Tuesday, May 08, 2007

Beauty in flow

What is the best way to send a small round object the longest possible distance?

How can you obtain an accurate likeness on paper?

How can you most faithfully control production of sound?

Well, the best way to send up a projectile is not to swing a golf club. A controlled explosion in a tube would achieve the same result, more accurately.

Obtaining a likeness? Not by dabbing colour on paper, but rather by operating a timed mechanical shutter. And using a series of automated processes to finally transfer micrograms of ink to a surface.

And computers can play musical scores. Repeatedly. Slavishly. Accurately.

Why is a well-executed golf swing such a beautiful sight and a pleasure to execute? What infuses beauty in a charcoal portrait?

Why is the accuracy of MIDI sequencer a spoiler?

Of course, a musical composition is not fully captured in the score and requires interpretation--that is, introduction of fine differences between what is written and rendered. These deviations aren't noise. They have a logic that the mind can appreciate, but not analyze.

If the mind can't analyze these differences, did the composer grasp the full beauty of the piece when he put down the notes?

I suspect very often this beauty arises from body own's behaviour, its limitations and knowledge of its own abstract proportions.

Who creates a beautiful dance? The choreographer or the dancer? Why do we find it beautiful?

Hmm....

 

dancing in degas shadow Originally uploaded by jenink.

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