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SUMMARY:Siqueiros used a hydrodynamic instability to create provocative im
 ages in painting - Roberto Zenit Instituto de Investigaciones en Materiale
 s Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México
DTSTART:20140124T160000Z
DTEND:20140124T170000Z
UID:TALK50138@talks.cam.ac.uk
CONTACT:Dr C. P.  Caulfield
DESCRIPTION:Painters often acquire a deep empirical knowledge of the way i
 n which dyes and inks behave. Through experimentation and practice\, they 
 can control these fluids to create textures and images. David Alfaro Siqui
 eros\, a famed Mexican muralist\, during an experimental painting workshop
  in New York in 1936\, invented a technique to create explosive-like textu
 res. He called this technique `accidental painting´: by pouring layers of
  paint of different colors on a horizontal surface\, the paints 'infiltrat
 ed' into each other `creating the most magical fantasies that the human mi
 nd can imagine´. In this investigation\, we reproduce the technique descr
 ibed by Siqueiros in a controlled manner. We analyze the patterns created 
 by this process from a fluid dynamics point of view. We found that the vis
 cous gravity current that is formed is unstable: for the correct color com
 bination\, if the top layer is denser that the lower one\, the array under
 goes a Rayleigh-Taylor instability. We analyze how these spotted textures 
 form as a result of the mixing process of the plumes and bubbles of the un
 stable viscous layer. An analysis of the time and length scales of the pro
 blem is conducted. We have also identified other flows that share some sim
 ilarities with the accidental painting technique: the formation of lava do
 mes and the cooking of the crepes.
LOCATION:MR2\, Centre for Mathematical Sciences\, Wilberforce Road\, Cambr
 idge
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