Efficient MondrianEfficient Mondrian is a tongue-in-cheek art
installation which generates HTML table compositions in the style of Piet Mondrian's
Composition with Yellow, Blue and Red from the text of
The Principles of Scientific Management by
FW Taylor. It does this every two minutes, posting the results to twitter.
I was given the opportunity to present a work at the University of Toronto Art Centre as a part of a student curated show called
Facing the Screen. The purpose of which is to examine the relationship between painting and technology.
Efficient Mondrian is sort of a comment on the limitless reproducibility of the kind of abstract work Mondrian was known for. The compositions are derived from individual clauses in Taylor's text with a somewhat oblique algorithm. I had originally planned to use the IKEA (purveyor of fine, cheap, abstract pseudo-art) catalouge, but I settled on The Principles of Scientific Managment because it seemed more fitting. I've reduced Mondrian's work to a completely prescribed, mechanical process. Taylor did that to everyone else.
The twitter feed was a last-minute addition but I think it's the best part. There's a sort of stubborn determination to its 24 hour, every-two-minutes posting. It will reach about 30,000 tweets by the time the installation is over, unless of course I get banned for posting too much.
If you live in Toronto and would like to come see the show, it's on until Dec 19th at
UTAC.
This is also my first post (ever) to MetaFilter after years of lurking.
Subscribe
Great job!
posted by ardgedee at 1:59 PM on November 5