art and the new biology: biological forms and patterns || observations on the articles of ernst...

Leonardo

Observations on the Articles of Ernst Pöppel and Simha AromAuthor(s): David EpsteinSource: Leonardo, Vol. 22, No. 1, Art and the New Biology: Biological Forms and Patterns(1989), pp. 141-143Published by: The MIT PressStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/1575172 .

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Readers' comments offering substantial theoretical and practical contributions to issues that have been raised in texts published in Leonardo are welcomed.

The Editors reserve the right to edit and shorten letters. Letters should be written in English and sent to the Main Editorial Office.

Readers' comments offering substantial theoretical and practical contributions to issues that have been raised in texts published in Leonardo are welcomed.

The Editors reserve the right to edit and shorten letters. Letters should be written in English and sent to the Main Editorial Office.

COMMENTARY ON "STRUCTURAL ELEMENTS OF DYNAMICAL CHEMICAL PATTERNS"

Ia dove natura finisce di creare le sue

spezie, l'uomo quivi comincia con le cose naturali, con l'auditorio d'essa natura, a creare infinite spezie. (There, where nature ends creating its

species, here man, while listening to nature, starts to create an unlimited number of species.)

-Leonardo da Vinci

Before I read this paper by Stefan C. Mfiller, Theo Plesser and Benno Hess (in this issue of Leonardo), I had often asked myself where the here in the above sentence of Leonardo da Vinci is located-where, in fact, is the

boundary between the products of nature and the products of man? After all, man is a product of nature. And yet, should we look at a product of a product of nature as an artifact?

These questions become especially important now that larger and larger amounts of energy and power are con- sumed all over the world in a more and more efficient way, thus allowing us to increase the number and to extend the variety of goods at an unpre- cedented rate. Listening to nature, man has sharpened his capabilities to the point of becoming able to create new biological species as a result of his research in biotechnology.

The work of Mfiller and his col-

leagues helps us to locate more pre- cisely than before where Leonardo's here should be located. The images of nature produced by these men reveal much about the nature of the images produced by nature: they are images of both truth and beauty, because Leonardo's here is indeed there, where truth and beauty merge. These

images enter fluidly into our mind because they are congenial to us. They correspond to archetypes. Actually the sharp procedure used to make them observable and their biological

COMMENTARY ON "STRUCTURAL ELEMENTS OF DYNAMICAL CHEMICAL PATTERNS"

Ia dove natura finisce di creare le sue

spezie, l'uomo quivi comincia con le cose naturali, con l'auditorio d'essa natura, a creare infinite spezie. (There, where nature ends creating its

species, here man, while listening to nature, starts to create an unlimited number of species.)

-Leonardo da Vinci

Before I read this paper by Stefan C. Mfiller, Theo Plesser and Benno Hess (in this issue of Leonardo), I had often asked myself where the here in the above sentence of Leonardo da Vinci is located-where, in fact, is the

boundary between the products of nature and the products of man? After all, man is a product of nature. And yet, should we look at a product of a product of nature as an artifact?

These questions become especially important now that larger and larger amounts of energy and power are con- sumed all over the world in a more and more efficient way, thus allowing us to increase the number and to extend the variety of goods at an unpre- cedented rate. Listening to nature, man has sharpened his capabilities to the point of becoming able to create new biological species as a result of his research in biotechnology.

The work of Mfiller and his col-

leagues helps us to locate more pre- cisely than before where Leonardo's here should be located. The images of nature produced by these men reveal much about the nature of the images produced by nature: they are images of both truth and beauty, because Leonardo's here is indeed there, where truth and beauty merge. These

images enter fluidly into our mind because they are congenial to us. They correspond to archetypes. Actually the sharp procedure used to make them observable and their biological

flavor suggest that the archetypes lie not only or even not so much in the architecture of the forms, but rather in the rules of the dynamic game producing the form. Notwithstanding the

complexity of some of these basic forms, the rules of the game producing them are perhaps very simple.

In conclusion, I found this an in- formative, pleasant and stimulating piece of work.

