What are complex systems? Is complex different from complicated? Why are they important, and why should I care?
Foundations of Complex Systems is a collaboration with an illustrator (myself) and Te Pūnaha Matatini to explore collaborative storytelling and science communication.
Once a week over four weeks, I met with a team of two scientists or researchers to help them develop a written piece with an editor. The goal of this piece is to explain an element of complex systems in a way that a layperson with no background knowledge can understand. Over those four weeks, we discuss tone, ideas and language. What is emergence and why is it important? How does scale play a role in our daily lives?
My role is not just to 'illustrate' the ideas, but to provide an additional layer of narrative and to amplify and expand the written piece. The science of complexity is challenging, so this collection of pieces offers a way into the world of complex systems for anyone, not just those with technical knowledge.
The small slice of transdisciplinarity that happens when we bring together an academic expert, an illustrator and an editor shows how we do our best work when we work together.
This is a six part series, each section including three illustrations and a written piece that is published on the Te Pūnaha Matatini website. At the end of the project, the work was presented at the Te Pūnaha Matatini Annual Hui as a book gifted to every attendee, as well as an exhibition.
As illustrator and designer on this project, I helped authors communicate their work in accessible language and structures, illustrated and designed this work for all its many forms — web, exhibition and book.
Find the full series here: Foundations of Complex Systems
Entanglements and Emergence booklet
Collaboration between Hanna Breurkes (Toi Āria) and researchers and scientists at Te Pūnaha Matatini
2024