Fractal Fry

The idea is to use a 3D Sierpinski fractal as a structure and metaphor to create a ‘crowd’ sculpture about Stephen Fry. People, in this case Exeter College students, contribute a tetrahedron, the unit of the fractal, made from any material, adapted, tweaked, tinkered with in any way to express something about Stephen Fry. It can then be added together with other tetrahedra to form the fractal. The point being that the sculpture can grow infinitely, crystal-like, in theory, or at least as long as people are happy to add another tetrahedron. The metaphor bit comes from the characteristics of the fractal itself. It looks and feels impossibly complex yet simple at the same time. The smallest element predicts the largest. It is multi-faceted. There are emergent forms and shapes. There is no right way up. It expresses infinity. All these attributes seem suggestive of human psychology. What emerges is a sculpture which reflects contributor’s impressions, thoughts, ideas, prejudices on Stephen Fry contained in a 3D fractal. No idea is rejected; it just has to use a tetrahedron as its structure. Because it's a ‘crowd’ sculpture, it can address any and all of the themes associated with YourFry depending on the contributors. Drawings, videos, and electronic elements are being planned. The more that get made, the more it stimulates others to have a go. That is the hope anyway. It is highly predictable in terms of its structure, whatever its scale. It is equally unpredictable in terms of its content. While there was a clear starting point, there is no obvious end point. It’s unfolding. It’s a wiki-portrait of Stephen Fry