GIUSEPPE CAGLIOTI Politecnico di Milano Istituto di Ingegneria Nucleare Centro Studi Nucleari Enrico

Fermi-CESNEF Via Ponzio 34/3, 20133 Milan, Italy

OBSERVATIONS ON THE

ARTICLES OF ERNST

POPPEL AND SIMHA AROM

Intellectual life often seems to move in ways of interest, of foci. Biology in our age is concerned with the molecu- lar level. Physics in the early part of the century (Einstein, Heisenberg, Planck, Bohr, et al.) adopted a relativ- istic view of the world. Literary criticism in the 1920s and 1930s and musical criticism in the 1950s and 1960s were strongly positivistic, influenced no doubt by the seeming precision and objectivity of science.

So it is with music theory in our

day. Time has become a central focus. Not that time was ignored in the past by this most temporally controlled of the arts. Theories of tempo, of

rhythm and movement, are found in music history at least since the time of the ancient Greeks. In part these theories obeyed the tenets of current sci- entific investigation: they were based

upon observation, the collation of data, and the drawing of patterns and conclusions therefrom. As often as not, however, theorists ultimately would adopt positions based upon opinion, preference and prejudice, intuition. Indeed, for good and for bad, music to this day moves in large part upon intuition-those felt percepts

flavor suggest that the archetypes lie not only or even not so much in the architecture of the forms, but rather in the rules of the dynamic game producing the form. Notwithstanding the

complexity of some of these basic forms, the rules of the game producing them are perhaps very simple.

In conclusion, I found this an in- formative, pleasant and stimulating piece of work.

GIUSEPPE CAGLIOTI Politecnico di Milano Istituto di Ingegneria Nucleare Centro Studi Nucleari Enrico

Fermi-CESNEF Via Ponzio 34/3, 20133 Milan, Italy

OBSERVATIONS ON THE

ARTICLES OF ERNST

POPPEL AND SIMHA AROM

Intellectual life often seems to move in ways of interest, of foci. Biology in our age is concerned with the molecu- lar level. Physics in the early part of the century (Einstein, Heisenberg, Planck, Bohr, et al.) adopted a relativ- istic view of the world. Literary criticism in the 1920s and 1930s and musical criticism in the 1950s and 1960s were strongly positivistic, influenced no doubt by the seeming precision and objectivity of science.

So it is with music theory in our

day. Time has become a central focus. Not that time was ignored in the past by this most temporally controlled of the arts. Theories of tempo, of

rhythm and movement, are found in music history at least since the time of the ancient Greeks. In part these theories obeyed the tenets of current sci- entific investigation: they were based

upon observation, the collation of data, and the drawing of patterns and conclusions therefrom. As often as not, however, theorists ultimately would adopt positions based upon opinion, preference and prejudice, intuition. Indeed, for good and for bad, music to this day moves in large part upon intuition-those felt percepts

that motivate performers and com-

posers. Intuition may be the ultimate basis of talent. On the other hand, an

analytic understanding and control of music is critical, a point attested to by any number of performers-von Karajan, Bernstein, Szell, Brendel, Schnabel, to name but a few.

Time is a compelling concern in

contemporary music theory, as these two articles attest. Current investigation of temporal roles in music differs in one notable way from past efforts, however: science has been invoked as a legitimate partner in the inquiry. This is an important change of view-

point; if science can reveal mechanisms and modes by which the body controls and processes temporal information, then musical arguments about time must accept these biological modes and constraints as basic fac- tors that define and even limit musical events. The somewhat anarchistic attitude, prevalent in a past age, that led musicians often to say "I prefer it this way" (read my way) is no longer viable.

Poppel's article (in this issue of Leonardo) reveals neural mechanisms that establish and maintain the most basic temporal control in music-the beat. From this elemental beat arise

tempo, rhythm and large macrostruc- tures of time. P6ppel further shows the neural means by which a beat is held constant-an important point, since it is a steady or constant beat that is the basis of temporal progres- sion in music.

Though beats are steady, they are not rigid and totally inflexible in musical performance. P6ppel's discussion reveals a neural explanation of this fact as well. For, if the minimal neural

firings occupy so small a period as some 30-50 ms (roughly a 30th-20th of a second), it would seem that a flex-

ibly expanded beat would incorpo- rate one or perhaps a number of addi- tional 30- to 50-ms modules. There must be a limit to this flexibility, however. Order threshold probably de- fines this limit.

that motivate performers and com-

posers. Intuition may be the ultimate basis of talent. On the other hand, an

analytic understanding and control of music is critical, a point attested to by any number of performers-von Karajan, Bernstein, Szell, Brendel, Schnabel, to name but a few.

