Stefan Arteni

Constantin Brancusi:
the Heideggerian Kehre
(A Visual Essay)

SolInvictus Press 2008

 Tot ce pare ca s-a sters/e pururea in faţă.
(All that seems to’ve been erased / is forever
facing us.)
Mihai Eminescu

Myth and Number

Ideas are not enough. The simplicity of form, the

precise mathematical balance, the architecture, and
the materials too, must also be valued highly.
(Nu ajunge sa posezi idei. Simplitatea formei,
echilibrul precis si matematic, arhitectura trebuie sa
le pretuim tot atât de mult, cât si materialele.)
Constantin Brancusi
 In 1872 Felix Klein proposed the Erlangen Program which was the group theoretic classification of
geometry.
Group theory can be considered the study of symmetry: the collection of symmetries of some object
preserving some of its structure forms a group; in some sense all groups arise this way.
http://www.math.niu.edu/~rusin/known-math/index/20-XX.html

In the language of modern science, the symmetry of geometrical figures — such as the regular polygons and
polyhedra — is defined in terms of their invariance under specified groups of rotations and reflections. Where
does this definition stem from? In addition to the ancient notion of symmetry used by the Greeks and Romans
(current until the end of the Renaissance), a different notion of symmetry emerged in the seventeenth century,
grounded not on proportions but on an equality relation between elements that are opposed, such as the left and
right parts of a figure. Crucially, the parts are interchangeable with respect to the whole — they can be exchanged
with one another while preserving the original figure. This latter notion of symmetry developed, via several steps,
into the concept found today in modern science. One crucial stage was the introduction of specific mathematical
operations, such as reflections, rotations, and translations, that are used to describe with precision how the parts
are to be exchanged. As a result, we arrive at a definition of the symmetry of a geometrical figure in terms of its
invariance when equal component parts are exchanged according to one of the specified operations. Thus, when
the two halves of a bilaterally symmetric figure are exchanged by reflection, we recover the original figure, and
that figure is said to be invariant under left-right reflections. This is known as the “crystallographic notion of
symmetry”, since it was in the context of early developments in crystallography that symmetry was first so defined
and applied…The next key step was the generalization of this notion to the group-theoretic definition of symmetry,
which arose following the nineteenth-century development of the algebraic concept of a group, and the fact that
the symmetry operations of a figure were found to satisfy the conditions for forming a group…For example,
reflection symmetry has now a precise definition in terms of invariance under the group of reflections. Finally, we
have the resulting close connection between the notion of symmetry, equivalence and group: a symmetry group
induces a partition into equivalence classes. The elements that are exchanged with one another by the symmetry
transformations of the figure (or whatever the “whole” considered is) are connected by an equivalence relation,
thus forming an equivalence class.

Katherine Brading and Elena Castellani, Symmetry and Symmetry Breaking

http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/symmetry-breaking/
 GENERALISATION OF THE CONCEPT OF SYMMETRY
…geometrical symmetries. What they have in common is that in all cases we perform a
certain geometric operation, a transformation. During this transformation one (or more)
geometric properties of this geometric object remain unaltered. We say that this property
is invariant under the given transformation.
To generalise the concept of symmetry, first, replace the geometric transformation with
any kind of transformation; second, apply such transformations not only to geometric
objects, but to any kind of object; third, investigate not only their geometric properties,
but consider any kind of property of the objects.
In other words, in a generalised interpretation of its meaning, we can speak of symmetry
if
under any (not necessarily geometric) transformation (operation)
at least one (not necessarily geometric) property
of the (not necessarily geometric) object
is invariant. Thus we make a generalisation in respect of three things:
any transformation, any object, and any of its properties…
Symmetry often manifests itself in combined and generalised forms…Here we should
emphasise the role of dissymmetry…[and of] combined symmetries..: in the
perspective of artists…we find a combination of the symmetry transformations affine
projection and similitude…

György Darvas , "Perspective as a Symmetry Transformation", Nexus Network Journal,

vol. 5 no. 1 (Spring 2003), http://www.nexusjournal.com/Darvas.html
Affine projection is a symmetry transformation in which straight lines are transformed into
other straight lines but angles are not conserved…
Topological symmetry is a symmetry transformation in which the neighborhood relations
between the points of the object are left intact, the distances between them as well as the
angles between the lines connecting them are altered. Straight lines do not necessarily
remain straight. A good example of topological symmetry is the lattice of the points of a
squashed sponge…

