Exhibited at: Frieder Nake - Licht ins Dunkel · 15 Dec – 28 Dec 2013 · HfK public gallery
Description:
IntraMat is a digital art installation that pedagogic-didactically conveys the abstract process of matrix multiplication. It is an interactive, high fidelity interpretation of Frieder Nake's original image series Matrizenmultiplikation from 1967.
The original images feature a series of matrices that are represented as grids of square color areas. Each image depicts a stochastic matrix that is gradually multiplied with itself, resulting in a more homogenous appearance in terms of color after every step. This is a common characteristic of all exponentiated stochastic matrices. Nake portrayed this behaviour in 50 small images, which are also among the first artworks that have been completely generated computationally.
Because computing capabilities were very limited at that time, Nake's artworks left no possibility for interactivity. As the goal was the didactical conveyance of a mathematical phenomenon, letting the visitor set up the initial matrix' values and enable individual experimentation would have been a great advantage. Now that computing resources and human interface devices are sufficiently developed IntraMat is able to provide these capabilities.
IntraMat not only enables interactivity but also uses computing resources to improve the intuitivity of the process. A physics engine gives all elements of the matrix natural behaviour and thus makes them tangible and predictable in their behaviour, assisting the user in his understanding of the various manipulation steps and the process as a whole. At the same time IntraMat respects the principle of its origin and replicates the exact same mathematical circumstances as the original, resulting in the same phenomenon that has already been demonstrated back then.
The installation has been shown in an exhibition dedicated to Nake's 75th birthday which he also attended.