timothy stotz has made a stunning diagram called ‘the flowering staircase‘ to depict the chains of influence in european art from 1435 to 1935. the single image links (4 MB download) well-known painters and sculptors who were in direct contact, collaborated, and influenced each other positively or negatively. while most evolutionary diagrams (aka cladograms or tree diagrams) have a single root, mapping the evolution of ideas and culture can be impossible in two-dimensional space. in this diagram, several artists appear more than once because of their influential role in multiple artists’ work - regardless of location. it would be amazing if all cultural production were linked in this way to its influences and its offspring.
. Leo is a artist, inventor and all around practical person in the Tangible Media Group at the Media Lab. He has a background in sculpture, architecture and industrial design as well as an MS from the Media Lab spent working on the kitchen of the future. He is on a search for truth.
