Fractal Dimensions in Perceptual Color Space: A Comparison Study Using Jackson Pollock's Art

The fractal dimensions of color-specific paint patterns in various Jackson Pollock paintings are calculated using a filtering process which models perceptual response to color differences (\Lab color space). The advantage of the \Lab space filtering method over traditional RGB spaces is that the former is a perceptually-uniform (metric) space, leading to a more consistent definition of ``perceptually different'' colors. It is determined that the RGB filtering method underestimates the perceived fractal dimension of lighter colored patterns but not of darker ones, if the same selection criteria is applied to each. Implications of the findings to Fechner's 'Principle of the Aesthetic Middle' and Berlyne's work on perception of complexity are discussed.Comment: 21 pp LaTeX; two postscript figure

A Gaze-Driven Evolutionary Algorithm to Study Aesthetic Evaluation of Visual Symmetry

Empirical work has shown that people like visual symmetry. We used a gaze-driven evolutionary algorithm technique to answer three questions about symmetry preference. First, do people automatically evaluate symmetry without explicit instruction? Second, is perfect symmetry the best stimulus, or do people prefer a degree of imperfection? Third, does initial preference for symmetry diminish after familiarity sets in? Stimuli were generated as phenotypes from an algorithmic genotype, with genes for symmetry (coded as deviation from a symmetrical template, deviation–symmetry, DS gene) and orientation (0° to 90°, orientation, ORI gene). An eye tracker identified phenotypes that were good at attracting and retaining the gaze of the observer. Resulting fitness scores determined the genotypes that passed to the next generation. We recorded changes to the distribution of DS and ORI genes over 20 generations. When participants looked for symmetry, there was an increase in high-symmetry genes. When participants looked for the patterns they preferred, there was a smaller increase in symmetry, indicating that people tolerated some imperfection. Conversely, there was no increase in symmetry during free viewing, and no effect of familiarity or orientation. This work demonstrates the viability of the evolutionary algorithm approach as a quantitative measure of aesthetic preference

Inspiration Mining: Intersecting Improbable Connections in a New Landscape of Cultural Reflection and Influence

This article aims to present a critical reflection on the collaborative curatorship of the exhibition “Intersecting Improbable Connections”. It is a transdisciplinary exhibition covering architecture, design, arts, among other fields, and calls for non-linear productive thinking strategies. It explores the intersection of unlikely relationships to inspire memorable visits to museums, and it feeds the Inspædia platform, creating a new landscape of reflection and cultural influence. It advocates a new concept of exhibition curation that minimizes costs (because it does not involve transportation or insurance for the pieces) and is intended to help stimulate creative processes. Based on a selection of content from the participating museums’ permanent exhibitions, duly marked with QR Codes, visitors can access that content that is already available on the Inspædia platform and explore potentially endless connections, without losing contact with the physical object (and vice versa).FCT – Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia, in the scope of the projects SFRH/BPD/98427/2013, UID/EAT/04008/ 2019, and UID/AUR/04026/201

A complexity approach for identifying aesthetic composite landscapes

Third European Conference, EvoMUSART 2014, Granada, Spain, April 23-25, 2014, Revised Selected Papers[Abstract] The present paper describes a series of features related to complexity which may allow to estimate the complexity of an image as a whole, of all the elements integrating it and of those which are its focus of attention. Using a neural network to create a classifier based on those features an accuracy over 85% in an aesthetic composition binary classification task is achieved. The obtained network seems to be useful for the purpose of assessing the Aesthetic Composition of landscapes. It could be used as part of a media device for facilitating the creation of images or videos with a more professional aesthetic composition.Galicia. Consellería de Innovación, Industria e Comercio; PGIDIT 10TIC105008PRPortugal. Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia; PTDC/EIA-EIA/115667/200

Reactions to geovisualization: An experience from a European project

The paper is written jointly by two parties, computer scientists specializing in geovisualization and experts in forestry, who cooperated within a joint project. The authors tell a story about an attempt of the geovisualizers to introduce the foresters to the concept and principles of exploratory data analysis and to the use of visualization for systematic and comprehensive data exploration. This endeavor should be considered as an informal experiment rather than a rigorous scientific study. Unlike customary tests of the usability of specific tools and techniques, the geovisualizers did not give the forestry specialists a series of tasks to carry out by applying geovisualization tools and did not try to measure how well the foresters performed. The idea of the geovisualizers was to demonstrate the principles and power of exploratory data analysis to the foresters by example. For this purpose, the geovisualizers performed an exploration of a non‐trivial data set by themselves and reported the procedure, the principles, the techniques, and the findings to the foresters. The reaction of the foresters uncovered a range of fundamental issues that are relevant to geovisualization and information visualization research. The authors analyze these issues from their perspectives and formulate a set of questions which researchers in geovisualization should be asking

View From Outside the Viewing Sphere

The ‘viewing sphere’, as defined by Euclid and explored by Gibson as the ‘optic array’, is generally thought of as wrapped around the eye. Can an observer step out of it? With currently popular photographic techniques, the spectator is forced to, because the viewing sphere is presented as a pictorial object. Then the question is whether human observers are able to use such pictorial representations in an intuitive manner. Can the spectator ‘mentally step into the interior’ of the pictorial viewing sphere? We explore this issue in a short experiment. Perhaps unsurprisingly, because the eye cannot see itself, the short answer is no

A window on reality: perceiving edited moving images

Edited moving images entertain, inform, and coerce us throughout our daily lives, yet until recently, the way people perceive movies has received little psychological attention. We review the history of empirical investigations into movie perception and the recent explosion of new research on the subject using methods such as behavioral experiments, functional magnetic resonance imagery (fMRI) eye tracking, and statistical corpus analysis. The Hollywood style of moviemaking, which permeates a wide range of visual media, has evolved formal conventions that are compatible with the natural dynamics of attention and humans’ assumptions about continuity of space, time, and action. Identifying how people overcome the sensory differences between movies and reality provides an insight into how the same cognitive processes are used to perceive continuity in the real world