MER KA BA / threeASFOUR

lasercut textiles combining sacred geometric patterns of synagogues, churches and mosques

by 

threeASFOUR

from Lebanon, Israel and Tajikistan.

Jewish Museum

New York

Pattern Times

at Selfridges

Budapest Patterns

Rumbach Street Synagogue

Budapest

Patterns

Glyndenbourne carpets

Golden Grids

Albert Memorial

Kensington Gardens

Paris Patterns

Cosmic Pattern

Stone detail

"Man's own aesthetic maybe no more than one of many manifestations of an all-pervasive aesthetic that reveals itself in the natural world."

Marguerite Yourcenar

"There is a pattern in man's logic: this pattern is the harmony of the cosmic order. "

Bela Hamvas

Kaleidoscope and the Model of the Universe

E8, Garetti Lisi's New View of the Universe

Garetti Lisi's model of the universe places all known particles and the four fundamental forces of nature (electromagnetic, the strong force, the weak force and gravity) onto an exceptionally complex eight-dimensional 248-point mathematical model known as E8 that was formulated in the late 19th century.

Since E8 is perhaps the most beautiful structure in mathematics, it is very satisfying that nature appears to have chosen this geometry. Elegant simplicity and complexity combined with the inherit reflective qualities of our world; natural forms repeat themselves over and over, the fundamental structure of the universe is incredibly beautiful.

Patterns as seen through a kaleidoscope tube

The beauty of the colourful mirrored systems is the base of the geometric imagery of the kaleidoscope - a finite box containing an infinite vision that creates the sensation of being part of infinity. You feel like the whole universe is a hall of mirrors: reflections reflecting reflections.

Yayoi Kusama: Dots Obsession 2004

In today's art there is a progressive effort to move towards defocusing, in which no single element of the composition is given more importance than any others: there is a desire to break down the hierarchy of the elements.

Yayoi Kusama, a Japanese contemporary artist has an obsession for infinity. She perceives the world as an array of infinitely repeating patterns, which she has termed infinity nets. Her work is the expression of these visions. You are drawn into Kusama’s world like the centerpiece of an echoing, infinite landscape and experience the dissolving into the world around you.

Kusama currently lives in a mental institution in Tokyo by choice while creating her infinity works. For a normal brain to imagine infinity seems to be impossible.

The Music of Life

Céleste Boursier-Mougenot at Barbican Centre, London

40 zebra finches are exploring an aviary for three months at Barbican Centre on amplified guitars and cymbals installed on sandy islands planted with grass. The spontaneous everyday activity of the beautiful tiny feathered creatures on the sensitive strings makes a complex soundscape from the speakers around the gallery.

There is no composition, structure and melody in this music. This is the music of the self-abandoned, free life, the repetition and interference of the patterns of continuous everyday activity.

Arranging the twigs, toddling on the strings, the different types of arrival: the gliding stir and tumbling throb; the light and dynamic variations of departure, the positioning and preening - these are the continuously flickering patterns without any compositional intent which have a comforting, captivating effect on the visitor.

There is a joyful aesthetic contrast between the tiny soft animals with their beautiful coloured feathers and the masculine, professional instruments: the sight and the sound together gives you a lightweight happiness.

A meditative experience.

Embroidery language

This Hungarian folklore pattern speaks of love with an archaic sign language using the beauty of the tulip and the peacock as symbols of male and female sex, fertility, sun and heaven. The reversed heart form is the symbol of male sex, the open tulips are for female fertility, and the plum-like shape between is for female genitals. The tulip opens up to the sky and offers herself to heaven. All this activity is catalysed on the warmth of the sun symbolised by the peacock-eye pattern.

E-static shadows

There is a hidden electrostatic world around us, surrounding our everyday interactions.

A young textile artist Zane Berzina is working on intelligent textile systems, which would be capable of detecting this energy and translating it into dynamic audio-visual patterns. She also studies the possible translation of e-static energy into other types of energy such as light, sound and motion.

Equipped with tiny LED lights, transistors and woven electronic circuits integrated into the electronic textiles structure, the material is able to create transient shadows on the textile display in areas which detect a presence of electrostatic fields.

Alexander McQueen Structuralism

AMQ breaks down the female body into characteristic parts, then these parts get their special treatment with different patterns and materials. The dress is put together of these different structures. The stable trunk gets a leather armour, with cups for the softly moving breasts. The legs' movement is made possible with a basket-shape skirt braced with metal structure.

R.I.P AMQ!