Experimenta Social - Drawing on Complexity

Like the weather, stock market and crowds, complex systems exhibit ‘emergence’ – meaning that larger patterns in the system evolve through interactions between the parts (rather than from a predetermined plan or hierarchy of leadership). This is often described as ‘the whole being more than the sum of the parts’.

Rule-based artwork series Drawing on Complexity is a collaboration between visual-conceptual artist Briony Barr and physicist Andrew Melatos using expanded collaborative drawing to enact a process that evolves from the bottom up, in real time.

Special discussion with Briony and Andrew, hosted by Experimenta’s Curator-at-Large Lubi Thomas – as we explore the ways in which complex systems and drawing can coalesce, and reflect on what has emerged through this interaction.