Michael Lawrie

Michael is an artist and software developer living in Toronto, Canada. Here you can check out his latest work, from installations to web apps.

Efficient Mondrian

Efficient Mondrian is a generative projection based on an algorithm which produces compositions in the style of Piet Mondrian's Composition with Yellow, Blue, and Red (1939-42) dynamically from the text of The Principles of Scientific Management by Frederick Winslow Taylor. It does this every two minutes. Sequential passages are collected from the text and converted to numerical values by a process which examines the distance adjacent letters are from one another in the alphabet. The resuling data is interpreted as proportions, positions and frequencies which form the basis of the composition. Each composition is then titled with the passage from the text with which it was generated.

The installation is a relatively minor modification of a 2008 piece (available here). As with its predecessor, the piece consists of javascript and HTML. The compositions themselves are HTML tables. Ultimately it's a matter of simplicity: Javascript cannot (easily) be used to produce images in the browser and HTML tables are almost ideally suited to Mondrian's style. With the mundane, undesirable rectangular alignment enforced by the pixel grid is ideal in this case.

The Taylor text was chosen as a data source because it seemed fitting. The piece reduces Mondrian's work to an automated, prescribed process. Taylor, of course, did the same to everyone else.

The resulting compositions are available online through a twitter feed. Since it is producing compositions at the rate of about 500 per day, I do not recommend that you follow the feed.

From November 4th to December 17th, the work is on display at the University of Toronto Art Centre Lounge.