Re: [-empyre-] form constants

[Simon Biggs <simon@littlepig.org.uk>]

A short archeological "dig" (see below) on this thread takes us back to Lao
Tzu's observation on what a building is - a lived space. That is, a space
created not out of its formal constraints but by the manner in which it is
used. One could regard this as a relativist and semiological approach to
space as we experience it - in short, a proto-phenomenology.

The pursuant discussion to this on Empyre has tended strongly to the
empirical. Why is it that the art and technology area attracts determinists?

Best

Simon


On 1/1/05 8:13 pm, "Soo Kwok Heng" <kwoksooheng@mac.com> wrote:

> Sorry I'm new here... So I'm late to this discussion.
> 
> I remember reading this book called "The Mind in the Cave: The Origins
> of Art", which mentioned something about those form constants things..
> 
> I don't have the book with me, since I borrowed it from the school
> library. But what the author, David Lewis Williams (if I remember his
> name correctly), did was to pull together archaeological research on
> cave paintings with their inherent squiggles (like the form constants),
> with research on eye physiology. He also did mention research from
> anthropology with regards to what some tribes would consume to induce
> the trance state that the witch doctors did their rituals in. And how
> all of it links together.
> 
> I'm sorry I can't recall more than that. But the book's highly
> recommended. A very exciting read.
> 
> 
> kwokheng
> 
> On 17 Dec 2004, at 11:18 am, steve guynup wrote:
> 
>> I'd assumed these forms are types of mental patterns
>> (methods of visually organzing/linking data)
>> 
>> I suppose the eye phys must play a role but..
>> 
>> Although its been a while, my "user" experience was
>> more that my mind was doing the work. Other data,
>> theories, sounds, words and objects all grooved into
>> nice spirally, tunnelinsquishtic, latticetial,
>> cobwebanitted patterns.
>> 
>> sigh...
>> 
>> steve
>> 
>> 
>>>> they are termed "form constants".
>>>> 
>>>> The four basic geometric forms:
>>>> - tunnel
>>>> - spiral
>>>> - cobweb
>>>> - lattice (grid)
>>> 
>>> Very interesting. Does s/he offer any explanation of
>>> why these are 'form
>>> constants'? I would expect that the physiology of
>>> the eye would be important
>>> here (as well as the mind).
>> 
>> 
>> =====
>> ________________________________________________
>> 
>>     The reality of the building does not
>>     consist in the four walls and roof but
>>     in the space within to be lived.
>> 
>>     - Laotzu
>> 
>> 
>>       well, Laotzu said it but I did it.
>> 
>>     - Frank Lloyd Wright, after learning
>>       his philosophy behind the Unity Temple
>>       had been expressed 5,000 years earlier.
>> 
>> 
>> 
>> 
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> 
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Simon Biggs
simon@littlepig.org.uk
http://www.littlepig.org.uk/

Professor, Fine Art, Art and Design Research Centre
Sheffield Hallam University, UK
http://www.shu.ac.uk/schools/cs/cri/adrc/research2/