphatic. The harmful connotations we have with petroleum and tar are caused in a large part by their high aromatic content, which is absent in Carbon Black. Your average campfire is going to produce very similar particles and to describe Carbon Black in this way is thus misleading at best.<br />Collé's principal complaint against Carbon Black is that it 'kills' and 'blunts' colours when used in mixtures with other pigments. She claims that it becomes clear why this dulling effect exists if you consider that Carbon Black is also used to make 'plastic' UV-resistant. '<i>Because characteristic of this soot pigment is that it completely doesn't react to light</i>', she says. '<i>It kills every colour. The industry loves this and calls dead 'colour-fast' and 'reliable'.</i>'<br />The arguments she makes here are simply incongruent. Carbon Black is used to make polypropylene more uv-resistant, but this property has no inherent relation to colour. To see that uv-resistance isn't related to colour, simply consider your average sun cream. Sunscreens obviously have a high resistance to ultraviolet light, but most of them are transparent to somewhat white in colour, not the dulling dark grey we would expect from Collé's argument.</p><p>Collé's arguments seem to depend on a misguided understanding of what light is, how it reacts with various substances and how this affects our perception of the colour of these substances.<br />What we call light is more formally called electromagnetic radiation. The energy of which is related to its wavelength through the equation <i>E = hv/</i><span><i>λ</i>, where <i>E</i> is energy, <i>h</i> is Planck's constant, <i>v</i> is the speed of light and </span><span><i>λ</i> is the wavelength. Because both <i>h</i> and <i>v</i> are constants that are divided by the wavelength, we can say that the shorter a wavelength is, the higher the energy will be. Through historically grown customs, we give different names to electromagnetic radiation of different wavelengths, but other than their wavelengths, x-rays do not fundamentally differ from visible light, microwaves or radio waves.<br />Visible light has a wavelength ranging from ~380 nanometres, where we see it as violet, and ~700 nanometres, where we call it red. The wavelengths of the ultraviolet spectrum are shorter than those of visible light, ranging from ~200 to ~380nm. Because they are shorter they are higher in energy and therefore more damaging.<br />The absorption of electromagnetic radiation by a compound in the spectrum of ultraviolet to infrared is important in the chemical analysis of compounds. For reasons we won't go into here, single atoms absorb light at singular wavelengths, and molecules absorb in broader 'bands' of wavelengths, related to their atomic composition. In UV-Vis absorption spectrometry, the relative absorption of UV and visible light is measured and plotted out in a graph. In such a graph, the relative absorbance of electromagnetic radiation on the y-axis is plotted against the wavelength on the x-axis in the following manner:<br />
</span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiOXlr53NQ_H80KdOmvYy9_czJ0W6BYpAAhCHUlSSXfjFToVFiJpLKQfxvv39-uI85zhLe4q6baUtLOsJqAGbL4qdMW5A4fqsmKHc9xCjWY_8MGFNlNjoPkw7vzkEumEVbrNV87E1cGUuI-_5ra8sZhddU430DwBgTuIX9dIHVotOUSOHdmXrOt9kQ-YaA/s2008/absorption_a.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1654" data-original-width="2008" height="330" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiOXlr53NQ_H80KdOmvYy9_czJ0W6BYpAAhCHUlSSXfjFToVFiJpLKQfxvv39-uI85zhLe4q6baUtLOsJqAGbL4qdMW5A4fqsmKHc9xCjWY_8MGFNlNjoPkw7vzkEumEVbrNV87E1cGUuI-_5ra8sZhddU430DwBgTuIX9dIHVotOUSOHdmXrOt9kQ-YaA/w400-h330/absorption_a.png" width="400" /></a></div><span>In order to see how the absorbance in the UV range is irrelevant to the compounds' colour, let us consider the UV-Vis absorption spectra of Carbon Black and Indigo Carmine, a water-soluble derivative of indigo that's just as blue.</span><p></p><span><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjmRBdXNR7UYmSnZGIeMSdGKfOtg8h8nySgF_d_wCOwe6RcuQlrNpTW8Q6EI8B1WvoXCOb8dnlE7MmoN8xN-FBe3JU0ijF6EktW2I6Y8lwDClMyx2bcqDc9DxDNBXivv6MvP9IOUdG-caBJo6mPjLXqr8sFdeenLRspqfkKJUKT0S8GoIs29s4QfXUSjWE/s800/Absorbtion_B.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="517" data-original-width="800" height="259" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjmRBdXNR7UYmSnZGIeMSdGKfOtg8h8nySgF_d_wCOwe6RcuQlrNpTW8Q6EI8B1WvoXCOb8dnlE7MmoN8xN-FBe3JU0ijF6EktW2I6Y8lwDClMyx2bcqDc9DxDNBXivv6MvP9IOUdG-caBJo6mPjLXqr8sFdeenLRspqfkKJUKT0S8GoIs29s4QfXUSjWE/w400-h259/Absorbtion_B.png" width="400" /></a><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiLtzMB5EzN6BjVDmOg7xg947ABEDC7--eex6m6XDF6rjwvkZNwYJQWe-Ept-QUqpywJmK0gB2gdvL4MWIXlS_6PxV2iqoO3S0ahFyALKa1n4nkBDDARU93dh9QD4vZO_j41MMJ_i2MiJKKcfsqIxQK3JdXCHT0JbvdJznZCE8uNV17lmErbRk7GaEBkNs/s800/Absorbtion_C.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="517" data-original-width="800" height="259" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiLtzMB5EzN6BjVDmOg7xg947ABEDC7--eex6m6XDF6rjwvkZNwYJQWe-Ept-QUqpywJmK0gB2gdvL4MWIXlS_6PxV2iqoO3S0ahFyALKa1n4nkBDDARU93dh9QD4vZO_j41MMJ_i2MiJKKcfsqIxQK3JdXCHT0JbvdJznZCE8uNV17lmErbRk7GaEBkNs/w400-h259/Absorbtion_C.png" width="400" /></a></div></div>As you can see, there is a lot of absorption in the UV spectrum for both compounds, but only Carbon Black absorbs light evenly throughout the visible spectrum, as one would expect from a grey or black. Indigo carmine, on the other hand, only shows strong absorption between 550 and 650 nanometres for visible light. We perceive light in this range as green to red and as those wavelengths are absorbed, indigo carmine appears to us as blue.<br />These observations are in clear contradiction with both claims of Collé that Carbon Black 'kills' colour because it is UV-resistant and that it doesn't react with light. <br />Both Carbon Black and indigo carmine readily absorb UV light. Yet as you may or may not know, indigo fades relatively quickly with exposure to UV radiation and is therefore the opposite of UV-resistant. Resistance to ultraviolet light is thus not related to how much UV radiation a compound absorbs, but instead how it will release that energy afterwards. Indigo is more prone to chemical decomposition through its central double bond, while Carbon Black is a larger, more stable molecule that is more likely to dissipate the absorbed energy through a process called vibrational relaxation.<br />Furthermore, from Carbon Black's absorption
throughout the spectrum we can infer that it does in fact react to
visible light of all wavelengths. To put it more succinctly, this reactivity is
precisely what makes it black. Carbon Black's reactivity to light, as Collé calls it, thus doesn't affect the appearance of mixtures with Carbon Black in the way she supposes. <br /></span><br />She further claims that 'carbon' 'kills every colour' when it's added to paints 'to make other pigments darker'. <br />To make a pigment darker is to increase the absorption of the range where the pigments normally emits, or doesn't absorb, light. Say we have a pigment that absorbs all light from exactly 200 to 575 nm and from 585 to 800 nm. This would make it very yellow. If we were to darken this pigment, ideally we would add a substance that only absorbs light between 575 and 585 nm, a kind of anti-yellow. Such a substance does not exist, for any colour. No two pigments will have exactly complementary absorptions and even if they did, mixing them perfectly will be essentially impossible. Thus you can't uniformly darken a colour, but the best alternative we have is adding black pigments, of any sort, which absorb throughout the visible spectrum. They increase the absorption of all wavelengths, thereby relatively increasing the absorption of previously unabsorbed wavelengths more. This is thus the closest to what one could call a strict darkening of a colour.