Event 1: Origami Revolution

 The first event I attended was the watch party of the documentary, "The Origami Revolution." I must admit, I've never had any interest in origami whatsoever. I've never had the patience to follow so many instructions just to end up with a deeply uninteresting crane. I couldn't have imagined the amount of applications that this ancient art actually had. It really goes to show how seemingly simple concepts or ideas can blossom into all sorts of fascinating complications.

From this... Image Credit: The Spruce Crafts

To this. Image Credit: TechCrunch

    In particular, I was fascinated by the fact that any 3D object could be folded from a sheet of paper, without even making any cuts or tears. (Perhaps if the three-dimensional messenger from Edwin Abbott's Flatland had understood this, they could have used origami to introduce the inhabitants of Flatland to the third dimension?) It's still difficult for me to comprehend how one would go about proving such a fact, like the mathematicians in the documentary did, or how one would program software to find a way to fold a piece of paper into any shape you desire. This is yet another reaffirmation of what we discussed in week 2, that art, at its very core, is based on mathematics, and really made me think about how soon we might see programs that can create all sorts of creative projects that would be indistinguishable from the work of a great artist.

    Of course, the documentary highlighted many uses of origami beyond art or mathematical fascination. My favorite use depicted in the documentary was definitely the folding origami robots. The way those little, adorable bots seemed to assemble themselves and transform into different forms seemed like something out of a movie. It sparked my imagination of a world filled of these tiny robots, compactly stored until they were needed, and I immediately looked online to see if anyone had put this idea to use yet. The coolest application I found was the idea was using origami robots compact enough to fit in swallowable capsules, which could then unfold to do tasks in the human body. 

Image Credit: MIT News

 

 

 

     In conclusion, origami is cool and I was a fool for ever doubting it. I can only hope my former blasphemy will not anger our future origami overlords.

 Sources: 

Abbott, Edwin A. Flatland, 1884, www.ibiblio.org/eldritch/eaa/FL.HTM. Accessed 9 Apr. 2021.

Biggs, John. “New Algorithm Lets You Make Anything in Origami.” TechCrunch, TechCrunch, 23 June 2017, techcrunch.com/2017/06/23/new-algorithm-lets-you-make-anything-in-origami/.

Hardesty , Larry. “Ingestible Origami Robot.” MIT News , Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 12 May 2016, news.mit.edu/2016/ingestible-origami-robot-0512.

Hinders, Dana. “Get Started in Origami With These 10 Simple Projects.” The Spruce Crafts, 5 May 2020, www.thesprucecrafts.com/top-origami-for-beginners-2540688.