Painting Systems: From Art to Systems Architecting

Abstract

Systems engineering has successfully contributed to develop complex systems in industries such as defense, space, energy, or transportation. Systems in those industries have in common their engineered or socio‐technical natures. However, systems engineering has been understood for a long time as both an art and a science. As a matter of fact, principles and practices of systems engineering have been exhibited in the creation of film original score, a major artistic endeavor. Therefore, it is sensible to investigate if and how the similarities and differences between the application of systems engineering in the development of engineered systems and the pursue of artistic endeavors can help in improving the understanding and practice in both domains. Specifically, this paper discusses how the same concepts are applied in artistic painting and in system architecture to reduce complexity and achieve elegance.

A perspective on systems thinking, architecting, and art

“…Systems architects also resort to rules, called in this case heuristics, that guide the structural form and the dynamic behaviour of an architecture to reduce its complexity (Maier & Rechtin, 2009). A study compared the sets of rules in the arts and in systems architecture and identified two sets of strategies that were employed by master artists and systems architects to achieve elegance (Salado, Iandoli, & Zollo, 2016):…”

Improving the Systems Thinking Skills of the Systems Architect via Aesthetic Interpretation of Art

“…The first discussed how principles and practices of systems engineering are exhibited in the composition of a film original score, which focused on reducing complexity (Salado and Salado, 2015). The second discussed methods used by master painters to reduce effective complexity (Salado, Iandoli, and Zollo, 2016). Effective complexity refers to the subjective interpretation of a model by the observer -a fundamental skillset of both master artists and master system architects (Gell-Mann, 1994).…”

“…Other heuristics provide guidance for the dynamic nature of systems: "it's the perceptions, not the facts, that count," of "if the politics don't fly, the hardware never will" (Maier and Rechtin, 1997). The first set relate to what we call noise killing strategies (Salado, Iandoli, and Zollo, 2016), which address the simplification of a complex concept or system to its essential core constructs. The second set address meaning adding strategies (Salado, Iandoli, and Zollo, 2016), those that represent the complexity of the system by highlighting the interaction of those constructs.…”

“…These are rooted in conceptual understanding of the situation, the system of interest, and its abstractions and patterns, as well as the compositional form of proposed solutions. In a previous paper, a set of eight strategies common to artists were used to describe these compositional techniques (Salado, Iandoli, and Zollo, 2016 We suggest that NKs are analysis methods and MAs are synthesis methods. They share a common theme of communication: NK's help to simplify the system to explain it and MA's help to capture abstractions that communicate the complexity without overwhelming the observer.…”

“…Learning concepts 5-10 of Table 1 are compositional concepts demonstrated masters in the three discipline areas. A previous paper identified two sets of compositional strategies that artists use to achieve effective complexity: Noise-Killing strategies (NK) and Meaning-Adding strategies (MA) (Salado, Iandoli, and Zollo, 2016). If one relies on NK strategies alone, the experience is oversimplified and its interpretation becomes dull and trivial; conversely, too intense use of MA strategies makes a representation overwhelming and unnecessary complex.…”