Brilio.net/en - Like any other tribe in Indonesia, Batak also has their signature decorative arts that are different from other tribes. Batak is one of Indonesian ethnic group that comes from the North Sumatra, while its sculpturing is named Gorga Batak. It is usually found on the exterior of a Batak Tobas traditional house and art instruments. Toba is a sub-tribe of Batak, along with 8 others including Karo and Mandhailing.
The ornaments are sculpted on a piece of wood and dyed with colours, usually black, white and red. The decoration is one of the sources of Bataks unique exoticism and no identical pattern is found on Gorga ornaments. One of the most ancient traditional ornaments in Gorga is the lion. It is the head of the lion from Bataks mythology that is believed to be the guardian of home.
Image via budaya-indonesia.org
A team of sociology researches from Bandung Fe Institute and expeditors from Sobat Budaya Foundation tried to uncover the hidden history of the Batak ancestors and how they could achieve the beautiful and structured pattern that is so unique to each piece, seeing as geometry wasnt around at the time. Hundreds of Gorga Batak patterns were documented along the trip, to be analyzed later.
While the scientists were analyzing the ornaments, they discovered the use of fractal figures, a form of contemporary geometry introduced by Benoit Mandelbrot in early 80s. In the conventional geometry we know dimensions as integers, such as 1-dimension (a line), 2-dimension (circle, square, triangle), 3-dimension (block, ball, cone). In fractal geometry, dimension can be in fractions. Gorga Batak has dimensions of 1.4 to 1.6, or between the line dimension and 2-dimension.
Image viabudaya-indonesia.org
The next step was finding out the mechanism that creates those patterns. Researches concluded that Gorga Batak can be further researched by using the computerized L-System or Lindenmayer System turtle command algorithm. Its a popular complex model that is used to catch the dynamics of multi-cellular plants growth. There are 3 rules used in the algorithm, which are to fill an empty room, to grow circling patterns, and to not overlapping one another. The computational process can create the similar patterns to Gorga Batak as you can see in the video here:
This has proven the fact that the ancestors of Batak had known the principals of generative arts, in which the creation is made using an algorithm. This kind of art has been developing vastly in the past 2 decades as computer is also developing. But to have understood this science thousands of years ago had us questioning the ancient Batak peoplewere they more advanced than us?
(brl/red)
