The talk Casey Reas gave on the role of chance in art sparked my curiosity around the human perception of randomness. Throughout various exhibits, Reas showed how order can emerge from chaos and the value of ordered randomness. I think that one of the major factors that contribute to the appeal of these artworks to us is our brain’s urge to find patterns everywhere. The ordered-chaos artworks defy our brains ability to interpret the image so easily, but also invite the brain to try and seek as much information and patterns as possible. Therefore, the key to creating chaotic but attractive artworks is to embed a clever interplay between order and randomness and let our brains wander in the presumed chaos and work our way to understanding the artwork, while not confusing us or, in contrast, letting our minds get lazy by providing works that are easy to decode.
When I think about ordered chaos I always remember fireflies. When fireflies are in a group together on a tree, initially they blink in a chaotic order. However, due to an algorithm determined by mathematics, they synchronize into a massive, uniform ball of light, blinking together in constant intervals. There is more order in chaos than we think, and there is more chaos in order than we could imagine, but the most important takeaway for me was that the balance between the two can be infinitely beautiful.