<br />Collé instead describes an alternative process, which 'every classical painter knows', where pigments with other colours, like red and green, are added to yellow to achieve an olive green colour. Which is fine, but in that case you haven't darkened your original yellow, you simply selectively increased the absorption of red and blue light. This will naturally give a more complex absorption spectrum, but it will also be one that has unrecognisably transformed your original yellow. You might get a mixture that can 'play a game with light' in such a case, but it won't be a darkening of yellow. In her argument she is thus comparing apples to oranges.<p></p><p>Collé's text ultimately is a rationalisation of her opinion that duller colours are less beautiful than brighter, more 'complex' ones. On the whole I would agree with that sentiment, but I can't abide when people use scientificly sounding rethoric to make a point that at its core is emotional and psychological.<br /></p>Guushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03166389806894254342noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3305714597702277726.post-88508126396402370062023-09-05T11:08:00.003+02:002023-09-05T11:08:15.912+02:00Briefly Unavailable for Maintenance<p>Having owned and operated a number of websites over the years, I particularly noticed the difference in maintaining my personal website, this blog and the website of my gallery.
<br />From it's first conception, my personal website has been difficult to me. Even when choosing the url, I considered many different options before eventually settling on 'geeveedeevee.com', a drawn-out spelling of my initials. This name is a compromise, as my full name seemed too corporate and self-promotional, while anything else seemed like trying to hard to be clever. Maybe it still is. The content of the website itself has also been ever changing, with its appearance as well as the works shown on it never seeming to be in a fixed state. There are always works, categories and exhibitions disappearing and re-appearing, depending on what I want to focus on. This makes my website a highly curated presentation of specific information, rather than an archive where one can find basic information about me or my work. </p><p>This is in sharp contrast with the website of the gallery. The primary function of the gallery's website is to provide information about the gallery's activities, both past, present, and future. Barring any major changes to its functional structure, new information is simply added in chronological order, as it occurs. Upkeep is simple, if time-consuming, and once something is added, it's almost never reconsidered. </p><p>In that sense the blog is a kind of hybrid between these two. Texts are added chronologically and in that sense it is a simple record of thoughts at the time they were fully formed. Yet although nothing ever gets removed from this blog, things are expanded, re-read and re-worked in minor ways over time. At any given moment there are also dozens of half-written posts waiting in the wings, ready to be finished, or started. They are also occasionally grouped in categories for easy retrieval and of course these categories are constantly scrutinised.
So even though I made these three websites primarily to document and present my own activities, each requires its own approach. I had often felt these differences subconsciously, although they didn’t became explicit in my thoughts until very recently.</p>Guushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03166389806894254342noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3305714597702277726.post-41507482235926951722023-07-19T21:49:00.103+02:002024-01-23T10:25:56.492+01:00A Change is Gonna Come<p>A few months ago I read the news that the Dutch Mondriaan Fund was working on a Fair Practice Code for galleries. Starting July this year, any commercial gallery that wishes to apply for funding at the Mondriaan Fund has to implement this code in order to be eligible. The code was made in consideration with the Dutch National Gallery Association and one of the stipulations in the code is that a gallery has to have written contracts with their artists. <br />As writing a contract can be difficult, the Mondriaan Fund further states on their information page that various model contracts can be found on website of the NGA.<br /></p><p>A few months ago I looked on that website and I found only one model contract. This was an 'Artist-Gallery Consignment Agreement' that was about as useful as a piece of toilet paper. I was thus preparing this post as a step-by-step consideration as to why it was a document that nobody should ever use, when I checked the NGA's website again today and found the agreement wasn't there anymore. <br />So then I checked the most recent backup of their website on archive.org, which dates from December 2021. On this archived page there is no mention of any model contract. I can thus only surmise that somewhere in 2022 somebody at the NGA hastily wrote and uploaded a 'model contract' to their website to appease the Mondriaan Fund in their preparation for the upcoming regulation change. Now that this change has been implemented it seems like there are other people who were critical of the proposed model agreement and I can only assume that the previous agreement was therefore taken down to be rewritten.</p><p>If that's the case I'm curious to see the results and I am hopeful that I can finally give some praise at one of these attempts of the art world to get its act together from a legal point of view.</p><p>Update 5-9-2023:<br />It has indeed been the case that a new model agreement was uploaded to the website of the NGA. This time it was called a 'Cooperation Agreement'. It's a workable document, broadly speaking, that mainly codifies the current common practices in the artist-gallery relationship.<br />It nevertheless fails to (re)consider particular points in these common practices that are or may be problematic. For example, there are some assumptions about what it means to be a 'primary gallery', which as it stands is about as legally useful as saying you'll be 'best friends forever'. A definition of this term with a legal basis would thus have been welcome.<br />For the rest the agreement has some inconsistencies, and inconsistencies can lead to legal disputes. Under article 2, for example, the duties of the gallery are outlined in what is roughly in accordance with a principal-agent agreement, like would be the case in an independent insurance agent and a insurance firm. Article 3 then goes into detail into how 'Unless agreed otherwise, the Artist’s work which is provided to the Gallery will always be on consignment in the Gallery'. Which is an odd thing to specify in relation to article 2, because an agent doesn't really have anything under consignment. A consignment agreement is always about specific works, while agent - principal agreements generally pertain to all activities of the agent relating to the principal in a certain geographical area. Which works 'are provided to the gallery' is thus more a question of physical storage and possession, not a different legal structure that wouldn't be covered by the agent-principal relationship.<br />Under article 5.1 it is also stated that 'The sales price will be the same for sales inside or outside the Gallery', which is fine enough. However, it is then stated in article 5.3 that 'The Gallery may allow any discount of up to 15% without the Artist’s permission.'