MORPHOGENESIS…


Rene Thom’s reading has become much more accessible because of the previous readings we have done. Most specifically, by deciphering Deleuze and his use of Thom’s ideas, we are able to better appreciate the subtle spatial implications of “morphogenesis”, forms of “becoming” and qualitative and quantitative properties relationship to metric and non-metric properties.

In attempting to map the “succession of form” Rene introduces a series of models evolved from recent developments in topology and differential geometry. When discussing the models, Rene points out the shortcomings of both qualitative and quantitative results in earlier models. He explains how quantitative results cannot explain a “car trip” and how at the same time qualitative results are “insufficient” because they “rely on the experience of solid bodies in three dimensional Euclidean space”.

So…In order to explore “succession of form” and to reconcile these terms, Rene introduces dynamical models that are not based in Euclidean space and metric quantities (not modeling form) but are based on degrees of freedom, discontinuities, and relational functions (modeling relationships, events, changes and possibilities). Rene uses topology and differential analysis as the basis for multi-dimensional models that can yield rigorous while at the same time, qualitative results.

So it seems the big idea here is seems to fit right in with what we have been talking about. The idea here seems to the connection between the “form” and the “processes” that led to the form. Rene introduces models that allow us to explore this same “plane of possibility”. When we begin to see “form” as a simple “crystallization” of processes we are able to gain much insight into the genesis of past present and future matter both organic and inorganic.

It seems clear how Deleuze builds upon some of these concepts when he described the “new status of the object”. It also seems clear how that these are exactly the issues that a whole group of architects and designers seem to be addressing. From Greg Lynn to Eisenman, these designers are considering form in a manner that relates to philosophical foundations of genesis and universal understanding.