e uno plures exhibit

Sheila C. Johnson Design Center

In recognition of the 200th anniversary of Charles Darwin’s birth and the 150th anniversary of the publication of “On the Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selection“, the School of Design Strategies at Parsons the New School for Design is exhibiting e uno plures in the Sheila C. Johnson Design Center at 2 West 13th Street.  

Faculty member Greg Blonder, has designed and fabricated e uno plures. The work consists of six black and silver vignettes of increasing complexity. Sequentially illuminated by spotlights and constructed of wood, ceramic and a unique plastic film that bends when exposed to heat, the piece addresses the axiom of emergent structures arising from the reuse of simpler building blocks. Such adaptation and modification enables natural selection to bring complexity to life, without appealing to the guidance or intent of a “master watchmaker”. 

e uno plures- out of one, many

Each vignette is mounted on a tall plinth, and is set into motion by absorbing the spotlight’s energy. Displayed near eye-level and intimatei n scale, the moving light engages the viewer to playfully discover how each evolutionary phase recycles and extends the capabilities of its past. Given sufficient time (and life on earth is billions of years old) and given the pressures of natural selection to constantly adapt in order to survive- the sculpture helps viewers realize that complex environments can result from simple causes. It is this unifying simplicity that marks Darwin’s Law of evolution by natural selection as one of the seminal insights of mankind. 

e uno plures will be on display from March 28, 2009 to April 18, 2009

*About the artist*: Greg Blonder is a designer, scientist and venture capitalist. e uno plures is one of a series of pieces inspired by episodic controversies at the intersection of science and society- including other works on global warming and the environment. These pieces are designed to be read first, artistically, for their visual resonance with nature, and second, for the ability of those resonances to amplify and clarify specific issues. 

Poster from the exhibit in a new window
Short movie from the exhibit in a new window