As a perfectionist, the word “chaos” would always evoke negative emotions in me. It is a word that feels like the direct antonym of my favorite word, “perfection,” and so it never quite sat right with me. However, listening to Casey Reas’ speech made this word more tolerable, as the examples of work he showed made me see a certain beauty in randomness.
For me, the most meaningful takeaway was that adding elements of randomness can sometimes help keep a work alive and dynamic. Previously, when I tried to incorporate randomness into my work, it would usually result in a messy, overwhelming chaos. But now I realize that to avoid that kind of mess, you need to set certain limits and keep a balance, something like 75% control and 25% chaos. My mistake was that I overemphasized and exaggerated the chaos, turning my work into an uncontrollable mess.
In a recent assignment for this class, I ran into something similar. I created a perfect grid of squares, but that perfection made the sketch look dead and homogenous. Then I experimented with spacing and movement, and eventually found my ideal ratio of randomness to order, something I’d call “controlled mess.” This change made the sketch look more alive and visually interesting.
In my future projects, I plan to expand my use of chaotic elements, but with the same rules in mind. I am eager to experiment and discover ways in which I can add random elements to parameters like size, rotation, or even frameRate to create unorthodox projects that still feel ordered and meaningful.