Sarah Ransom Looking Outwards-02

Quayola – Pleasant Places/Familiar Landscapes – 2015

This project stuck out to me as soon as I came across the artists page from the list provided in the assignment. The artist uses, or rather plays with, image-analysis and manipulation algorithms to turn candid landscape photos into works of art not far removed from the work of Van Gogh himself. The project was initially inspired by the 17th century landscape prints by Van Gogh and I feel like they could not have done a more complete job of capturing his style. The artist uses custom software to reduce Ultra-High-Definition film/images from landscapes with detailed texture to two-dimensional masses of volume, thus creating the sweeping brush strokes you might see in a painting. What I think is the most inspiring aspect of this project is that by simply creating/playing with image-analysis and manipulation algorithms applied to videos and images of landscapes they can almost exactly replicate the color schemes and even brush strokes of a successful artist from so long ago. The videos, in particular, show exactly what you might see if you brought an authentic Van Gogh painting to life.

Quayola – Pleasant Places/Familiar Landscapes

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David McLeod’s project “Polymorphism” is a set of videos testing the aesthetics of hypothetical objects in a state of flux. This project is inspirational not only because it is an impressive technological feat, but because McLeod manages to maintain his distinctive art style in a computer program with an element of randomness. Very little information was released about this piece, but the forms pictured seem to be many small spheres that transform to other textures when clustered together, which shoots the pieces apart and starts the cycle anew. McLeod’s artistic sensibilities focus on unrealistic textures that can only be computer-generated, giving the illusion of super-shiny rubber or long, soft hair. Although his forms are simple, he is also a master of graphical composition and uses bright, bold, trendy colors. All of these elements have come across in “Polymorphism”, making it an impressive technical feat.

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In June 2015, James George and Johnathan Minard produced an interactive documentary, CLOUDS, which is a really beautiful look at programming, creativity, and how these two entities bring together people from around the world in a very interesting way.

 

The picture below that was taken from the film caught my attention at first because it was pretty and reminded me of a rose. What made me click on it however, not knowing that CLOUDS was a documentary before I looked into it, was my curiosity at why they would name it “Clouds” when it doesn’t even remotely resemble them.

taken from liaworks (CLOUDS)

After seeing the trailer and other pictures from the documentary, though, I was floored by how amazing it seemed. I normally am not one to watch documentaries, but this would be a welcomed exception. The creators even took the people speaking and made them part of the artistic aspect in their pixelated appearance (as demonstrated in the video below). This documentary in particular also used multiple complicated algorithms to create the images that went with the interviewees, which can be seen in the link to the trailer below.

http://www.cloudsdocumentary.com/#trailer

Clouds: beta from Deepspeed media on Vimeo.

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The project I admire is called “The Johnny Cash Project”, a continuous work of generative art by Aaron Koblin. In the project, users can submit their own drawings of frames for the “Ain’t No Grave” music video by Johnny Cash. Users can draw any frame they want to, and submit it to the website. They are able to then choose between all the submitted frames and create a version of the video that they customize. The project is to pay tribute to Cash through connecting fans around the world. I really like this project because it connects people all over the world to work on a common collaborative project. I think that this is uniting for the world, and also a fitting tribute to Cash as he lives on through the work. I like that it is generated by humans, all working together to create a unique and customizable product.

Below are some images of frames from the video, as well as a link to a video about the project, and the actual project webpage.

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Video about project: http://www.aaronkoblin.com/project/johnny-cash-project/

Project Website: http://www.thejohnnycashproject.com/#

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This piece is called Possible, Plausible, Potential and was created by Miguel Nóbrega in March 2015. I was drawn towards this piece because while it initially seems very simple, the truth is that there is much complexity and uniqueness in this piece.

Although the creator relied on the use of algorithms to create this piece of work, there is still an element of randomness that allows for variation within the results. The code works by randomly generating new properties and arrangements of structure every time it runs.

I personally thought that it was very interesting that this work was done with markers, especially because the final result lends an air of sophistication that I do not personally associate with coloring markers. This work is quite figurative too, since the images generated by Nóbrega are not architecture blueprints even though they give off that kind of impression. More of Miguel Nóbrega’s work can be found here.