. Which is something I would be interested in to see how it would play out in court, especially with the use of the words 'discount' and 'permission', as well as it being 'shared equally between the Gallery and the Artist'. That in this agreement the gallery, who as the agent is legally speaking working for the artist, unilaterally decides who can and can't deviate from the agreed upon sales prices is odd to me. For the same reason it is iffy that the gallery doesn't need to provide client information to the artist under article 6. As the gallery is a representative for the principal, legally the artist is providing the gallery with said client information, not the other way around. <br /></p><p>All in all this new document reflects current practices fairly accurately and is therefore better than the absolute garbage they had before. Yet it still fails to comprehensively reflect on the legal nature of the relationship between the artist and the gallery , the different kind of risks artists and galleries bear, and the difference in the power relationship between the parties, which may shift over time or per subject. <br /></p>Guushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03166389806894254342noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3305714597702277726.post-1986082651978500272023-07-03T08:49:00.007+02:002023-08-31T09:22:48.954+02:00Understanding Your Own Position<p>This week concludes the lenghty saga of the dismissal of Ranti Tjan as the facility director of the KABK, an art academy in the Hague. <br />At the heart of this story lay a conflict between Tjan and his supervisors that was presented by news outlets such as NRC, de Volkskrant and Metropolis M as Tjan being punished for his opinion that the executive board of the overarching Hogeschool der Kunsten Den Haag ought to consist of more than one person. <br /> This seems like a solid standpoint and it understandably gave Tjan a great deal of support from the media and the public, but this viewpoint is in fact a gross misunderstanding of the situation.<br />So let me explain briefly why Tjan's position makes it impossible for him to perform his duties as facility director and why he was rightly relieved from his position.<br /></p><p>For this we first need to understand a bit about the school's recent history. <br />From 2014 to 2021 Marieke Schoenmakers fulfilled the directorship role at the KABK. During this time the facility directors of the KABK and the Royal Conservatory were also the only two members of the executive board for both institutions. This in effect meant that they were supervising themselves, as the principal task of a facility director is the daily managment of an organisation, while the executive board is tasked with monitoring the facility director and managing larger institutional concerns. This is nevertheless a common situation with a few advantages, but also brings with it considerable risks of mismanangement. Indeed, there were many abuses under the tenure of Schoenmakers that can partially be attributed to the fact that she supervising herself during that time.</p><p>So towards the end of 2021, the supervisory board of the Hogeschool der Kunsten set out to rectify this situation, by appointing a new facility director of the KABK and installing a seperate person to function as the executive board. They expressed their intentions and described their proposed governance structure in the following document published in december 2021: <a href="https://www.hogeschoolderkunsten.nl/storage/documents/Bestuursmodel-HdK-herijkt-DEF.pdf">https://www.hogeschoolderkunsten.nl/storage/documents/Bestuursmodel-HdK-herijkt-DEF.pdf</a><br />It is worth noting that an executive board with a maximum of three members is mentioned as a distinct possibility and it is also noted that 'an executive board usually consists of two or three members'. The supervisory board is therefore not fundamentally dismissing the possibility of an executive board consisting of more than one person.<br /></p><p>A few months later Ranti Tjan was appointed facility director at the KABK and a short while after that Huug de Deugd was appointed as the sole member of the executive board.<br />Quickly after that Tjan expressed his dissatisfaction with the organisational structure, even though it could and should have been known to him that this structure was explicitly chosen to increase the accountability of the facility director. In various media Tjan is described as saying that he wished to expand the executive board from one person to three people, as an executive board with a single member is in conflict with the 'diverse and inclusive direction of the KABK'. <style>@font-face
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{page:WordSection1;}</style> What all of these media left out is the simple fact that what Tjan actually suggested, and kept on suggesting even during the court case, is not a general expansion of the executive board, but a specific composition of the executive board, where he and the director of the conservatory would be the other two board members next to de Deugd. This of course essentially brings back all power into the hands of Tjan and the other facility director, inherently returning to the previous and unwanted situation whereby the facility directors can freely make decisions that go unchecked for a long time.<br /></p><p>At best this can be seen as a fundamental misunderstanding on Tjan's part about his own job description that was, or should have been, known to him from before his appointment. At worst this can be interpreted as a blatant attempt at gaining more autonomous power by employing political pressure on his supervisors.<br />Simply put, by proposing his own inclusion in the executive board, Tjan wished to re-instate an unwanted situation that the supervisory board explicitly sought to correct with the current structure. That Tjan has claimed he 'hasn't been presented with an argument why a three headed executive board would be impossible', is thus nothing but an obvious indication of his own lack of understanding of his role within that structure. If a facility director is unclear about what aspects of the organisation he has decision power over and, rather than informing himself, he seeks to gain political traction through the media, then he is indisputably unfit for such a position. <style>@font-face
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{page:WordSection1;</style> <br />It is therefore no wonder that a court has held the same view and ordered the dismissal of Tjan, despite the misguided public outcry at the situation.</p>Guushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03166389806894254342noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3305714597702277726.post-64171673755279788422023-06-26T20:54:00.006+02:002023-07-03T09:56:36.845+02:00It leaves the whole world blind.<p>Ok, so.<br />I very recently found out that I don't have a visual imagination.<br />No wait, let me rephrase that.<br />I very recently found out that almost everybody else <i>is</i>
able to 'picture' things. I've always kind of known that my imagination
is essentially blind, I just never thought that this was a rare
occurrence. That idea seems so absurd to me that I feel uncomfortable
writing that it is somehow possible for other people to close their eyes
and 'see' an image.</p><p>This doesn't mean that I don't remember things I saw, or that I have no imagination whatsoever. It's just that
when I imagine or recall things, I simply don't see any images. <br />When
I do imagine things, I do so in terms of causal relationships, spatial
relationships, abstract qualities and perhaps most importantly, movement
and proprioception. But from what I understand other people just kind
of see shapes and such.</p><p>I don't feel this has hampered me in any
way in my life, but it does help to explain why I do certain things the
way I do, or perhaps why most people don't.<br />This is especially true
for my own understanding of art. I've often jokingly said that it's easy
to understand my views on art and that all you have to do is forget
everything you think you know about art. But I never understood just how
true that was.<br />Because unlike most people, it's quite literally
impossible for me to have a superficial understanding of an artwork.