György Darvas ,
"Perspective as a Symmetry Transformation", Nexus Network Journal, vol. 5 no. 1 (Spring
2003), http://www.nexusjournal.com/Darvas.html
Within the desymmetrization method, we can, depending on the desymmetrization
means used, distinguish classical-symmetry (non-colored), antisymmetry and
color-symmetry desymmetrizations. Under the term "classical-symmetry
desymmetrization" (non-colored desymmetrization) we will discuss all
desymmetrizations realized, for example, by using an asymmetric figure belonging to the
fundamental region, or by deleting their boundaries and joining two or more adjacent
fundamental regions, etc. The term "non-colored" used as the alternative for "classical-
symmetry", should not be understood literally, since it does not prohibit the use of colors
or some of their equivalents (e.g., indexes), but includes as well, all other cases where
colors have been used for a desymmetrization without resulting in some antisymmetry or
color-symmetry group…The term "external desymmetrization" will be used to denote
a desymmetrization achieved by varying boundaries of a fundamental region.

Slavik Jablan,
http://www.emis.de/monographs/jablan/chap15.htm
The desymmetrization can…be accomplished by means of colors…
…we can…use colors such that it results in so-called colored symmetry
groups, from which we can easily determine subgroups as
desymmetrizations. Thereby we can use several colors. When only two
colors are used, for instance black and white, and if it results in a colored
symmetry group, then this (colored) symmetry group is called an
antisymmetry group, i.e. a colored symmetry group with only two colors.
Antisymmetry is the simplest case of colored symmetry, namely the case
where N = 2 (where N is the number of colors used). So even more
possibilities for modelling real structures are possessed by colored
symmetry groups where N is equal to or greater than 3. Colored symmetry
involves change of colors (which…do not have to be interpreted as just
colors, but as species of any polyvalent quality geometric or not). Such
color changes -- all by themselves -- can be described by permutation
groups.
.

http://metafysica.nl/groups/d2_patterns_2.html
 Antisymmetry and Modularity

Neolithic artefacts from Vincha (Yugoslavia), Tisza (Hungary) and

Vadastra (Romania).
Ljiljana Radovic and Slavik Jablan,
Antisymmetry and Modularity in Ornamental Art
www.mi.sanu.ac.yu/vismath/radovic/index.htm
Directly linked to these problems, and covered by the theory of similarity
symmetry and conformal symmetry, are the questions of the theory of
proportions, the roots of which date from Greek geometry. It held a special place in
Medieval and Renaissance architectural planning and it reached its fullest
expression in applications of the "aurea sectio" (or the "golden section") and musical
harmonies used in architecture and in the visual arts.

Slavik Jablan,
http://www.emis.de/monographs/jablan/chap42.htm

…each system of proportions gives rise to a sequence of 1's and 0's referred to in
the study of dynamical systems as symbolic dynamics. Proportional systems
based on phi , root 2, and root 3 were the principal systems used to create the
buildings and designs of antiquity… Root 2 and root 3 geometries also have
connections to the symmetry groups of the plane [Coxeter 1973].

Jay Kappraff,
Systems of Proportion in Design and Architecture and their
Relationship to Dynamical Systems Theory,
http://members.tripod.com/vismath/kappraff/kap1.htm
 THE FAMILY OF METALLIC MEANS
Vera W. de Spinadel
www.mi.sanu.ac.yu/vismath/spinadel/index.html

Let me introduce you to the Metallic Means Family (MMF). Their members have, among other common
characteristics, the property of carrying the name of a metal. Like the very well known Golden Mean [φ]
and its relatives, the Silver Mean [σAg], the Bronze Mean, the Copper Mean, the Nickel Mean…Some of the
relatives of the Golden Mean have been used by physicists in their latest researches trying to analyze the
behavior of non-linear dynamical systems in going from periodicity to quasi-periodicity… Obviously, all
of them are …a purely periodic continued fraction expansion. The slowest converging one of all them is
the Golden Mean, since all its denominators are the smallest possible (ones). An elegant way of stating
this result is

The Golden Mean is the most irrational of all irrational numbers.