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I was intrigued by the Aaron Koblin and Janet Echelman’s collaboration, “Unnumbered Sparks”. Janet Echelman created a large soft sculpture made out of fiber and Koblin and his team created a system where people can “draw” and “paint” on Echelman’s sculpture. Using python, WebGL, Chrome and more, they were able to let people connect to their specific wifi near the sculpture and interactively create a digital mark and generate sounds by using their phone. Both artists believed that it was the public who created and finished the art work, not them and was aiming for an essentially a large scale collaboration with people. They broke people from their usual routine with their phone and invited them to participate in their art work.

From this project, I was able to physically see the creative side of coding. The process of creating the fiber sculpture was obviously a creative act but considering such curved and unique sculpture as an aerial canvas and creating a moment where people can interact with each other was something I  have never heard or seen before. Another thing which I have never heard of before is called WebGL. After a brief research, I learned that WebGL is a ‘web technology that bring hardware 3D graphics to the browser without installing additional software’ and ability for ultra fast graphic processing.

After seeing what they have done, collaboration between technology and art seems almost vital in our time and limitless.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6JGzPLZrVFU

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Ralf Baecker, Irrational Computing, 2011

What I admire most about this project is the atmosphere it projects through the composition of the sound. Each module has a distinct and almost haunting sound. Some are semi nostalgic of old dial up computers while other are cringing popping and scraping sounds and some are a mix of both. All the modules are working together not only as signal processor, but also as some sort of nightmarish symphony.

The video goes into more detail, but the entire system of modules is a mix of electical parts a raw elements such as crystals, salt, and iron. The system together makes signal processor in a way that is basically alchemic. Beaker’s manages to make It feels primitive even though the science behind it is actually very advanced.

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I looked into artist Lia’s generative artwork on Flickr. I think she might start this drawing with lines that have thick line weights created by hatching. After arrayed several series of these lines, she might distort and bend (like these commands in Rhino), these lines to achieve visual illusion. Her work is also artistic in a way these lines create volumes and spaces. By placing series of lines together, surfaces are formed. The drawing has tight and loose parts, and the dramatic acute-angled curves bring contrast and depth. I also discovered that the hatching components of the lines differ as it moves from the tight parts to the loose parts. The asymmetrical yet symmetrical-in-part composition creates movement for this artwork, allowing audience to follow the flow of the surfaces. Her idea of creating dynamic moves by repetition corresponds to her algorithm, making it a piece of “smart” art.

Lia’s Webstie
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Reading this page about what truly represents algorithmic art, really gave me a better understanding of the subject. For one, I did not know that computer generated art has been in the works since the 1950s. Many artists have preferences for what they consider art in the computer realm. For many, CAD programs, paintbrush programs, and picture modifiers do not count as art. The real art to them comes from scratch. Literal scratch. Coming up with the numbers and equations that together make up something beautifully complex and simple. Something that I continue to see as I read through these articles and websites, is that many of these artists compare their works to a musical score sheet. Being in an orchestra and studying various forms of music, I myself have been able to see that creating music is something of itself. Making art from nothing. If you think about it, the score in a melody or song is actually an algorithm. Artists that create computer generated art have just transferred the concept over into the programming realm. And in my opinion, it is beautiful. Here is the link to the website as well as some pictures from it.
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http://www.verostko.com/alg-isea94.html

(Copy and paste into url)

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Flight Patterns / Aaron Koblin

This week, looking at Generative Art, it was fascinating to see how artists write a set of rules and allow art to create itself by following them.

A project I was especially excited about was “Flight Patterns” by Aaron Koblin. This project creates an animation that illustrates the daily schedule of flights to and from the US:

I especially liked that by creating a visual representation of potentially mundane information, the artist was able to create a beautiful work of art. In addition to the highly aesthetic qualities of this work, the viewer can observe patterns in data that would otherwise be meaningless. For example, at a certain time, one side of the continent “wakes up” and slowly spreads to the west. Another example is a sudden flood of incoming international flights.

This type of work, where data is visualized by using a set of rules written by a computer program, allows us to interact with accessible information in a new and engaging way. Furthermore, this work could be extended in both visualizing larger areas (e.g. the whole world) or zooming into specific areas in the US that would allow to discover additional patterns.