When I think about an artwork, I truly can't imagine what it looks like.
The only things I can think about are how it's made, its context, some
characteristics of details and so forth, anything 'below the surface'. Whichever understanding I could have
about an artwork can only come from meticiously noting every single
aspect of an artwork that doesn't involve its appearance.<br />Consequently,
in order to make any sense of art at all, I had to develop a cohesive
theory of art that necessarily precludes images. While for nearly
everybody else in the world, the image, the visual, is <i>the</i>
central part of art. It's even exactly the aspect that seperated the
'visual' arts from all the others. As I'm only able to reason about art
without those visuals, if my thoughts about art are comprehensible, then
the visual aspect axiomatically, and perhaps paradoxically, can't be a
significant part of art.<br />Thus, while I was joking when said you have
to forget everything you think you know about art, it's exactly what
most people will need to do. To be able to see what I see, so to speak,
you have to develop an understanding of how it's possible to have
informed thoughts and arguments about art without knowing what it looks
like. While for me this is the only available option, I don't think it
is an easy task for most people.</p>Guushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03166389806894254342noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3305714597702277726.post-91259594684060583412023-06-04T20:34:00.001+02:002023-06-04T20:37:50.953+02:00The Shadows of Tomma Abts<p>It wasn't until very recently that I had a chance to examine multiple works by Tomma Abts up close. In many of her works she uses a faded shadow effect that provides the work with a mostly realistic 3D effect. What struck me about these shadows is that it's very obvious from the actual paintings that the lighter-coloured paint is layered on top of the darker shadow part. This makes a lot of sense, painting wise, as it allows her to use broader brushstrokes and therefore better control the frayed transition from light to dark. <br /> <br /></p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjKacpTVglKwZCwRdzV5i4R9GBBPGchU-x_DGbubXww4mBXG2UXKmLdupnr4ps_oCqhgpkmH8GrJgWTfSDjsBQ9PxX2c8cOLG0DnhhNmUdPBhRm0h8KXWC15dPgnbT_uly4r-Ene3QbIFVc7WenvIoXCIV6xSXZjdsT35ZjtUP0VRgo2Po8uHc7buKc/s394/feke.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="361" data-original-width="394" height="293" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjKacpTVglKwZCwRdzV5i4R9GBBPGchU-x_DGbubXww4mBXG2UXKmLdupnr4ps_oCqhgpkmH8GrJgWTfSDjsBQ9PxX2c8cOLG0DnhhNmUdPBhRm0h8KXWC15dPgnbT_uly4r-Ene3QbIFVc7WenvIoXCIV6xSXZjdsT35ZjtUP0VRgo2Po8uHc7buKc/s320/feke.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Tomma Abts, <i>Feke</i>, 2013<br />Detail of faded shadow, yellow layer lies on top of darker green<br /></td></tr></tbody></table><br />This is in contrast with the expected technique that many of the old masters employed, whereby the shadow is painted in afterwards by using a darker tone over a lighter ground. Such a technique leaves distinguishable brushstrokes that reveal the small movements made by the hand. Getting a good transition between various tones in this way is a complex task that requires a lot of experience and its exact appaerance is often characteristic of the artist.<br /> Such traces are absent in Abts' work simply because she uses a different technique that is most effective with a large area of flat colour.<br /> <br /><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhAvr-TQf31yFwgTAkyMuR-ZIJLKXlH6_BBVVWpA47BIRVLBeLD9oP2K9-AVKFlen5eh_nu0I0U1IpEDkQNnnXXnyz3eObOhe-6cnTLiXhdm-_GySF-I4R2d7cgdLiwTOezJdmucK72bma9NbVyYb0ixYaqC3sHXwQwP3wOcuhB2NcDjYKrMRbYteQm/s619/Holbein.png" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="378" data-original-width="619" height="195" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhAvr-TQf31yFwgTAkyMuR-ZIJLKXlH6_BBVVWpA47BIRVLBeLD9oP2K9-AVKFlen5eh_nu0I0U1IpEDkQNnnXXnyz3eObOhe-6cnTLiXhdm-_GySF-I4R2d7cgdLiwTOezJdmucK72bma9NbVyYb0ixYaqC3sHXwQwP3wOcuhB2NcDjYKrMRbYteQm/s320/Holbein.png" width="320" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Hans Holbein the younger, <i>Portrait of a Lady with a Squirrel and a Starling</i>, 1526-1528<br />Detail of shadow around the chin<br /><h2 class="qrShPb kno-ecr-pt PZPZlf q8U8x hNKfZe" data-attrid="title" data-local-attribute="d3bn" data-ved="2ahUKEwj-m6DNnqr_AhXe9rsIHZCIATQQ3B0oAXoECE0QEQ"><span></span></h2></td></tr></tbody></table><br />It's also worthwile to notice that these kind of frayed edges in the shadows don't appear in works by Abts that have a more complex 'ground' layer, indicating she relies solely on masking techniques in those parts to hide her brushstrokes. <p></p><p></p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjxnvycmxlqMZaSxdHYz3vmfrDIlCt2d8f-mIa27zPXyfwpwZ5Mewa0mYyRAitwWvW3DaLYLPU7iVONN96wxKhmSEw17lEpv4Pg9ThTqt6Edq3NalUWoq2c8n4fqb1qtKxAJkU75UeTmNVgF7Iu5lxIQKK3OK1ZH-Hxe7GlVeJMmM96N7HiVzJHLvpK/s500/ihne.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><br /><img border="0" data-original-height="441" data-original-width="500" height="282" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjxnvycmxlqMZaSxdHYz3vmfrDIlCt2d8f-mIa27zPXyfwpwZ5Mewa0mYyRAitwWvW3DaLYLPU7iVONN96wxKhmSEw17lEpv4Pg9ThTqt6Edq3NalUWoq2c8n4fqb1qtKxAJkU75UeTmNVgF7Iu5lxIQKK3OK1ZH-Hxe7GlVeJMmM96N7HiVzJHLvpK/w320-h282/ihne.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Tomma Abts, <i>Ihne, </i>2012<br />Detail of straight shadow with clear masking residue<br /></td></tr></tbody></table><br />Overall I was surprised to see how much of Abts' complex and layered work is the result of relatively basic painting techniques and it just goes to show how much can be achieved when simple methods are carried out with absolute rigour and a great deal of patience.<p></p>Guushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03166389806894254342noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3305714597702277726.post-17320650542271617862023-05-25T16:21:00.003+02:002023-08-31T09:27:47.571+02:00Lorenzo Romano Amedeo Carlo Avogadro<p>Within chemistry there is a very important number, known as Avogadro's number. This number, <span class="ILfuVd" lang="en"><span class="hgKElc">6.022</span></span><span class="ILfuVd" lang="en"><span class="hgKElc"><span><i>×</i></span>10<sup>23</sup></span></span>, is so large that it almost defies human comprehension. As a result, there have been many attempts at finding an adequate analogy to correctly convey the scale of Avogadro's number.</p><p>Most of these analogies have the same shortcoming, however, which is that they express this number in other abstract entities that humans have no intuitive conception of. 