Entropy trade-offs in artistic design: A case study of Tamil kolam
From an evolutionary perspective, art presents many puzzles. Humans invest substantial effort in generating apparently useless displays that include artworks. These vary greatly from ordinary to intricate. From the perspective of signalling theory, these investments in highly complex artistic design...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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Cambridge University Press
2021-01-01
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| Series: | Evolutionary Human Sciences |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | https://www.cambridge.org/core/product/identifier/S2513843X21000141/type/journal_article |
| _version_ | 1811156409694289920 |
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| author | N.-Han Tran Timothy Waring Silke Atmaca Bret A. Beheim |
| author_facet | N.-Han Tran Timothy Waring Silke Atmaca Bret A. Beheim |
| author_sort | N.-Han Tran |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | From an evolutionary perspective, art presents many puzzles. Humans invest substantial effort in generating apparently useless displays that include artworks. These vary greatly from ordinary to intricate. From the perspective of signalling theory, these investments in highly complex artistic designs can reflect information about individuals and their social standing. Using a large corpus of kolam art from South India (N = 3139 kolam from 192 women), we test a number of hypotheses about the ways in which social stratification and individual differences affect the complexity of artistic designs. Consistent with evolutionary signalling theories of constrained optimisation, we find that kolam art tends to occupy a ‘sweet spot’ at which artistic complexity, as measured by Shannon information entropy, remains relatively constant from small to large drawings. This stability is maintained through an observable, apparently unconscious trade-off between two standard information-theoretic measures: richness and evenness. Although these drawings arise in a highly stratified, caste-based society, we do not find strong evidence that artistic complexity is influenced by the caste boundaries of Indian society. Rather, the trade-off is likely due to individual-level aesthetic preferences and differences in skill, dedication and time, as well as the fundamental constraints of human cognition and memory. |
| first_indexed | 2024-04-10T04:51:05Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-fef2260792234486b59bdc030950324b |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 2513-843X |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-04-10T04:51:05Z |
| publishDate | 2021-01-01 |
| publisher | Cambridge University Press |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Evolutionary Human Sciences |
| spelling | doaj.art-fef2260792234486b59bdc030950324b2023-03-09T12:32:19ZengCambridge University PressEvolutionary Human Sciences2513-843X2021-01-01310.1017/ehs.2021.14Entropy trade-offs in artistic design: A case study of Tamil kolamN.-Han Tran0https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1668-2643Timothy Waring1https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7364-1130Silke Atmaca2Bret A. Beheim3https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4653-3155Department of Human Behavior, Ecology and Culture, Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, Leipzig, GermanySchool of Economics, University of Maine, Orono, USADepartment of Human Behavior, Ecology and Culture, Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, Leipzig, GermanyDepartment of Human Behavior, Ecology and Culture, Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, Leipzig, GermanyFrom an evolutionary perspective, art presents many puzzles. Humans invest substantial effort in generating apparently useless displays that include artworks. These vary greatly from ordinary to intricate. From the perspective of signalling theory, these investments in highly complex artistic designs can reflect information about individuals and their social standing. Using a large corpus of kolam art from South India (N = 3139 kolam from 192 women), we test a number of hypotheses about the ways in which social stratification and individual differences affect the complexity of artistic designs. Consistent with evolutionary signalling theories of constrained optimisation, we find that kolam art tends to occupy a ‘sweet spot’ at which artistic complexity, as measured by Shannon information entropy, remains relatively constant from small to large drawings. This stability is maintained through an observable, apparently unconscious trade-off between two standard information-theoretic measures: richness and evenness. Although these drawings arise in a highly stratified, caste-based society, we do not find strong evidence that artistic complexity is influenced by the caste boundaries of Indian society. Rather, the trade-off is likely due to individual-level aesthetic preferences and differences in skill, dedication and time, as well as the fundamental constraints of human cognition and memory.https://www.cambridge.org/core/product/identifier/S2513843X21000141/type/journal_articleArtsignallingentropyskillmaterial cultureBayesian inference |
| spellingShingle | N.-Han Tran Timothy Waring Silke Atmaca Bret A. Beheim Entropy trade-offs in artistic design: A case study of Tamil kolam Evolutionary Human Sciences Art signalling entropy skill material culture Bayesian inference |
| title | Entropy trade-offs in artistic design: A case study of Tamil kolam |
| title_full | Entropy trade-offs in artistic design: A case study of Tamil kolam |
| title_fullStr | Entropy trade-offs in artistic design: A case study of Tamil kolam |
| title_full_unstemmed | Entropy trade-offs in artistic design: A case study of Tamil kolam |
| title_short | Entropy trade-offs in artistic design: A case study of Tamil kolam |
| title_sort | entropy trade offs in artistic design a case study of tamil kolam |
| topic | Art signalling entropy skill material culture Bayesian inference |
| url | https://www.cambridge.org/core/product/identifier/S2513843X21000141/type/journal_article |
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