Looking Outwards-02 Section D

This is a video of a capture of one of the search strings used to create Dreamlines, an interactive net-art work created by Leonardo Solaas in 2005. The search word for this particular video was “plum.”

Leonardo is both an artist and a programmer. He states that, “The user enters one or more words that define the subject of a dream he would like to dream.” At the same time, one cannot be sure whether they are observing their dream, or the computer’s dream and thought process. There is no definitive answer to this uncertainty, just as dreams can be very general and not make logical sense.

I find it beautiful that even an electronically generated work can mimic patterns in nature. This artwork reminds me of spider webs, bacteria, mold, and other organic forms. However I did notice that the more I picked out single curves and lines in the work, I became more aware of its unnaturalness. I realized that enjoyed it when I saw it as an organism rather than what looked like an imitation of a living thing.