Time is a compelling concern in

contemporary music theory, as these two articles attest. Current investigation of temporal roles in music differs in one notable way from past efforts, however: science has been invoked as a legitimate partner in the inquiry. This is an important change of view-

point; if science can reveal mechanisms and modes by which the body controls and processes temporal information, then musical arguments about time must accept these biological modes and constraints as basic fac- tors that define and even limit musical events. The somewhat anarchistic attitude, prevalent in a past age, that led musicians often to say "I prefer it this way" (read my way) is no longer viable.

Poppel's article (in this issue of Leonardo) reveals neural mechanisms that establish and maintain the most basic temporal control in music-the beat. From this elemental beat arise

tempo, rhythm and large macrostruc- tures of time. P6ppel further shows the neural means by which a beat is held constant-an important point, since it is a steady or constant beat that is the basis of temporal progres- sion in music.

Though beats are steady, they are not rigid and totally inflexible in musical performance. P6ppel's discussion reveals a neural explanation of this fact as well. For, if the minimal neural

firings occupy so small a period as some 30-50 ms (roughly a 30th-20th of a second), it would seem that a flex-

ibly expanded beat would incorpo- rate one or perhaps a number of addi- tional 30- to 50-ms modules. There must be a limit to this flexibility, however. Order threshold probably de- fines this limit.

O 1989 ISAST Pergamon Press plc. Printed in Great Britain. 0024-094X/89 $3.00+0.00

O 1989 ISAST Pergamon Press plc. Printed in Great Britain. 0024-094X/89 $3.00+0.00 LEONARDO, Vol. 22, No. 1., pp. 141-145, 1989 141 LEONARDO, Vol. 22, No. 1., pp. 141-145, 1989 141

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Hirsh and Sherrick [1] established the notion of order threshold when

they revealed that about 20 ms are re-

quired for a person to distinguish which of two sounds comes first or second-i.e., the order of succession of the sounds. The confidence limit in their experiments was 75 percent. Poppel (in personal conversation) has explained that similar investigations in his laboratory have used a confidence limit of 100 percent and that within this perspective 30 ms seems a viable order threshold.

We might conclude from this that one of P6ppel's 30- to 50-ms modules would be perceptible if used to ex-

pand a prevalent musical beat. That

may oversimply the matter, however, for the performance and the percep- tion of music involve material that is rich in psychological and emotional content, which generally occupies our attention more than fine-scale dis- criminations of tempo per se on the order of these millisecond units. On the other hand, the most accom-

plished and elegant performance combines control and shaping of the emotional content of the music to-

gether with further control of its musical structure, in which the duration and shaping of beat plays a prominent role. Distinguished performance thus involves something of a dialecti- cal struggle in the by-play of the affec- tive and the structural.

Poppel's investigations should be followed up. What he reveals in his research seems the mechanism by which tightly held musical pulses are maintained. How these pulses vary through commonly flexible expressivo tempos and through rubato, accelera- tion and retard are the next questions that ask for detailed answers in terms of neural mechanisms.

P6ppel's work also provides a neural base for the observations about tempos related by a common

pulse that have been a large part of

my research (see his Ref. 4). His work further reinforces a hunch that informed my cross-cultural study of tem-

po (P6ppel, Ref. 10)-in effect, that

changing tempos via a continuous pulse was probably a universal mode of musical performance. That hunch stemmed from the thought that human beings the world over are probably 'wired up', neurally speak- ing, in much the same fashion. Hence, if our neural machinery func- tions similarly, this should be re- flected universally in the ways musici-

ans change tempos. The point was

strongly confirmed by the study. Simha Arom's article (also in this

issue) provides yet more data that af- firms the prevalence of a steady beat as basic element of performance. His work is an important contribution to our knowledge of African music. It is not fortuitous that such a study ema- nates from a man who is himself a first-class musician. Arom is a grad- uate of the Paris Conservatory, a for- mer French horn player in the Israel Radio Symphony Orchestra and later the Music Director of the Radio-a man with keen musical ears and

highly developed musicianship. This is no minor point. Musical ob-

servations and the theories that ema- nate from them need the sensibilities of a real artist as the observer. With- out these, all manner of nonsense

may result. African music (more properly, Afri-

can musics, for we speak of a broad continent with many musical tradi- tions) has long been known for its

rhythmic complexity. This music, with its dense rhythmic webs, is used in some cultures as a means of com- munication among distant villages. Some have even suggested that the music can imitate the inflections of

speech. I recall one anthropologist in the 1950s (though regrettably I forget his name) who even suggested that Africans may be genetically unique in their ability to sustain and to feel such

complex rhythms-15 vs. 17 divisions of a beat, for example, expressed by different parts of the body. The com-

plexities of African rhythms and the music they produce have been sur- rounded by a certain mystique in the Western world.

