Between the crystalline and the chaotic

This short feature documents elements of research in advance of a long-term work. Rather than a technical account or retrospective, the aim is to demonstrate by example how research itself is a primary process, illustrated by work carried out at the Institute of Creative Technologies (IOCT) during the last few years. When creative output is appraised only from its visible results, something is lost in the telling; carefully selected public facets rarely convey the depths of the underlying lines of inquiry. The research covered is for a work that generates quantitative data, driving visualisations of human movement, proximity and orientation. The aim is to reveal how these literal data reflect our relationships to one another in social settings. To contextualise the current process, complex systems, dynamic pattern formation and other works are also mentioned. As a personal account, it seemed appropriate to supplement the usual academic passive voice with first-person narrative.