'The number of millilitres of water on earth', for example, or 'adding hydrogen atoms on a balance every second since the big bang', or various references to the circumference of the sun. While it certainly conveys that Avogadro's number is a really big number, it doesn't really make it any clearer exactly how big of a number Avogadro's number is. I don't have a good feel for how big the circumference of the sun is, nor would I be able to make a good guess how many millilitres of water there would be in the three lakes close to my house, let alone in the oceans. <br />None of these analogies thus give a realistic sense of the scale of Avogadro's number, even though that's the only purpose such an analogy could have. When making analogies it's important to reference objects or situations that people can picture easily and preferably have hands-on experience with.</p><p>I would thus propose the following analogy for Avogadro's number:<br />First you take the world's largest cargo ship, that has a capacity of 24,000 containers, each measuring a standard 'TEU' of 6,1 meters long, 2,44 meters wide and 2,59 meters high.<br />Then you imagine that every single one of these containers is filled with grains of rice. This would give you about 3000 billion grains of rice on the whole ship.<br />Then you multiply this number by the amount of pages in the Library of Congress, which according to their website is about 10 billion. So that for every single grain of rice in that cargo ship, there is a Library of Congress' worth of pages. <br />This would give us a total of about 3×10<sup>23</sup> pages, so we still need at least another cargoship filled with rice's worth of pages in the Library of Congress in order to get close. If after this doubling we then add another few hundred thousand billion, then you have arrived at Avogadro's number. </p><p>Now this hopefully gives you some sense of exactly how unimaginable Avogadro's number is. <br />So what does this number indicate, you may ask? The exact definition of Avogadro's number has changed a number of times throughout the years, but simply put Avogadro's number is the amount of atoms present in twelve grams of
carbon, or about enough carbon to fit in the palm of your hand.</p><p></p><p></p>Guushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03166389806894254342noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3305714597702277726.post-45762689566692181202023-05-15T13:28:00.005+02:002024-01-31T18:26:08.832+01:00Future Materials Bank<p></p><p>About two years ago, the Jan van Eyck academy launched a website
called the Future Materials Bank. On their website they say the
following about the project: '<i>The Future Materials Bank is an archive of materials that supports
and promotes the transition towards ecologically conscious art and
design practices. By collecting information and samples from makers around the world,
the archive aims to inspire research and disseminate knowledge about
sustainable materials</i>.' According to the FMB, usability is also an
important feature of the materials they gather, placing emphasis on ease
of use and transferability of rights.</p><p>According to the landing
page on the website of the Jan van Eyck academy, they further divide the
materials they collect into six categories: Glues and Polymers,
Pigments and Dyes, Bio-materials, Eco-synthetics, Textiles and Fibres,
Cleaning Materials. Why they chose for these categories is unclear, as
they don't really provide any kind of clear distinction between the
entries. Many fibres will be polymers, for example, and many cleaning
materials will be bio-materials. What exactly eco-synthetics are isn't
defined anywhere either. <br /></p><p>Quickly scrolling through the 300+
entries then, I would propose five alternative categories where they can
be divided into: Old Materials, Specific Implementations, Bioplastics,
Incomplete Understandings and Marketing Tricks. <br /></p><p>The first
category, Old Materials, speaks for itself. Many of the 'future'
materials are in fact materials we have known for centuries, such as
egg-tempera, indigo, wool and silk. On a small scale, all these
materials have the properties the FMB aims for. Yet if there was only
small-scale production in the world, then the problems the FMB wishes to address
wouldn't be problems at all. On the current global scale, synthesis of
these products has solved considerable problems that would arise if
these old materials would be produced on the scale that the current
synthetic alternatives are. For example, the more effective production
of indigo and artificial fibres has created a global demand for jeans
and stockings that is not feasible using only the natural occurring
materials. By being less effective processes they often use more of
other resources like labour, space and energy. These are equally limited, but this is presently less visible because of the highly efficient processes mankind has developed over centuries.<br />These old materials are
sustainable on a small scale, but tend to lose that sustainability on a
large scale. As it is difficult or impossible to scale them up to the
volumes required in today's world, few of them can be seen as
sustainable beyond simple artistic vanity projects. A good example would
be animal glue, which is a perfectly good material listed in the Future
Materials Bank, but only is environmentally friendly if production is
kept small and/or without actively breeding and slaughtering animals for
this purpose. By the same logic the FMB uses in these cases,
ivory is a perfectly sustainable material, since elephants are a renewable
resource. That's clearly not the way they should be reasoning.<br /></p><p>The second group, Specific Implementations, is very
large and consists of specific uses the artists and designers have
found for what tends to be rather general material descriptions. Despite
the primary assertion in FMB's policy that the listed materials should
have a high degree of usability, which is defined as 'how accessible and
transferable the knowledge required to work with a material is in
different contexts', these 'materials' are barely materials at all, but
rather a non-transferable particular use of a material that's already widely available.<br />An example is a project titled ReCoil. 'ReCoil is an
elliptical centrepiece dining table. It is made entirely of precious
reclaimed Hydrowood timber veneer offcuts.' So offcuts from industrial
veneer creation is the 'material' and the designer makes a large table
out of these thin, long off cuts. The adhesive that's necessary for this
transformation isn't specified, but the table is finished with 'resin'.
