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March 16, 2007 Vol. 77,
no. 9S
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| RADIANT: An
animated geometric pattern called 12 radials captured in a
still frame photograph. The pattern is part of “Noor,” Steve
Beck’s video art display of animated geometric patterns.
STEVE BECK PHOTO
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Middle Eastern geometric patterns leap to life in video art and research project
Amidst a jumble of construction equipment, art blossomed.
Or, more accurately, emitted light.
Outside Hearst Memorial Mining Building on February 15, a large LED
screen displayed Visiting Industrial Fellow Steve Beck’s latest
video art project during the Berkeley EECS Annual Research Symposium.
Passersby and conference attendees watched as colorful geometric patterns
appeared on the screen. Sometimes the images started from a single
point and radiated jagged angles or smooth arcs. Sometimes they spun
inward, only to fade.
The images mesmerized, but then again, they’ve been doing that
for centuries. They’re classical geometric patterns developed
by Middle Eastern cultures over the last 1,300 years, often manifest
in the beautiful and complex tile arrangements in mosques and shrines.
What’s new about Beck’s representation, entitled “Noor,” is
that the patterns come to life. (Noor is the Arabic and Farsi word
for light.) By applying time-variant technologies, patterns build themselves
or create new versions. According to Beck and collaborator EECS professor
Carlo Séquin, it’s the first time these patterns have
been animated.
“The project grew out of my lifelong interest in geometric patterns
and broader intersections of art, science and technology,” says
Beck (B.S.’71 EECS). “For 30 years, I’ve had notebooks
full of ideas on how I could do something like this and finally got
the chance.”
Beck is a renaissance man. He fills multiple roles at the College:
Executive in Residence for the Center for Entrepreneurship and Technology,
resident in ME professor Paul Wright’s Ford Lab and guest lecturer.
Before coming to campus, he started several high-tech electronics companies
and developed over 500 commercial electronic products. He holds patents
for inventions in video synthesis and video data compression, and his
video art work has been exhibited by the Museum of Modern Art in New
York City, San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, Smithsonian Hirshhorn
Museum, the Whitney Museum and others.
Noor is Beck’s latest video art sculpture. Like a movie director,
Beck led a talented team to produce the final product. The group included
Séquin; faculty from other departments; ME researcher Dan Chapman
and EECS Ph.D. student Omar Bakr, who worked on the animation; and
EECS master’s student Jeremy Huddleston, who contributed CS and
mathematics research.
Noor is also the first phase of Beck’s new research mission to
mathematically characterize the animated geometric patterns. “We
intend to discover and invent algorithms to generate new time-variant
geometries using advanced polynomials and numerical graphical computer
methods,” Beck says. The results may yield new technical applications
and educational tools.
“We also hope, in these times of tension,” Beck says, “that
Noor serves as a cultural bridge between the West and Middle East and
brings a greater understanding and appreciation of our commonality.”
For more information on Noor, go to www.eecs.berkeley.edu/BEARS/open-house/07noor.
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