/Ann Barrett
@annbarrett430
Ann Barrett
Self-Organization: Dynamics
watercolor on paper
21″ x 27″
2023
Self-organization is the capacity of a system to make its own structure more complex. It includes the ability of organisms to form relationships, diversify, and evolve. It is such a common property of living systems that we are often blind to it. Self-organization creates new structures and new ways of doing things. It requires freedom and experimentation, and results in a certain amount of disorder. This capability of living entities is gaining public interest as science and culture evolve to better understand complex systems.
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Ann Barrett
Whale-Time
beads, embroidery floss, box
Closed: 9″ x 6″ Open: 9″ x 12″
2019
Each bead represents 300,000 years. The light and dark blue beads represent the number of units of 300,000 years modern whales have lived on Earth. (114 units) The red bead represents how long Homo sapiens has lived on Earth. (1 unit) Homo sapiens evolved in Africa 300,000 years ago. Modern whales were living in the oceans 34 million years ago. Whales have lived on Earth 114 times longer than humans have. What could we learn from mammals with so much more experience in living on our shared planet?
@annbarrett430
Ann Barrett
Descartes’ Mechanical Daughter
clay and oil paint
10″ x 7″ x 5″
2024
In 1650, an octopus lives under a robotic fragment of René Descartes’ deceased daughter. The myth goes that Descartes so missed his daughter that he built a mechanical likeness. On a voyage, fearing witchcraft, sailors threw it into the water. In 2021, the United Kingdom declared the Octopus sentient: that through their complex nervous systems, they feel “pain, pleasure, joy, and excitement.” René Descartes was central in creating our still-held Mechanistic World View, that life is no more than a network of dead parts, operating without sentience. If something is perceived as dead, there is no prohibition against destroying it.
@annbarrett430