Ut Pictura Poesis: Drawing into Space

 

Author(s):


Exhibition:


Category:


Abstract/Summary/Introduction:

  • In 1735, Leonard Euler presented a solution to the practical problem of whether a route could be plotted to cross each of seven bridges in Konigsberg once. His negative solution used the simplest of mark-making strategies to resolve a conceptual problem. Euler did not actually cross the town’s bridges, but used them to resolve questions of connectivity, after which diagrammatic representations can be seen as the restructuring of logical problems to allow for inductive reasoning, for fruitful application beyond theory. But what if such a working graphic has as its target something that is simply incomprehensible? What are the upper limits of the denotational logic of such diagrams? This paper presents a drawing-research project that tests the cognitive advantages of technical graphics by directly engaging with things that cannot be made easier to understand through their use.

References:

  • 1. Irrelson, William H., ” Visual Perception of Markings,” Psychonomic Bulletin & Review, Vol. 3. No. 2, 171-187 (1996), accessed at <springerlink.com/content/ku4m58p8h38l3570/fulltext.pdf>, 30 June, 20II.

    2. Ibid.

    3. Willa ts, John, Art and Representation: New Principles in the Analysis of Pictures (Princeton: Princeton Univ Press, 1997).

    4. Larkin, Jill, and Herbert Simon, “Why a Diagram Is (Sometimes) Worth Ten Thousand Words,” Cognitive Science, Vol. II, No. 1, 65-roo (1987), accessed at dinkinghub.elsevier.com/retrieve/pVol.II/S0364021387800265>, 12 December, 2010.

    5. Goldschmidt, Gabriela, “The Dialectics of Sketching,” Creativity Research journal, Vol. 4, No. 2,123-143 (1991), accessed at <www.tandfonline.com/doi/pdf/ro.ro8o/ro4oo419ro9534381>, 14 April, 2ou.

    6. Tversky, Barbara, “What Do Sketches Say About Thinking?” AAA! Technical Report SS-02-08, 148-151(2002), accessed at <www.aaai.org/Papers/Symposia/Springhoo2/SS-02-o8/SS02-o8-o22.pdf>, 3 July
    201I.

    7. Cross, Nigel.

    8. Feynman, Richard, QED: The Strange Theory of Light and Matter (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1983).

    9. Marshack, Alexander, The Roots of Civilization (New York: McGraw-Hill, 1972) 136.

    10. Wickstead, Helen.

    11. Ibid., 16.

    12. Wiebe, Eric N., “The Taxonomy of Geometry and Graphics,” journal for Geometry and Graphics, Vol. 2, No. 2, 189-195 (1998), accessed at <http://www.heldermann-verlag.de/jgg/jggor_o5/jggo22o.pdf>, 3 July 201I.

    13. Netz, Reviel, The Shaping of Deduction in Greek Mathematics: A Study in Cognitive History (Cambridge: Cambridge Univ Press, 2003).

    14. Marshack, Alexander, The Roots of Civilization (New York: McGraw-Hill, 1972).

    15. Dawkins, Richard, The Blind Watchmaker (London: Penguin, 2006).

    16. Miller, Arthur I., ”Aesthetics, Representation and Creativity in Art and Science,” Leonardo, Vol. 28, No. 3, 185-192 (1995), accessed at <www.jstor.org/stable/r576o73>, 7 January, 2010.

    17. Feynman, Richard, QED: The Strange Theory of Light and Matter (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1983).

    18. Larkin, Jill, and Herbert Simon, “Why a Diagram Is (Sometimes) Worth Ten Thousand Words,” Cognitive Science, Vol. u, No. 1, 65-roo (1987), accessed at dinkinghub.elsevier.com/retrieve/pVol.II/So364021387800265>, I2 December, 2010.