The members of the MMF are intrinsically related with the onset from a periodic dynamics to a quasi-
periodic dynamics, with the transition from order to chaos and with time irreversibility, as proved by Ilya
Prigogine and M. S. El Naschie.

…the sequences based on the members of this family possess many additive properties and are
simultaneously geometric sequences, which is the reason why some of them were used as the basis of a
system of proportions in Design.

Golden mean τ [usually φ] = (1+√5)/2

Silver mean θ = 1 + √ 2
Bronze mean ψ = 1 + √3
…The Golden Mean. This ratio acts as an optimised probability
operator, (a differential equation like an oscillating binary switch),
whenever we observe the quasi-periodic evolution of a dynamical
system. It appears in fact, to be the optimal, energy-minimising route to
the region of maximum algorithmic complexity, and to be a basin of
attraction for the edge of Chaos…The Golden Mean then, is an
archetypal fractal in that it preserves its relationship with itself (its
inherent similarities under scaling are conformal symmetries - with
topological consequences, that are invariant about themselves), in the
most mathematically robust, economical but also elegant, way. It is
analogia exemplified…Number theory therefore also confirms the
Golden Mean to be on the very cusp of Chaos, but also the quantum,
via Reimann's zeta function, in quantum scattering…

Nigel Reading,
Dynamical Symmetries: Autopoietic Architecture
The Areas of Mathematical Synthesis Between Complexity, (edge of) Chaos Theory , Fractal
Geometry and the Golden Mean: leading to an argument for an Autocatalytic Architectural
approach based on emergent Self-Organised Criticality,
http://www.geocities.com/Area51/Starship/9201/phimega/phimega.html
 "Each unique geometrical object is
somehow or other connected to
properties of the regular icosahedron".
Felix Klein
The icosahedron is connected to
group theory via its symmetry group.
www.contracosta.edu/math/pentagrm.htm
The fifth element, i.e., the quintessence,
according to Plato was identified with
the dodecahedron.
The centers of the faces of a regular
dodecahedron are the vertices of a regular
icosahedron and the centers of the faces of
a regular icosahedron are the vertices of a
regular dodecahedron.
http://cage.rug.ac.be/~hs/polyhedra/
dodeicos.html
Felix Klein, group of the icosahedron:

Ih Ih
The icosahedral group
Ih is the point group of
symmetries of the
icosahedron and
dodecahedron having
order 120.

http://mathworld.wolfram.com/IcosahedralGroup.html
Neolithic Stone Balls (ca. 2,000 BCE) representing the Platonic Solids and
their Duals. From left to right: an icosahedron with embedded dodecahedron
dual; a tetrahedron with embedded tetrahedron; an octahedron encompassing
a cube; a dodecahedron (?) but no dual; and a cube with an embedded
octahedron.
www.class.uidaho.edu/ngier/polyhedra/goc.htm
 A distillation of Felix Klein, Veblen and Coxeter’s works…unites all
subgeometries, so too every substage of (physical) existence, with a
synthetic ‘formal simplicity’ emphasizing common projective tenets
that fueled Klein’s old 'Erlangen program.'
http://www.241mumbers.com/page3.html

Kleinian group fractals have been popularized by the book "Indra's

Pearls" by David Mumford, Caroline Series and David Wright:

Indra's Necklace
Indra's Net [a limit set formed by a chain
of tangent circles]
http://www.hiddendimension.com/Slope_Tutorial_9.html
 Greece,
neolithic

Archimedean spiral

Spiral, cosmic spring of life (Marija

Gimbutas)

Cosmic snake winding around the

world egg
and the world disk

Snake of the sun and moon Mycenae

Stone Age schematic
(drawn by Marija Gimbutas)
Knot theory is the mathematical branch of topology that studies mathematical knots,
which are defined as embeddings of a circle in 3-dimensional Euclidean space, R3.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Knot_theory
 This inscribed clay tablet was found
Neolithic tomb
at Pylos, Pelepoponnesos in Greece

