Jisoo Geum – Looking Outwards 06

https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/pdf/10.1080/17513472.2013.769833

Carola-Bibiane Schönlieb and Franz Schubert

Arnulf Rainer Piece – Processing Algorithm (2012) 

This piece is created by a team of programmers, Carola-Bibiane, Schönlieb, and Franz Schubert. By creating a set of random curves that are drawn sequentially, they emulated the etched prints of Arnulf Rainer shown below.

Essentially, the lines are generated by the random number generators, which eventually create ‘pseudo’ random numbers. The most admiring part about this work, despite the fact that the work is not original, was the number of rules that the creators had to set in order to perfectly copy the work of Arnulf Rainer. Although the image looks simple, the curves seemed to be encoded with intricate set of planned parameters. The fact that these fine lines are created by using randomness, but with a set of restrictions, was fascinating to me. To expand on this idea, the piece made me wonder if perfect randomness is even possible and, if it does, whether the final product will look the same as the usual ‘randomly generated’ numbers or shapes. The artistic sensibilities are best shown through the idea of copying an organically generated piece into a digital image, using the exact opposite method: the computer.