Now it might be me, but making a table out of thin sheets that have to
be doused in very likely toxic and harmful resin hardly seems like a
sustainable alternative. Especially considering the fact that such
offcuts are already used in a similar process that's more effective and
less polluting, namely the production of materials like fibreboard which
do end up having multiple different uses. The creator has thus not brought a
'future material', but rather a more polluting, yet beautiful,
alternative to current practices.<br /><br />Another way that it can be seen
that many entries are simply Specific Implementations, rather than
materials of general use, is in the high degree of duplicate entries of
materials. Seventeen of the 315 entries have 'mycelium' as the principal
constituent,
another eleven use paper pulp, ten more use eggshells and another nine
use
human hair. At least nine others describe bacteria in general wording.
That's more than 60 of the 315 'future materials', that are in fact only
five materials. </p><p>The next big category is Bioplastics. And it is
true that bioplastics are important for the global future. Their
inclusion here is a bit odd, however, as the main problem that
bioplastics can solve is that they might make it easier for plastics to
be removed from the environment. This is only an issue in applications
like packaging, where the plastics are quickly and indiscriminately
thrown away. One of the main characteristics of plastics is that they
degrade very slowly. This makes them extremely long lasting and durable,
which is a plus, not a con, if they are in fact used for a long time.
This durability is only problematic once the plastic is discarded. I thus must
ask, who are these artists who are making work with the idea that it
will be thrown away shortly after their creation?<br /> Is it then not better
to do the world a favour and keep that brilliant idea inside your head?</p><p>Incomplete
Understandings is a bit of a strange category, that should ultimately
have no presence in such a databank, but at the present time there are
quite a few, explicable, misconceptions and oversimplifications
floating around on the website.<br />Once again I will give a random
example that states that 'plastics like PET and PP are increasingly
recycled for high-grade applications but HDPE is mostly down-cycled.'
And so their supposed solution is to make 'yarns for closed-loop
textile products out of HDPE sourced from household waste'.<br />Despite the indignation of the authors, there are
valid chemical reasons why 'HDPE is mostly down-cycled'. HDPE gets its
characteristics from having a high degree of crystallinity, which means
that its long chains of molecules are (mostly) neatly arranged in rows.
This is in contrast with LDPE, where the chains of the same molecule
resemble something more along the lines of a bowl of spaghetti. As
recycling in practice means nothing more than taking this chain apart
and randomly putting it back together, it's easy to see why HDPE is less
recyclable as through pure chance you're far more likely to end up with
something that resembles a bowl of spaghetti than a number of neatly
stacked rows.<br />At the same time, both PET and PP have a chemical
structure that requires their polymer chains to take on a more linear
form. As you might expect, such a linear chain is much more suitable for recycling and being spun into yarn than the tangled spaghetti or organised rows of
LDPE and HPDE.<br />It's not that it's impossible to make yarn out of
HPDE, it's that it's ineffective and thus somewhat wasteful compared to
other possible applications. Making yarn out of recycled HDPE is thus definitely not
something you would want to be doing on a large scale and that's a
chemical reality no amount of creativity is ever going to change.<br /></p><p>While
this kind of misconceptions can be forgiven, there is another category
that is more fundamentally wicked and these are the Marketing Tricks.<br />There are a number of
products on the FMB's website that can only be classified as marketing
gimmicks with mildly to grossly misleading product information. I don't
want to promote any of these awful business practices, but one of them
is a solvent that is a 'citrus alternative to gum turpentine or white
spirit, used for thinning oil paint and cleaning brushes.' The 'citrus'
in this case is stated in the product information as 'Citrus Terpenes',
also known as lemonene. Lemonene is flammable, causes skin irritation,
can be deadly if droplets enter into the lungs and it is extremely
poisonous to aquatic organisms. While a small amount of lemonene is
present in the peel of citrus fruits, that doesn't mean that the pure product
is automatically healthy. <br />A further description at the FMB reads
that 'it does not contain any Aromatics or CFC's and it is
non-flammable, non-toxic and biodegradable with low VOC's'. All these
things are also true for regular turpentine, as turpentine is made up of
terpenes, which are cyclohexenes that are specifically non-aromatic and CFC's are only used in spray paints as an aerosoliser, so that the lack of CFC's is
irrelevant to this type of solvent.<br />Non-flammable in this context means that its flash point lies above 37,8ºC. This is thus technically correct, but please bear in mind that this is also true for jet fuel and diesel.<br />These kind of aliphatic hydrocarbons are generally considered biodegradable by definition. Gasoline
is considered biodegradable for similar reasons, but that doesn't mean
you should start dumping it in forests. <br />'Low VOC's' is a legal term, which
in the United Kingdom means that it does in fact contain a significant amount of
VOC's, although less than 5%. Looking at the product data it says the
product has a boiling point of 190-280ºC and yet the 'liquid will
evaporate readily'. Such a wide range of boiling points indicates a
mixture with many different compounds and that despite it's >190ºC boiling point it will evaporate readily is an indication that it contains
quite a lot of components that have significantly lower boiling points. Those components are also known as VOC's.<br />It thus seems that the brief information
provided by the FMB's website does little to distinguish the product
from regular turpentine and also gives virtually no indication that its
considerably safer. A quick visit to the manufacturer's website
reinforces these suspicions. <br />Chemicals that are, or can be,
considered harmful are required to be accompanied by a Safety Data
Sheet (SDS), which provides information about the safety of a
product through standardised protocols. This allows for
accurate checking and comparison of potentially harmful products. The
manufacturer indicates that its product requires an SDS, but also state
that 'SDS are supplied ONLY
to Retailers and Distributors of our product.' This is borderline
illegal as it actively withholds information that they are required by law to
make readily available and the information which they do provide on
their website is clearly meant to downplay possible dangers. It is for
example repeatedly stated that their product falls in the safest category of
harmful materials, while it blatantly attempts to ignores the fact that this also means that it's
nevertheless considered a harmful material.<br />I've already said more
about this product than I have ever wanted to do, but it should be clear
that it is not the miracle solution the manufacturer claims it to be.