The meandering symbol or labyrinth with a unicursal topology has one path, turning and changing directions from
outside to the centre, never crossing itself and with concentric levels in its geometry. In strict mathematical term
the unicursal labyrinth’s topology is that of a straight line…

TESSA MORRISON, THE TYPOLOGY OF THE MEANDERING SYMBOL AND AN APPLICATION OF THIS TYPOLOGY TO THE
CRETAN LABYRINTH , http://www.mi.sanu.ac.yu/vismath/proceedings/morrison.htm
[Details on the topology of labyrinths: Tessa Morrison, The Geometry of History; 032147658,
http://www.mi.sanu.ac.yu/vismath/morrison/index.html]
Coin from
Cnossos
with labyrinth
symbol [the
word labyrinthos
(Mycenaean
daburintos)
is probably
connected
with the word
labrys; the labrys is
the doubleheaded
axe, known to the
Classical Greeks as
pelekus but which
predated the arrival
of the Hellenes in the
Aegean world;
representations of
the labrys are on
Neolithic finds of
"Old Europe“].
Double axe from Dictean
cave and the maze pattern
on Wall of Palace, Knossos
(see, W.H.Mathews: Mazes
and Labyrinths, Dover, New
York, 1970).
Slavik Jablan,
Modularity in Art
http://members.tripod.com/
~modularity/labris.htm
Thracian Alexandrovo kurgan (replica): the naked man represents
Zalmoxis, the Thracian god
 Cybernetics has circularity, circular interlocking, recursiveness, as its central concern,
though as Gregory Bateson pointed out, circularity does not mean a precise circle in which events
repeat themselves in the same circular path.
“This important theme is discussed in Bateson's concept of aesthetics. In his writing - unique in
modern scholarship - aesthetic unity, incorporating a sense of the sacred, lies at the interface
between the named (the maps) [our means of describing the world arises out of notions of
difference (or what G. Spencer Brown's Laws of Form calls ‘distinction’ and ‘indication’),] and the
unnamed (territory). Aesthetics is the unifying glimpse that makes us aware of the unity not able to
be described in prose or prosaic consciousness. The sacred is the ‘integrated fabric of mental
processes that envelops all our lives.' The sacred implies tacit recognition that there are gaps; that
the maps that we create will never provide a complete description of the territory. The essence of
communication lies in the relationship between perceptual redundancy (which creates pattern{s}),
metaphor, which cognitively links levels, and the sacred which lies at the interface of map and
territory. Thus the sacred implies tacit recognition of an immanent aesthetic unity derived through
current practices which embody patterns of relations. Aesthetic wholes derive from ‘the pattern
which connects’…Redundancy is a vital clue to patterning - the patterns that connect and their
recursive nature - it involves convention, habit, repetition and practice” [Kathy M'Closkey.]

Discontinuity and distortion are part of the recursive process. The edges or the
boundaries between subsystems of aesthetics and consciousness,
unconsciousness and consciousness, are where both gaps and interconnections occur.
Here ‘difference’ is to be found and the differences that make a difference lie at the
interface of sub-systems. Only here can the pattern of differences - together with change
in this pattern - be perceived.

The Vinča culture was an early culture
of Europe (between the 6th and the 3rd
millennium BC).
The Cucuteni culture, better known in the countries of
the former Soviet Union as Trypillian culture or
Tripolie culture, is a late Neolithic culture that flourished
between ca. 5500 BC and 2750 BC in the Dniester-
Dnieper region of modern-day Romania, Moldova, and
Ukraine.
NEOLITHIC POTTERY IDOL

Cruciform, with incised almond-shaped eyes, raised nasal ridge, and pointed nose; both ears are pierced.
The body is incised with lines indicating, perhaps, clothing; partial inlays remain.

Ex European collection.
Vinca Culture, the Balkans. Ca. 5th Millennium BC, H. 3 3/8 in. (8.6 cm.)
Cucuteni-Trypillia
Cucuteni-Trypillia
Cucuteni-Trypillia
A map of neolithic China,
showing the legendary Nine Regions.
China (Neolithic)
China (Neolithic)
China (Neolithic)
China (Neolithic): ritual jade object
Cycladic art is the art and sculpture
of the ancient Cycladic civilization,
existing in the islands of the Aegean
Sea from 3300 - 2000 BCE.

