Strange Attractor Specimens: Chaos Painted with Light

In mathematics, an attractor is a pattern that describes how a dynamic system in physics or engineering changes and evolves over time. Attractors are represented using equations and can be graphed visually, depicting a shape. For instance, an example of a classical attractor is a point. The point represents a steady state. It's not really evolving or changing or repeating. It's just calm and steady. A closed loop is another example of a classical attractor. The pattern begins at a point, then moves in a predictable way back to that point and repeats. 

For highly complex patterns, we have what are known as strange attractors. You may have heard of the Butterfly Effect (that a butterfly flapping its wings in Brazil might change the weather in Chicago). That pattern is generated when a small change generates a huge, exaggerated, complex effect on a system. It's actually called the butterfly effect because it's governed by the Lorenz Attractor, a fractal equation with a butterfly shaped pattern.

Strange attractors tend to be sculptural and quite beautiful, made up of odd loops and repetitions in space. I am fascinated by them, and even more so since becoming an artist. I often wonder if the neural synapses of creativity (or even human intuition itself!) will ever be modeled using a strange attractor. What would mine look like? What about yours?

I decided to play with the idea of "painting" the most common strange attractors using light. With a light source in hand, I performed the shape of the attractor using a very long exposure. Of course, they are not 100% precise and accurate renditions. Instead, you can think of them as graphing equations in cursive. I am in every single one - though hidden, a liminal effect in a way - and that experience reminded me how the smallest acts of creativity we perform feed our most intuitive creative patterns, resulting in big artistic impressions.

This is an ongoing project and just a sample of the dozens of strange attractors that exist in mathematics. I will continue to explore, refine, and add more as I improve the technique. I hope you'll revisit this gallery often to check out the curious splendor in these shapes.