In all likelihood it is safer than turpentine, but only in the same way
that drinking nine glasses of wine will make you less drunk than drinking ten.<br />Probably
the least harmful alternative to turpentine and white spirit is acetone
or possibly ethanol. After all, there's a reason why they're widely
used as cleaning solvents in laboratories. Yet somehow I don't feel
like this would be the kind of sustainable material that the FMB would be willing
to accept.</p><p>Overall I would thus argue that the Future Materials
Bank, in its current form, is somewhat incompetent and unable to attain
its goals. Some concepts are misrepresented and other
misleading information is not filtered out. In some cases such
misunderstandings are even actively promoted, while much of the
factually correct information is insignificant or irrelevant to their larger
goal of 'supporting and promoting the transition towards ecologically
conscious art and design practices'.<br />I more than welcome the idea of
creating such a databank of sustainable solutions, but as I've said many
times before on this blog, the road to hell is paved with good
intentions.</p>Guushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03166389806894254342noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3305714597702277726.post-81448519110740724002023-04-26T22:49:00.003+02:002023-05-16T09:38:44.331+02:00Kows and Cats<p>CATPC and Renzo Martens will be the Dutch entry for the Venice Biennale of 2024. In light of this announcement I'm reminded of something their gallerist Alexander Koch wrote in the book 'CATPC' from 2017: '<i>it is becoming clear how different the social, economic and contentual dimensions of these sculptures appear when looked at from different points of view. Our gallery KOW is one of those locations where social and economic inequality can be critically reflected on from a position of privilege.'</i><br />He goes on to say that: '<i>any such attempt to reorganise the art world's ideological parameters, symbolic capitals, material resources, and social privileges so that they actually reduce inequality rather than increase it will inevitably involve pitfalls. This particular model has a number of economic aspects, one of which is that 50 percent of the profits from the sale of the CATPC's sculptures flow to Lusanga, while the other 50 percent remain, as is usual, with the gallery in Berlin. This is not about creating an exception to the rule, but rather a different constellation of actors and relationships.'</i></p><p>The particular phrasing of 'as is usual', reminds me of another text from about sixty years earlier. Marcel Broodthaers speaks about his gallerist on the invitation to his first-ever exhibition, saying: '<span class="HwtZe" lang="en"><i><span class="jCAhz ChMk0b"><span class="ryNqvb">if I sell something, he'll take 30%.</span></span> </i><span class="jCAhz ChMk0b"><span class="ryNqvb"><i>These are, it seems, normal conditions</i>.' We can sense Broodthaers' indignation at the workings of the gallery system and by explicating that this high commission is business as usual, he reassures us, and perhaps himself, that he isn't being exploited.</span></span></span></p><p><span class="HwtZe" lang="en"><span class="jCAhz ChMk0b"><span class="ryNqvb">If sixty years ago the mention of a thirty percent commission was still something that could rattle an audience, Alexander Koch assures us today that a fifty percent commission on all sales is a non-negotiable proposition. For all its focus on social issues and reduction of inequality, Koch and friends don't seem to wish to question the accumulation of wealth, and power, in the gallery system that has quietly occurred over the last decades and which has done nothing but deepen the links between art and capital.<br />Simply proclaiming such self-serving business choices as inescapable truths is about as far from facilitating any 'attempt to reorganise the art world's ideological parameters' as one could get.<br /></span></span></span></p>Guushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03166389806894254342noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3305714597702277726.post-14233042007093193802023-03-13T22:31:00.001+01:002023-03-29T17:55:08.329+02:00Write the fine print.<p>This was going to be a post about the complications that may arise from the creation of a foundation, or stichting in Dutch, by artists or art organisations.<br />However, upon reading the legal text, it quickly became clear that the law actually provides quite a lot of freedom in how the statutes of such a stichting should be formalised.<br /></p><p>Yet in my experience, art organisations quite often get in trouble down the line as the organisation changes in ways that were mandated by their own statutes. This happens even if they could theoretically have written almost anything they wanted in the statutes.<br />So instead of a cautionary tale about the intricacies of law, it will be a plea to please consider your statutes carefully and make sure they provide guidance and protection for the artistic and non-artistic integrity of your organisation as well as a continual focus on its core values. Because right now, a lot of you are simple copy-pasting some vague and generalised words that are considered good governance or common practice and in just as many cases those principles don't apply to what you do.<br /></p>Guushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03166389806894254342noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3305714597702277726.post-41720502441082123332023-03-10T13:40:00.004+01:002023-04-13T22:15:40.616+02:00Empathy<p>Today I had a dentist appointment and I lay back in the chair, facing the ceiling lights. <br />I was looking at my dentist's hands and I naturally couldn't see what she was doing. But I felt her pinky on my cheek, gently supporting the weight of her hand, as her ring finger, index finger and thumb manipulated the tool that was scraping along the surface of my teeth.</p><p>As I lay there, a bit nervous about how she would judge my final appareance, I realised that this is what it must feel like to be a painting.<br /></p>Guushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03166389806894254342noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3305714597702277726.post-6304435526922967702023-02-12T09:43:00.001+01:002023-02-12T09:43:13.377+01:00Deep Regrets<p>I recently visited an exhibition that was accompanied by a little booklet. On the back of the booklet there was the text 'Do not throw away! This is a collectible item!'. <br /></p><p>If only my grandma's wedding ring would have had the same inscription...<br /></p>Guushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03166389806894254342noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3305714597702277726.post-9951655273061533452023-02-09T09:14:00.006+01:002023-10-04T13:56:32.183+02:00Age Old Mysteries<p>Over time I have seen some publications that ask themselves the question why artists generally have low incomes, including 'Why Are Artists Poor?', the PhD-thesis of Hans Abbing, who's probably the most famous Dutch theorist on the economics of art. That 300 page document has a reasonable understanding of economics, but almost zero understanding of contemporary art and thus unsurprisingly doesn't come to any satisfying conclusion.<br /></p><p>Yet it shouldn't be a big mystery why artists are poor and knowledge of art or the art market isn't necessary to understand it either.<br />An artist's practice is an R&D heavy, thus capital intensive, business, that commonly produces a limited output to a market that is limited by definition because the goods it produces will always defy the common appearances of whatever other goods are sold at that time. *</p><p>That by itself should be enough reason why most artists aren't turning huge profits and then we haven't even talked about the lack of reliable information about the quality of goods or the vast supply surplus or any of the other ways the market fails.<br /></p><p>But please continue to wonder why artists are poor and I will continue to wonder why people with negligible knowledge of the field they work in can obtain professorships. </p><p><br /></p><p><span style="font-size: xx-small;">* Even in his thesis Abbing notes that painters and sculptors pre-19th
