Category: LookingOutwards-06

While looking for pieces that exemplified computation, randomness, and creativity, I stumbled upon a website called random-art.org. The website features a gallery of (literally) random art. All of the pieces are created from a computer program (ocaml) that generates an image based on whatever word a user types in. In other words, the name given to the picture is the starting point for the program to compute a formula that determines the image’s colors and pixels. However, the same word or name given always yields the same image, because it determines the same sequence of random choices that make up the picture.

This project is pretty cool (and random) because it takes a new approach to making computational art that makes it simple enough for anyone to take part in.

You can even make your own random picture here and upload it to the random art gallery!

exterior view of the building

The Serpentine Gallery Pavilion in 2002 was designed by Toyo Ito, Cecil Balmond, and Arup. This pavilion was designed with randomly intersecting lines along the walls which created many different shapes of triangles and trapezoids. This exterior/interior wall design was actually derived from an algorithm of a cube that expanded as it rotated. I think this computational art allows people to appreciate the building as well as the way of design using an algorithm. Along with this algorithmic design, the transparency and translucency of the wall make it seem like the shapes of the walls are in infinitely repeated motion. This algorithm was developed by Balmond, who participated in this project as the artist and structural engineer. Although this project’s budget constraints didn’t allow the highest quality finish, the strength of the design made sure that it caught people’s eyes. I could not find what kind of algorithm Balmond used, but I suppose the algorithm made many different lines in a cube to reach these shapes of the building.

interior sky view of the shapes

interior view of the building

Serpentine Gallery Pavilion

LifeOject, an architectural project curated by Dr. Ido Bachelet, Bnaya Bauer, Arielle Blonder, Dr. Yael Eylat Van Essen, and Noy Lazarovich, is a sculptural installation exploring new spatial attitude through deriving its form from characteristics of a bird’s nest. As I was searching through ArchDaily, I was fasinated by the idea of the project of creating a “dialogue between architecture and biology.” The project experiments on integrating biological properties such as resilient quality of a bird’s nest to its materials. Through the use of natural materials and its resilient quality, it is structured to an open-ended form that is held by bending forces between floor and ceiling. In this project, computational process becomes dominant over composition and in that process, the use of randomness is key. To achieve natural, biological characteristics, random arrangement of branches was essential. Although some values had to be preset, a code was designed to assemble and knit the materials together. Because architecture is viewed with a sense of perfection through implied idea of “safety,” randomness seemed to be impossible; however, through experimentation of new materials and implementation of computational design, the artists manifested a dynamic form through introducing new materials that promised integration of open-ended fabrication to architectural practice.

 

I chose to look at Casey Reas’ computational Process 7, in which various elements are randomly placed and relationships are created between each elements. Personally, I am drawn to things that sprawl, which this piece certainly does. I think its dynamic nature and irregularity oddly enough keep it from reading chaotic. Although random, I can sense an underlying pattern which keeps me looking at the piece.

Something that I failed to find were the intended dimensions and medium. I understand that it was made on the computer, but I am unclear of how this piece was intended to be viewed, on a laptop screen, printed on a poster, or even projected onto an entire wall. Personally I thought it would be impressive the bigger it was, especially how it seems as if there is a strong amount of small detail. But the biggest critique I have is the lack of information on how the piece should be viewed.

Many of Reas’ work seem to work upon similar themes. I feel like this type of work literally and broadly fills in many spaces. Although strict formal and uniform lines are more predictable, I think that Reas is trying to show that this type of work does have its applications through its unexpected visual appeal. Although seemingly uncontrolled, these variable parameters that govern a multitude of interactions creates a dynamic image.

This was actually a student project from RISD Architecture class called: Coding Architecture in 2015, but I found it just as intriguing as any other project from a professional.  Aaron Tobey, decided to generate a manually -operated random machine with geometry.

For instance, he created a rectangle as the seed and then let the line bounce within the rectangle on a set of rule.  Numbers are generated based on where the line intersects the  edge of the rectangle.  Behind it all are a set of complex series of geometric operations and logical rules to build this random sequence.  Here he repeats this process over many boxes on the canvas. I like the way this view allows one to observe the behaviors of randomness at a distant level.  This sort of macro view of randomness reveals an interesting phenomenon–almost reveals a deep structural pattern.  Although I’m not too certain if he used actual randomness or pseudo-randomness, it is interesting to note the complexity in trying to create “randomness” (because even if it appears to be random, at a macro level, it looks sort of like a pattern).

For the time being, I’ve never thought twice about the origins of the random() function or even if it’s actually random or not, but this blog post has made me wonder what which type of random is needed for a particular situation.

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Coding Architecture Course Website: http://lostritto.com/risd2015spring-seminar/

 

Silk – Weave Silk Studios (creator and project details aren’t specified)

Example Use –

This isn’t so much an art project but rather a project for other people to create their own generative art. The user uses their mouse to specify points along the grid, and the program generates smooth lines randomly from that point onwards. Although it’s not the creators own artwork, I still think it shows their creativity and artistic style, as well as the computation, randomness, and creativity required for this weeks looking outwards post. I really respect that it gives everyone the chance to try their hand at generative art, and hope that more tools like this are available!