A Complex Systems View on the Visual Arts

Erscheinungsjahr 2025
ISBN: 978-1-009-37896-3
Verlag: Cambridge University Press

Buch, Englisch, 474 Seiten, Format (B × H): 157 mm x 235 mm, Gewicht: 831 g

This book presents a comprehensive and unexpected approach to the visual arts, grounded in the theories of complexity and dynamical systems. Paul van Geert shows how complexity and dynamical systems theories, originally developed in mathematics and physics, offer a novel perspective through which to view the visual arts. Diverse aspects of visual arts as a practice, profession, and historical framework are covered. A key focus lies in the unique characteristics of complex systems: feedback loops bridging short- to long-term temporal scales, self-organizing into creative emergent properties; dynamics which may be applied to a wide range of topics. By synthesizing theory and empirical evidence from diverse fields including philosophy, psychology, sociology, art history, and economics, this pioneering work demonstrates the utility of simulation models in deciphering a surprisingly wide range of phenomena such as artistic (super)stardom and shifts within art historical paradigms.

Autoren/Hrsg.

Geert, Paul van

Inhaltsverzeichnis

Part I. Art as a Complex Process: 1. A nonlinear affordance for exploration; 2. Art and Process: definitions and ontologies; 3. From processes to complex dynamic systems; 4. Describing art through the lens of Complex Dynamic Systems; 5. Art in a complex, dynamic web of functions; Part II. Entangled Timescales of Visual Arts: 6. Timescales of art as interacting processes; 7. Timescales of artistic activity: creation and experience of art; 8. Timescales of artistic careers; 9. The timescale of excellence and celebrity; 10. The timescale of art history; 11. The timescale of deep history and of human evolution; Part III. Understanding Art Through Dynamic Models: 12. Dynamics of cultural and market value; 13. Dynamic modeling of the emergence of excellence in the arts; 14. Modeling long-term trends and discontinuities in art.

Über Autor(innen)

Geert, Paul van
Paul van Geert is emeritus professor of developmental psychology at the University of Groningen. He is a pioneer in the application of the complex dynamic systems approach to a broad range of developmental and educational areas from cognitive development to learning in schools. As an artist, his practice arises out of and is inseparable from van Geert's immediate community and surroundings, reflecting the people, materials and site of its creation.