century had generally decent incomes. <br />That's because those businesses
produced a single style, had an output that was similar to the
craftsmanship still present in many other markets and its products where
relatively clearly defined, so that a functional market of informed buyers could
arise.<br />The explanation he gives for the change, a strong need for authenticity in art since the 1850's, however is such a dull and ill-informed cliche that I don't even know what to say about it.</span><br /></p>Guushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03166389806894254342noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3305714597702277726.post-31250203822686920062023-01-25T11:41:00.003+01:002023-02-20T12:37:51.747+01:00AmpersandAll artworks are the result of deliberate actions.<br />This perhaps seems like an obvious statement, but it's a simple fact that is glossed over all too often. Perhaps in fringe cases it's difficult to define exactly what a deliberate action is, but there is no arguing with the fact that anything that enters into a museum, gallery or 'the artworld' is the result of somebody somewhere making a decision to do so.<br /><p>This fact also lies at the heart of how we ascribe meaning to artworks. Somebody has done this thing on purpose, so there must be a purpose. Even the purpose of showing how purposeless it all is, is a purpose. This in turn is the basis of any institutional theory of art. And a consequence of that line of reasoning is that anything can be seen as more meaningful inside an art context than outside an art context, because another underlying assumption is that an art context always adds meaning.</p><p>We can see this at play in works like <i>Empty Shoebox</i> by Gabriel Orozco and other such 'objets trouvés'. The reasoning is thus: 'object <i>a</i> is commonplace, but if object <i>a</i> is placed in an art context it's no longer commonplace but special and worthy of our attention'. Again, the underlying premise of this statement is that all actions that result in artworks are deliberate and therefore worthy of consideration. This shoe box didn't end up here on accident, its presence is deliberate, and therefore it must be meaningful.<br />As humans we will try to provide a reason and an explanation for any object that is found in an unusual place. If you're not willing to take that statement at face value, I suggest you put a rock in your refrigerator and wait for the inevitable questions of your spouse to come to you.</p><p>All of this serves as background information for something I encountered recently that struck me greatly:</p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhZc_dOnMpXL4pFkbsDKvod0gzutTcyvZW0czuQwYl-fGgkIe8pksmT-1jXdu6ZWDjOe2TaN6fbaH4FX2J2XcsY8A1yzGonptJeoHr_pAxpHB5VoEA-6P-hURUPz-Z_7CPw3jbokQw7f00D2ldpkbmOHgKoelZ6SaMTQbo14G9diCoqB9VZOIhuO5xV/s1000/ampersand.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1000" data-original-width="714" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhZc_dOnMpXL4pFkbsDKvod0gzutTcyvZW0czuQwYl-fGgkIe8pksmT-1jXdu6ZWDjOe2TaN6fbaH4FX2J2XcsY8A1yzGonptJeoHr_pAxpHB5VoEA-6P-hURUPz-Z_7CPw3jbokQw7f00D2ldpkbmOHgKoelZ6SaMTQbo14G9diCoqB9VZOIhuO5xV/w285-h400/ampersand.jpg" width="285" /></a></div><br />And the reason it struck me is because this is a rare example of an object that would lose significance or meaning if placed within an art context. <p></p><p>This object; a shoelace that, presumably, fell into the shape of an ampersand on accident, is a remarkable occurrence. It's not something that would have existed without humans, like a bird's nest or the northern lights might have, yet it's also something that is somehow not the result of a deliberate action. As a deliberate action it would be trivial, but it likewise seems just complex enough to be the result of an accident. And this is what gives this object its impact.<br />Imagine for a second that it wasn't shaped like an '&', but instead an 'S', a '9' or even an 'R'. While conceptually similar, being a shoelace has taken the shape of a recognisable and common symbol, it appears to us as if those particular shapes would be far more likely to be the result of a random set of circumstances. An 'S' is a less specific shape than an '&' and therefore is a less remarkable occurence. Yet at the same time, an '&' is more ambiguous in its connotations than an 'S'. An ampersand by itself is about as empty as a symbol can be, but it's nevertheless universally recognised and often seen as a complex shape.</p><p>Which brings us to the art world.<br />If we would encounter this shoelace ampersand on the floor of an art institution, I doubt any of us would be as struck as I was when I saw it on the pavement.<br />This isn't because a piece of string lying on the floor has no place in contemporary art. The examples of string-like squiggles range from Richard Tuttle's <i>Ten Kinds of Memory and Memory Itself</i> to Mark Manders' <i>Current Thought</i> and Carl Andre's <i>3-Part Bent Short</i>. What all these examples have in common, however, is their seeming carelessness. These works are at first glance simply strewn on the floor, with the artists accepting whichever form they might take. This was even the explicit aim in the first work of this kind, Marcel Duchamp's <i>Three Standard Stoppages</i>.<br />If artists on the other hand don't wish to accept this kind of arbitrary form when working with objects that aren't of their own making, they instead tend to do the exact opposite. By carefully ordering found objects, they bring a new way of looking to the commonplace object that before had little meaning. A good example is Markus Raetz working with eucalyptus leaves to create stylized and expressive portraits.</p><p>Yet our ampersand doesn't adhere to either of these extremes. If it were placed deliberately on a gallery floor, its shape is too trivial and its symbol too insignificant for us to ascribe any greater insight to it. Yet at the same time, its shape would be too specific to register as an uncontrolled or unintentional accident, even if it were factually so.<br />The presumption of deliberate actions in art would thus give this shoelace ampersand less of an impact within an art context then if it would be encountered accidentally on the street, as I have.<br />What's interesting about that is that it is a direct counterexample to theories of the readymade and institutional theories of art. This shoelace ampersand would be less eligible as a 'candidate for appreciation', as George Dickie would put it, if it were made by an artist than when it isn't. And through proof by contradiction, this shows that the premises of any institutional theory of art are false. </p><p>Through this chance encounter we can thus come to the conclusion that a large chunk of art theory is demonstrably false and this personally made me quite excited. <br /></p>Guushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03166389806894254342noreply@blogger.com