I start with a longtime wonder about the artist Kenny Price and specifically the ceramic cups he made in the 1990's. The 1990's textures on his cups seemed at first a cursory throwback to 1980's grids and so I've always wondered what they were about, intent. During Covid 19 stay at home orders, which to me is stay at home and read and make numerous odd connections between people and objects, I found some new insight on this work. (Book reference about people and odd connections includes Obituaries by William Saroyan).
In exploring the creation process and organic architecture of Goff and Greene in the Midwest I was taken by the article by Edwin Heathcote about the architects... "They were early signifiers of an environmentalism which saw materials and resources as finite but also as elements with a built-in language of association and meaning. 'The image,' wrote Greene about his house, 'contains references ranging from primordial creature to futurist object and represents my interest in creating metaphors of age and the passage of time"...
In this manner I began to see the inward play with Price delving into the clay rather than building upon it. A tension of his precise waffle indentations, for lack of a better word, that are fun to explore. Around this same time I discovered the other Kenneth Price. Again with the 1990's. The other Kenneth Price writes Computational Intelligence Based on Lattice Theory.
If you are a fan of semiotics then you want to explore the meaning of waffle and lattice terminology of the Kenny Price's right? From 1986 to the early 90's I was doing art work in evocative algorithms, so I do love a good equation ( Language + math = way fun). So this is part of the other Kenny's Prices equation:
"Differential Evolution [19] was developed by Kenneth Price in the 1990’s. Differential Evolution is very similar to genetic algorithms without the cloning step or the mutation step. Instead, the algorithm performs the following four steps for each individual (target)in the population: 1. Choose two random population members and calculate their weighted sum; 2. Add the calculated answer to a third randomly chosen individual; 3. Create a child by performing crossover with the answer from step 2 and the target individual; 4. If the child’s fitness is better than the target’s fitness, then replace the target with the child."
I will admit any equation that combines "weighted sum" and "create a child" concerns me and then throw in the word fitness and I move to his next equation which frightens me just as much looking as swarm behaviors. Although I know swarm behaviors are popular.
The other Kenny Price: "Particle Swarm Optimization [15] which was also introduced in the 90’s both a global and neighborhood optimization technique. Observing the behavior of groups of organisms in nature, Individuals within the groups have a position and a velocity which change over time relative to other individuals in the group.
Position (x i.e. a point in the search space) and a velocity (v i.e. the distance to move from the current position in the next time step) calculate each candidates solutions new position x = x+velocity."
Online you can find more recent articles by the other Kenneth Price that delve into the terminology of the digital world including the use of words like "arsenal". I enjoy systems of math and equations that allow for emotional and plant based variables rather than military terminology, although "arsenal" is fun to pronounce with a British accent. Price's applications of meaning in reference to talking about the Digital Humanities are interesting. At the museum where I work we have gone through a 16 month reorganization of the object collections and archives. There is the physical archive and the digital archive. In academia there are other terms for this I am learning. The term "Digital archives" works for me so far...
Possibly operating at the same time I have conceived of a visual called the the Kenny Price Time Element. So far this is an artwork of an equation including flux waffles and lattices. The evocative algorithm would include an image of waffles and lattice as well as density, kiln temperature (oh wait...firing temperature?) and growth time. In true 90's fashion a random element would be introduced thus denying the viewer a clear understanding or explanation of the multidimensionality of the Kenny Price Time Element. Necessitating a personal experience and personal interpretation. Example, possibly to understand one must lay on clay, eat a waffle, hold Price's cup and mark a spot (with ones body?) with an "x" in the clay on the ground. A physical evocative equation.
A mathematician said "Is it okay to laugh?" These are funny.
What are you thoughts? Have you met anyone with your name before? Do you make math jokes or algorithms that require human physical actions?