Fractal Universe ® 2010

Call for Submissions

This is an open call for you to submit your fractal artwork for
consideration for inclusion in the Fractal Universe ® Calendar 2010.

We have just now been notified by the publisher that the Fractal Universe
® Calendar is a go for 2010.

Please note that the deadline for submissions this year is May 10, 2008

We would like to stress again this year that this is a commercial venture,
and not a contest. The publisher will ultimately decide the final 13 images
that will be included in the calendar.

All the information you will need is detailed on the following website:

"Fractal Forum" www.fractalforum.com

Please make your submissions and any additional enquires you may have
via the contact form on the above website.

This message has been posted to some of the fractal art mailing lists and
forums. If you think it may be of interest to others please feel free to
forward it, as it is written here, to other 'net sites where fractal artists meet
to share and discuss fractals.

Thanks and good luck!

Panny Brawley

Some of us in the fractal community have reservations about the manner in which both the Fractal Universe Calendar and the Benoit Mandelbrot Fractal Art Contest are run. While blogging at Orbit Trap, we have written extensively to detail why the protocols of both competitions should be carefully examined in regard to professionalism, favoritism, ethical breaches, and conflicts of interest.

I understand this is a controversial topic in some quarters -- but it is one that profoundly affects all of us as artists and the genre of fractal art as a whole. As such, the manner in which these competitions are managed should be carefully scrutinized and openly discussed.

We have a right to speak out -- even if what we say upsets some of you and challenges the status quo. We did not come here to argue. We came here only to share information.

Please visit our blog, consider our arguments, and draw your own conclusions. Thank you.

Terry Wright
Tim Hodkinson

~/~

Orbit Trap

--A few posts on the Fractal Universe Calendar:

Facelift

The Price of Professionalism

The Fractal Alternate Universe Calendar 2008

There are many more posts about both competitions in the Orbit Trap archives.

Some of us in the fractal community have reservations about the manner in which Orbit Trap chooses to criticize and attack both the Fractal Universe Calendar and the Benoit Mandelbrot Fractal Art Contest and those associated with these events, and those who take exception to the methods of Orbit Trap.  I have written in detail why the tactics of Orbit Trap have been called into question and why they should be examined in regard to professionalism and ethics.

It is my opinion that Orbit Trap posted their message above to give a one-sided picture of the issue.  Orbit Trap now censors any comments received, and will not publish comments that are critical of them.  They absolutely have a right to speak out, as does anyone who disagrees with them.  They also have the right to not publish comments to their posts.

Please visit my blog, compare my arguments with those presented by Orbit Trap, and draw your own conclusions.  You will see me mentioned by Orbit Trap, but you will not see my blog linked.  You will see many false charges and complains about how Orbit Trap is treated by their critics.  As you read these charges, note whether or not they substantiate them.  Note the tone of Orbit Trap in their posts, and compare that to the comments.  They are being honest when they say they did not come to argue.  A reading of their archives will show why.

Contrary to Orbit Trap's opinion, these events are only two events.  In the grand scheme of things, they are really insignificant.  Every artist, whatever their medium or genre, has a large number of ways to present and expose their art to the public, if that is their desire.  Existing outlets can be use, and new outlets can be created.  The question I would pose to readers is, are these two event better to exist or not, even with real (or alleged) flaws?

I invite, and encourage, anyone to comment to my posts.  Unlike Orbit Trap, comments are encouraged, especially comments where you disagree with me. 

Ken...

Escape to Infinity

Childress is misinformed. Tim and I do not want to eliminate either the Fractal Universe Calendar or the Benoit Mandelbrot Fractal Art Contest.  But we do believe neither competition is currently being run fairly or with a high degree of professionalism.  We show evidence on Orbit Trap to support such claims and go on to analyze who benefits from keeping these entities as they are.  We urge fixing both competitions to bring them in line with the rest of the professional art world.  That’s a more accurate summary of our position.

We are not censoring anyone at Orbit Trap.  We have, though, barred several trolls from posting there.  These people have shown they are not critics.  They are hecklers who we published until it became clear they had no interest in discourse.  See this post for a full explanation.  There are only two hecklers for whom we had to call security (three if one also counts Childress), and they have hardly had their free speech abridged by us.  After all, each one's voice is heard loudly and regularly in the comments section of Childress' blog.

We have and will continue to publish comments on Orbit Trap -- including views that disagree with ours -- but only when submitted remarks adhere to our comments policy and come from people who engage in discussion rather than heckling.

I do hope forum members here take a challenge to visit both blogs.  I agree that looking closely at tone is a must, as well as keeping a running tally of the number of insults, distortions, and ad hominem attacks one finds.  Members should also carefully compare which blog presents empirical evidence and which relies on emotional venting.  Ask plenty of questions, too -- like which blog has a sense of humor?  What longstanding ties do the individual bloggers have to various people managing or judging the two competitions?    Which blog plays a whistleblower role by presenting controversial, even unpopular issues relevant to fractal art and artists -- and which one merely responds negatively to the issues raised by the other in order to keep the status quo safe and its established power structure intact?

Troll = one who rationally, perhaps occasionally with emotion, logically disagrees with Orbit Trap.  Orbit Trap is misleading when they say "trolls" are banned.  I know of at least three people who disagree with them, and are censored.  Why?  Because they do not want their readers to see the arguments.  If you notice, there are few, if any, comments to any of the posts for many weeks other than those they have banned, and none recently.  There are no comments agreeing with them that I can recall.  If you agree with them, I'm sure they will post your comment with haste.  The latest person banned was very rational, very civil, read the record, and was repeatedly belittled by Orbit Trap until they banned him.  Very professional, wouldn't you say?

Note the reference above to "free speech".  This is one of the several lies and distortions Orbit Trap promotes.  Never has anyone ever mentioned that their "free speech" is denied by Orbit Trap, and never has Orbit Trap given any quote to support this repeated claim.  How does one "heckle" a blog anyway?  Just another example of the "evidence" presented by Orbit Trap.  If you want to see a rational, though very blunt, analysis of their "evidence", please see this post.

Just remember that when you read Orbit Trap, bear in mind that a contest has one meaning, and one meaning only.  It just be a contest run by a rigorous set of rules, and there is no room for anything less than following the "professional rules of contest running" that some organization somewhere has written. 

Let me be clear, I did not say Orbit Trap wanted the contests to disappear.  I simply asked a question.  Are they better to exist, even if they exist in their present form?  The inference from the fuss Orbit Trap is making is that it is better that they cease to exist, rather than be run so "unprofessionally". 

Please do post your comments to Orbit Trap.  When they don't appear, please comment on my blog.