Cycladic figure
Cyclades
Cyclades
Cyclades
Cyclades
Cyclades
Near East
Mesopotamia or Anatolia
Mesopotamia
Mesopotamia
Minoan axe head
Minoan
Minoan
Mycenae
Mycenae
One of the 17 coiled snakes found in
the so-called "room with the idols" in
Mycenae. It dates to before the 13th
century BC. (Above: Illustration from
The Mycenaeans by William Taylour)
 Constantin Brancusi

Don't look for obscure formulas or mystery in my work. It is pure joy that I offer you.
Look at my sculptures until you see them. Those closest to God have seen them.
To see far is one thing; going there is another. There is a goal in all things. To arrive
there you must remove yourself from yourself. Create like a god, command like a
king, work like a slave. Glory doesn't give a damn about us when we run after her,
but when we turn our back on her, it is she that runs after us.
Constantin Brancusi
The Kiss, paint on egg shell
Two views of Socrates
"The supreme rite of initiation is to enter a
labyrinth and return from it, and yet every life,
even the least eventful, can be taken as the The Endless Column is
journey through a labyrinth. The sufferings and the negation of the labyrinth.
trials undergone by Ulysses were fabulous, and Constantin Brancusi
yet any man's return home has the value of
Ulysses' return to Ithaca."
Mircea Eliade

Targu Jiu Monument

1. Masa Tacerii
(Table of Silence)
2. Aleea Scaunelor
(Alley of the Seats)
3. Poarta Saratului
(Gate of the Kiss;
Brancusi called it
Gate of the Beyond)
4. Biserica Sfintii
Apostoli Petru si Pavel
(Saints Peter
and Paul the Apostles
Church)
5. Coloana Fara Sfarsit
(Endless Column)
Art may redeem the world.
(Lumea poate fi mantuita prin arta. )

I walk the questing path. We all find ourselves at the end of a great age. And it is necessary to go
back to the beginning of all things; and to find again all that has been lost…
(Ma aflu pe fagasul cautarilor. Ne gasim cu totii la sfârsitul unei mari epoci. Si este necesar sa ne
reintoarcem la inceputul tuturor lucrurilor; si sa regasim ceea ce s-a pierdut...)

I had to show in an artistic form the sense of the spirit, which is bound to matter. At the same time, I
had to merge all forms – in a perfect union. Even contradictory forms had to unite in a novel, final,
rapport. In my life philosophy, separation of matter and spirit and any type of duality are an illusion.
Soul and clay form a unity.
(Trebuia să arăt în formă plastică sensul spiritului, care este legat de materie. Concomitent, trebuia
să fuzionez toate formele - într-o unitate perfectă. Chiar formele contradictorii trebuiau să se unifice
într-o comuniune nouă, finală, în filosofia mea asupra vieţii, separarea materiei de spirit şi orice soi
de dualitate rămân o iluzie. Sufletul şi lutul formează o unitate.)
Constantin Brancusi
Study by Brancusi for the Gate of the Kiss
In the Byzantine East, the church building is a true image of the cosmos.

Saints Peter And Paul the Apostles Church is located on the Way of the
Heroes axis and it was integrated into Brancusi’s monument. Raised on the
emplacement of an older church dating from 1777, it was rebuilt between 1927
and 1939. The church was inaugurated at the same time as Brancusi’s
monument, on November 7, 1937. The neo-byzantine frescoes were created by
Iosif Keber, and the construction was supervised by the architects Ion Antonescu,
Anghel Paunescu and Iulius Doppelreiter.

(Biserica Sfintii Apostoli Petru si Pavel se afla pe axul Caii Eroilor si a fost
integrata creatiei brâncusiene, realizând o legatura între elementele ansamblului
sculptural. Ridicata pe locul unei alte biserici ce data din anul 1777, ea a fost
reconstruita între anii 1927 si 1938 si inaugurata o data cu complexul executat de
Brâncusi, 7 noiembrie 1937. Pictura în stil neobizantin a fost executata în fresca
de catre pictorul gorjean Iosif Keber, iar lucrarile au fost urmarite de arhitectii Ion
Antonescu, Anghel Paunescu si Iulius Doppellreiter).
Everything existing is connected
to Me like pearls on a thread.
Bhagavad Gita - Chapter VII-7