Genetic musings like these may seem laughable, archaic, indeed racist by our more informed contemporary perspective, yet it took a musician like Arom, a true pioneer in his field, to make sense of this music such that it can be seen as a variant of universal musical principles, albeit a

highly developed variant. This under-

standing came through original and imaginative ways of attacking the problem. Arom had to record the music on multi-track tape, with individual microphones placed by each performer in a large ensemble. This way the separate parts could be studied in isolation and heard as well within the total fabric of the ensemble. Perceptive observations and deductions followed, enriched by con-

versations with individual musicians, in which Arom was able to ascertain what the players did in performance and how they conceptualized the music they played.

Arom's study is done totally within the perspective of music per se. In its own way, however, it is science in the best sense: observation, quantization of data, the forming of hypotheses and the testing of these hypotheses against the sources of their reality- the music proper-to see if they correlate.

Interestingly, what Arom dis- covered fits fully with the findings of P6ppel and Epstein. This music of Central Africa is based entirely upon a steady, rock-solid, unchanging beat which is deeply felt by every musician in the ensemble. Without such a beat, in fact, the music, despite its apparent complexity, would be impossible.

The uniqueness of this music lies in the ways the beat is treated. As the author shows, various groupings of beats are made by different players, some of the groupings reflecting asymmetrical 3s + 2s to achieve patterns of 5s and 7s. Moreover, some

players, though they feel the beat within their bodies, play their instruments not on the beat but off it-what we would call syncopation.

Syncopations always raise the question of how they are perceived by the listener. If one feels the beat inter-

nally, the syncopation will be heard as

just that. If, however, one does not feel the beat, then the syncopated note may be perceived as articulating a beat, rather than being played 'against' a beat. This fact adds to the

complexity of Central African music, for some instruments play off the beat, thereby adding a new element in an already dense fabric of beats, beat groupings, rhythms, accents and articulations.

It is fascinating to hear Arom re- count his discussions with the African musicians about this question of a steady beat. The players accept the complexities of their rhythmic patterns, understandably, as a norm. Yet when asked whether they feel or maintain a steady beat, they seem per- plexed that anyone would even pose such a question, since an unsteady beat is beyond comprehension.

A central fact is prominent in these two articles, namely, the prevalence of a steady beat in the performance of music. P6ppel discusses the neuro- physiological mechanisms by which

142 Commentaries



this beat is established. Arom reveals the beat as a central element that un- derlies the complex rhythmic layers in music from Central Africa.

My studies have found a similar

steady beat, which is the basis for

tempo relations in classic-romantic music of the central European high- art tradition, in essence from Mozart

through Mahler. We three authors are by no means alone among researchers in musical rhythm and

tempo. The field is rapidly becoming a central focus of musical inquiry. All this inquiry seems to underscore an

important fact: that theory, and performance that is integrated with a theoretical sense of how music goes, must take into account the physiological and neurological aspects and constraints of our biology.

DAVID EPSTEIN Department of Music Massachusetts Institute of Technology Cambridge, MA 02139 U.S.A.

Reference

1. I.J. Hirsh and C.E. Sherrick,Jr.,"Perceived Order in Different Sense Modalities", Journal of Experimental Psychology 62, 423-432, 1961.

COMMENTARY ON "THE REPRESENTATION OF DYNAMICS IN IMAGERY AND MULTIPLE DIMENSIONS"

In this issue of Leonardo, Arun Hol- den reviews several applications of dynamical systems theory to the arts. Some further examples are: Video Feed- back (videotape byJames Cruthfield available from Aerial Press), Split (fea- ture film by Chris Shaw, containing extensive computer graphics by Rob Shaw, shown at the 1988 Telluride Film Festival), and MIMI (my digital video instrument, described in High Frontiers, October 1988).

RALPH ABRAHAM

Department of Mathematics University of California Division of Natural Sciences Applied Sciences Building Santa Cruz, CA 95064 U.S.A.

