Albuquerque Science Museum Presents Fractal First Friday and Fractals Rock!

For those who fancy a bit of art with their science, the New Mexico Museum of Natural History and Science in Albuquerque presents First Friday Fractals and Fractals Rock! on Friday, August 6th. The museum, in collaboration with the Fractal Foundation, presents First Friday Fractals with shows at 6, 7 and 8pm. Suitable for all ages, the show features both the science and the art of fractals, and includes dramatic animated footage of ultra-deep fractal zooms, together with original, locally-produced music. Then, at 9pm, Fractals Rock! explores natural fractals with more rock and less talk. Come watch art and science come together at the New Mexico Museum of Natural History and Science.

Fractal Fun Facts

According to the Fractal Foundation, fractals are complex patterns that show the same details at different scales. This means you can zoom into a fractal and find the same pattern deeper and deeper. This is called self-similarity. Fractals often occur naturally in things like leaves, shells, trees, rivers, etc. Although fractals are very complex shapes, they are formed by repeating a simple process over and over. Geometric fractals are easily created and can be made with paper, blocks, or other material cut or molded into geometric patterns. In the Sierpinski Triangle fractal, for instance, if one thinks of a simple triangle as being "built" with four smaller triangles, then one can remove the middle, inverted triangle from each "set" of triangles to create an interesting fractal, as illustrated.

In Albuquerque, fractal art can be seen in the atrium of the West Complex of the Albuquerque Convention Center for the next year, where the winners of this year's Albuquerque Fractal Challenge have their artworks on display.