Sketch by Brancusi
on a photo of the site

1937 photograph
The form of the Pillar, the most
simple of all forms, is that of a
cemetery pillar , an archaic
symbolic motif I borrowed without
any artist’s conceit, exactly as it
has come to my knowledge from
times long past.
(Forma Stalpului, simpla intre
toate, este aceea a unui stalp de
cimitir de la noi, un motiv simbolic
arhaic pe care l-am reluat fara nici
o ingamfare de artist, asa cum
l-am aflat din batrani.)
Constantin Brancusi

[Lory Sorin Buliga, Simbolismul

Mitic al Coloanei Infinitului,
Curierul Primariei nr.6(49), 21
Iunie 2004, Targu Jiu]
Constantin Brancusi Quotes

The primitive’s artistic quest is twinned with his search for simplicity.

Someone had to be sacrificed so that the Endless Column should be able to rise to the skies.

After building the labyrinth, Daedalus tried to escape from it by inventing the wings, while his son, Icarus,
fell. I encountered again the labyrinth while I was trying to imprison the Birds under the vault of an Indian
temple, being no longer able to understand how to lure the light over them. Remembering the Endless
Column in Romania and the stars rotating above it summoning it to fly, I gave up the marble vault which
would have overwhelmed the Maiestre…In order to be able to rise, these works were imploring for full
freedom; and, then, it was revealed to me how to escape out of the labyrinth…
The Endless Column is the negation of the labyrinth.

(Căutarea primitivului în artele plastice se îngemănează cu o căutare a Simplităţii.

Pentru ca acea Coloană fără sfârşit să se poată înălţa înspre ceruri, trebuia să fie jertfit cineva.

Daedalus, după ce a construit labirintul, încercând să evadeze din el, a inventat aripile,
iar fiul său, Icarus, s-a prăbuşit. Am dat din nou peste labirint pe când mă străduiam să-mi închid Păsările
măiastre sub bolta unui templu indian, nemaiînţelegând cum să ademenesc, peste ele, lumina. Amintindu-mi
de Coloana fără sfârşit din România şi de astrele care se roteau deasupra ei, chemându-i zborul, am
renunţat, în concepţia mea, la bolta de marmură, care trebuia să copleşească Măiestrele... Aceste opere, ca
să poată să se înalţe, implorau o libertate deplină; şi, atunci, am avut revelaţia a cum să evadez din labirint...
Coloana fără de sfârşit este negarea labirintului… )

(Constantin Zărnescu – Aforismele şi textele lui Brâncuşi, Editura CARTIMPEX Cluj, 1998)
Constantin Brancusi Quotes
Inner proportion – this is the final inherent truth, in absolutely everything.
(Proporţia interioară - este ultimul adevăr inerent, în absolut toate lucrurile.)

Simplicity is solved complexity.

(Simplitatea este o complexitate rezolvata.)
By means of art, you will be disjoined from yourself. Measure and the
golden number will bring you closer to the absolute.
(Prin artă, te vei detaşa de tine însuţi. Iar măsura şi numărul de aur te vor apropia de absolut.)

I am seeking form in everything I create!...

(Eu forma o caut în tot ceea ce creez!...)
…with my newness, I hail from something ancient…
(…eu, cu noul meu, vin din ceva care este foarte vechi...)
I am no longer of this world: far away from myself, detached from myself – I am
among essential things!
(Eu nu mai sunt al acestei lumi: sunt departe de mine însumi,
desprins de propriul meu trup – mă aflu printre lucrurile esenţiale !)

Every time I started a work, I had the feeling that something absolute was speaking
through me – and then, I no longer counted as an individual and I had no importance
whatsoever. This is how the relationship of the artist to the World should be.
(De câte ori m-am apucat de vreo operă, eu aveam sentimentul că un absolut se exprimă prin
mine - şi atunci, nu mai contam ca individ şi nu mai aveam nici un fel de importanţă. Aceasta
ar trebui să rămână relaţia fiecărui artist faţă cu Lumea.)

(Constantin Zărnescu – Aforismele şi textele lui Brâncuşi, Editura CARTIMPEX Cluj, 1998)