Last Friday, I visited the New Mexico Museum of Natural History & Science to take in one of three live fractal shows produced and narrated by Jonathan Wolfe. Friday's show included the world premier of two new spectacular fractal animations. Each fractal was a collaboration between Wolfe and Dylan Larson, a student at Sandia Prep who did an internship at the Fractal Foundation for his senior project. Both animations were dynamic hybrid 3D fractals that combined the Mandelbulb, the Mandelbox and the Menger Sponge fractal. 
You might be asking, “What’s a fractal?” A fractal is a never-ending pattern. They are created by repeating a simple process over and over in an ongoing feedback loop. Driven by recursion, fractals are images of dynamic systems - the pictures of Chaos. Fractal patterns are very common in nature. For instance: trees, rivers, coastlines, mountains, clouds, seashells, and hurricanes. First Friday Fractals are award winning full-dome planetarium shows that take viewers on a tour of fractals in nature and zooms through infinitely complex mathematical fractals. Each show features original music by composer and lead designer Daniel Wolfe.
Jonathan Wolfe, Ph.D is the founder and Executive Director of the Fractal Foundation, a New Mexico nonprofit that uses the beauty of fractals to inspire interest and participation in science, math and art. An artist as well as a scientist, his studies of the neurophysiology of the visual system were inspired by his love of color, form and motion, and now his knowledge of perceptual neuroscience informs his art.
Wolfe is best known for his giant, fractal-inspired tie-dyed hot air balloons, crowd favorites in Albuquerque and around the world. His love of fractals continues to spiral upward and outward, reaching ever larger audiences, through public art installations, school presentations, corporate trainings, and full-dome planetarium fractal shows. Since 2003, he has taught over 36,000 children and 25,000 adults the important and inspiring lessons of fractals, chaos and complexity. He is passionate about sharing the beauty of math and science, and he has enthralled audiences all over the world, from Rio Rancho to Rio de Janeiro. Most recently, he is co-founder and chief scientist of Sgrouples.com a privacy-centric social network.
First Friday Fractals are shown the first Friday of each month at the New Mexico Museum of Natural History & Science, 1801 Mountain Road NW, Albuquerque, NM 87104, at 6pm, 7pm, and 8pm, www.FractalFoundation.org, 505.489.3393.