COMMENTS ON "TOWARDS A DYNAMIC, GENERATIVE









Reference




RALPH ABRAHAM











Reference




RALPH ABRAHAM











Reference




RALPH ABRAHAM


COMMENTS ON "TOWARDS A DYNAMIC, GENERATIVE COMPUTER ART"

In his interesting article (Leonardo 21, No. 2, 115-122, 1988), H. R. Clauser describes aims and experiences so

COMPUTER ART"


COMPUTER ART"


COMPUTER ART"


closely parallel to my own that I feel

impelled to offer some comments that may be relevant to his own con-

tinuing work and to that of anyone else who shares his interest in a 'generative' visual art.

The development of a dynamic abstract art does indeed require a symbolic language if it is to be analogous to music in the sense of being non-

autographic-with all that implies in

providing the conditions for choice and freedom. I myself use the Eshkol- Wachman (EW) Movement Notation [1] to support an approach in which

any shape is regarded, and uniquely defined, as the result of movement of a point or a line (producing, respec- tively, a line or an area). This I take to

correspond to the lowest levels of the hierarchy in Clauser's scheme: 'marks' and 'visions'. Once a shape has been formed (as the path of movement) it may remain fixed or under- go transformations or be translated in

ways again open to definition

through EW Movement Notation [2]. The approach can be applied to

generating static images using the traditional techniques of visual art. In this case the image is, as it were, produced by movements. Alternatively, movie film can be used in making process the matter of the work, but as Clauser suggests, the computer is

today a far more satisfactory instrument.

The EW notation can be used to de- scribe any movement and, therefore, any shape. It could be used for defin- ing the motifs deployed in rectangular grids or other organized spaces. It can certainly also be used to develop structured spaces that are not neces- sarily rectangular or even regular in

any immediately obvious sense. Work-

ing from the 'low level' of motifs, more extended structures are reached-and kept track of, even when complexity and unfamiliar

('non-geometrical') forms are gen- erated. This allows for a 'symphonic' type of structure and procedure that is consistent because they result from the derivation of one process from another rather than from the filling out of a predetermined scheme.

The computer is a crucial factor in

making such process art practicable, as I soon found out when I began to






















































making such process art practicable, as I soon found out when I began to use the movement notation approach as the basis for a program (or suite of

programs) that can be used to produce dynamic compositions on a monitor screen or to produce video

use the movement notation approach as the basis for a program (or suite of






tapes by linking the computer to a video recorder; this also can be used in producing static hard copy or in

composing static work to be executed

manually [3]. The range of shapes that can be

achieved through the formal lan-

guage of EW movement notation is virtually unlimited so far as I can tell, but it is nevertheless entirely subject to control through a single set of

simple concepts; different kinds of shape or movement do not involve

switching between different frames of reference.

While analogies with the theories of modern science can serve as start-

ing points, there is no guarantee that they will hold for all visual phenomena that can legitimately be included as material of a generative abstract art. But since the parameters of EW notation are expressed as quantities, quantitative series (logarithmic, geometric, Fibonacci, etc.) can be

adopted and used generatively (rather than represented), in imita- tion of nature's methods.

The first essential is, in my view, to have a symbolic language that is, as

nearly as possible, comprehensive of basic visual phenomena (including especially those represented by the lower levels of Clauser's hierarchy), in order to avoid confining proce- dures to a limited part of the poten- tial-which may be the case with the predetermined constraints of a syntax and rules if the latter are not sup- ported by such a language.

JOHN G. HARRIES Tel Aviv University Research Centre for Movement Notation Ramat Aviv Israel

References 1. N. Eshkol and A. Wachman, Movement Notation (London: Weidenfeld & Nicholson, 1958).

2. J. G. Harrries, Language of Shape and Movement (Israel: Tel Aviv University/The Movement Nota- tion Society, 1983).

3. J. G. Harries, "Personal Computers and No- tated Visual Arts", Leonardo 14, No. 4, 299-301 (1981).

LEONARDO AS A FORUM FOR LINEAR PERSPECTIVE DISCUSSION

In a recent book review, David






















































In a recent book review, David Carrier asked, "Why, after such an extended debate, has it not been possible to achieve agreement about how perspective works? Some time ago the

Carrier asked, "Why, after such an extended debate, has it not been possible to achieve agreement about how perspective works? Some time ago the



Commentaries 143 Commentaries 143 Commentaries 143 Commentaries 143



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