Critique and a Science for the Sake of Art: Fractals and the Visual Arts

Abstract

Recently, the author argues, proponents of fractal geometry—most notably, Benoit Mandelbrot—have effected what they claim is a novel intervention into the discourse of the visual. The author examines the relationship between Mandelbrot’s theory of geometry and his theory of aesthetics and notes that this intervention is dependent on a displacement of contemporary critical visual practice, a practice that, once restored, affords the opportunity for a critique of scientific theory through the visual register. The author concludes by suggesting that Mandelbrot’s claim of novelty of intervention may have at least one historical precedent.

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