Steven began the session by tying it back to an earlier presentation of his Expanded Diagram Project. One of his aspirations of that still ongoing study is to transcend the overly constrained, largely western-based categories of contemporary art by illuminating specific kinds of creative processes that span a wide range of historical and contemporary world cultures and practices. From there he turned to yet another multi-media project called the Exurban Archipelago Project which focuses on the rapidly expanding networks of distribution/fulfillment centers populating the exurban fringes of so many metropolitan areas around the world. The final portion of the talk focused on his recent exhibitions and current studio activities including his Never the Same Space Twice series of paintings that he plans to contribute to the upcoming SMRN conference and exhibition in Vancouver.Steven began the session by tying it back to an earlier presentation of his Expanded Diagram Project. One of his aspirations of that still ongoing study is to transcend the overly constrained, largely western-based categories of contemporary art by illuminating specific kinds of creative processes that span a wide range of historical and contemporary world cultures and practices. From there he turned to yet another multi-media project called the Exurban Archipelago Project which focuses on the rapidly expanding networks of distribution/fulfillment centers populating the exurban fringes of so many metropolitan areas around the world. The final portion of the talk focused on his recent exhibitions and current studio activities including his Never the Same Space Twice series of paintings that he plans to contribute to the upcoming SMRN conference and exhibition in Vancouver.

Carol presented aspects of several recent projects as well as what she is currently working on, related to the study and understanding of Islamic geometric patterns as intersections of art and mathematics. Her contribution to the third edition of the Encyclopedia of Islam on “Geometry in Art,” consists of sections on plane and solid geometry, geometric constructions and repeat patterns (periodic and quasiperiodic). She considers the use of an algorithmic aesthetic in two-dimensional space, which should be thought of as an innovation. She also addressed issues of solid geometry in three-dimensional space, and the use of projections from two- to three-dimensions. In contrast, her contribution on “Ornament” takes a more historiographic approach, arguing that the study of ornament in Islamic art requires an expanded definition of ornament than that of the Western paradigm in which ornament is ornamental. Both entries for EI3 express a narrative approach to geometry and concern cultural issues of identity and interpretation, as well as aesthetics. She lamented the recent removal of her comprehensive website on Symmetry and Pattern: The Art of Oriental Carpets (1996), which had been developed under the auspices of The Math Forum (first at Swarthmore College, then Drexel University and most recently the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics). And she sought advice, guidance, and encouragement from SMRN members as to what she might next address in charting a future course for the study of Islamic ornament.

Juan Castrillón and Kalpana Subramanian discuss the aesthetics of breath. They ask how one might explore non-Western genealogies of breath in connection with notions of subjectivity, affectivity and ‘becoming.’ Juan sheds light on sonic perspectives of dervishes from the Anatolian peninsula drawing on his own experience of playing the Ney (a reed flute). Kalpana touches upon notions of breath arising from Yoga and Buddhist knowledge traditions.

Editing: Juan Castrillón and Kalpana Subramanian

A philosophical conversion on diagram among Substantial Motion Research Network members Laura Marks, Steve Baris, JR Osborn, Kalpana Subramanian, Siying Duan, Radek Przedpelski and Yvan Tina. Topics covered include delightful diagrams, diagrams in world cultures and resistance to diagrams. 

Farshid Kazemi and Siying Duan discuss their mutual interest in shadow-theatre and the magic lantern as early precursors to the art of the cinema. The conversation begins with how the use of shadow-puppetry in Plato's allegory of the Cave and the Persian philosopher and poet Omar Khayyam's reference to the magic lantern in the 11th century functioned as a technology to think about the ontological structure of the world. The origins of cinema is discussed in light of the shadow-play in India, China and Iran and in light of magic, shamanism, and the evocation of the spirit of the dead. Fascinating aspects of the phenomenon of shadows are discussed in Chinese and Persian and Shi'i-Islamic thought. The story of the origin of Chinese shadow-play is mentioned and finally; how the cinema was received in light of indigenous traditions of the shadow-play and the magic lantern within Chinese and Iranian culture at the turn of the last century.

Azadeh Emadi and Laura U. Marks talk about their shared interest in the meeting points between digital media and Islamic art and philosophy--especially the minimal part, the infinitesimal, and the pixel--that led them to found the Substantial Motion Research Network.