Whose picture is it anyway?
Just whose picture is it anyway?
Is it mine or does it belong to Benoit Mandelbrot et al?
Of course, I'd like to think all the art that I've created over the years is belongs to me and at least, as the currently accepted copyright issues go, that is the case. In effect, the formula writers who have uploaded their formulae to the public database, and who hold copyrights to those formulae, have granted a free license to me and other fractal artists to use and manipulate their work in such a way as to produce a unique image for which the artist has a right to claim full copyright - over and above the copyrights of the formulae used.
Tina's or Sam's?
To my eye there is no mistaking the talented hand of Samual Monnier in this picture and yet he does not own any rights to it. There is no possible way that I could have sat down with a blank canvas, so to speak, and created this "Pickled Pear". It is essential for me to have the tools that others have created to hand in order to create.
Mine or Damien Jones'?
I don't wish to labour a point (more examples below!) but am interested to know how other feel about this issue - especially the formula writers themselves. Is there any regret about freely dishing out your formulae to all and sundry or does it give you pleasure to see art being created from it?
I can't look at this image without seeing its origins from Andreas Lober
Do other artists share my own anxieties about just whose picture it is anyway, or is it just me?
It couldn't have been created without Mark Townsend & Denis Magar
posted by Anonymous at 7:23 AM
5 Comments:
I'd say everything we do is in some way connected to the efforts of others, that's the essence of civilization and why they grow; each generation starts at a more advanced point. So with fractalists, our accomplishments are the result of the mathematicians and programmers and others who've made the tools we use (formulas, parameter files...).
One thing I'd add though, is that I think nothing brings a greater sense of accomplishment to a fractal programmer or formula contributer than to see their work used by others to create something great and impressive; they share in our personal accomplishments just like the engineers who built the rockets that took men to the moon shared in the sucess of the astronauts.
12/26/2006 9:27 AM
I am very happy that I have these tools at my disposal, but at the same time concerned that my pictures are less "my creation" than a technical manipulation of the creativity of someone else.
I think it's a collaboration. Yes, we can recognize the formula used, but we can also recognize an artist's style or notice when someone uses a popular formula in a totally unexpected way.
I also think that the vast majority of art - literature, cinema, music - is built upon what came before. I'm not going to say "all of it" because I suppose someone had to be the first to make a cave painting.
12/26/2006 8:30 PM
Hi all,
My personal attitude to my own formulas is that anything unique created using them belongs to the artist that created it subject to the normal non-derivative and non-plagariasm "rules" (I mean derivative/plagarised from other parameter files).
Having said that I do feel that an image I create that is created solely from my own formulas is more "mine" than those when I've used other's formulas as well and this is part of the reason I tend to stick to my own formulas - though the main reason is that I know and understand them better than those written by others.
So as far as I'm concerned I'm happy to have other folks produce work using my formulas - that's what I created them for, it'd be a shame if only I used them.
12/27/2006 9:32 PM
Hi Tina,
thank you for this interesting discussion.
a) Do not doubt your artistic integrity. Even if you use one of my "strong" formulas which contain a lot of geometrical pencil and paper work that was transferred to UF code - your personal style makes your work always unique and different from my own creation contained in the formula.
b) I have thought long about giving away my "strong" formulas (as Damien defined this expression). It was no easy decision to share this stuff, therefore it is only semi-public.
c) I always believed that you - and others - would be able to "personalize" a tool. This is one aspect of Art for me.
Bye,
Andreas
P.S.: A Happy New Year to everyone here.
1/04/2007 6:06 PM
Wow, I just joined Orbit Trap and read this VERY interesting subject and the postings at once!! I have had my worries myself througout the years - is this my art or not - and this really helped me! Happy to be here. cu!
Maria (from Denmark)
3/13/2007 4:18 PM
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