LookingOutwards-06 – Page 3 – [OLD FALL 2019] 15-104 • Introduction to Computing for Creative Practice

Kristine Kim – Looking Outward-06

Casey Reas is a generative artist and owns a website that is filled with variety of different types of generative art but the ones that I was most drawn into was Path and Tissues. They are both executed and created in a similar technique and are built around the ideas of neuroanatomist Valentino Braitenberg. They are a series of prints and images that documents the movement of synthetic neural systems. Each line in the image reveals the history of one system’s movement as it navigates its environment. I love these projects because of the textures its creating randomly and also the rapid movement it captures. I think the idea behind the works are executed very well. I personally admire Path a little bit more than Tissues because of its’ color palette. The combination of both cool and warm color makes the piece more livid and interesting. There is no end to observing these prints because there are so many details and “paths” that leads the audience into, but I love that about Path and Tissues. Rea’s website contains many more generative arts and prints that are very admirably and interesting.

http://reas.com/path_p/

Carly Sacco – Looking Outwards-06

Perlin Noise is a visual representation of what “natural” texture and surfaces that were created to contrast with the “machine – like” look of graphics at the time. Although the algorithm is simple, the components of it are kept simple. The images are produced off of a box – grid system with random gradient vectors, computation of the dot products of the distance and gradient vectors, and an interpolation between these. Random number generators can be used and by the altering of the algorithm, different images can appear every time.

Ken Perlin invented this algorithm in 1983 because he wanted there to be a way for something natural to appear even on a screen. After creating this algorithm he was awarded an Academy Award for Technical Achievement and continued to use the algorithm for texture synthesis and 3D implecations.

Nadia Susanto – Looking Outwards – 06

The Mediated Matter group at the MIT Media Lab created the Silk Pavilion. This project explores the relationship between digital and biological fabrication. What makes this structure so unique is that the overall geometry was created using an algorithm that would assign threads across the patches providing various degrees of density.

Mediated Matter was inspired by the amazing silkworm and their ability to generate their own version of “3D art” out of only a single multi-property silk thread. The silkworms also create the unique randomness aspect of this as over 6500 silkworms were utilized, and this will definitely generate the random threads and patterns shown in the final product.

What I admire most about this project is that it had computation involved as the researchers did use the silkworms as a computational schema for determining shape and optimization of fiber-based surface structures. However, I am just so amazed how they brought in real-life insects to perform the art for them, not a computer that randomly generated it.

Video demonstrating the process from start to finish including the actual silkworms’ contribution to this entire process.

A closer look into how the researchers had to be up close and personal with the silkworms.

To read more about this amazing project, click the link below:

https://www.media.mit.edu/projects/silk-pavilion/overview/

looking outwards – 06 – Ilona Altman

I thought this piece was very interesting in its simplicity. This work is by Robert Krawczyk and is part of a series called “Summer Diversions”. This work is manifested as a website that creates a series of repeating shapes that create different mandalas. The interactivity and randomness of the project is where one can input more or less shapes, altering their repetition, shape and rotation.

I thought it was really lovely because the article even mentioned these were made with p5.js! It also reminds me very much of our line art project. I would guess this project was programed much the same way: variables are set and correlated to the number of mouse clicks on the “=” and “-“. These variables alter the looping of a repeated form, which is also translated in order to create the mandala effect.

I admire how something so simple could be so beautiful. I love that uncertainty exists within any structure.

“My overall interest is to investigate methods which can develop forms that are in one sense predictable, but have the element to generate the unexpected; the unexpected in a predictable way. The custom software becomes the instructions for producing the work itself.” Robert Krawczyk

These values of predictability and unpredictability are very well communicated in the work. Making the mechanisms of the mandalas so transparent and allowing for interaction gives a sense of structure and predictability, whereas the results are often much more beautiful and complex than one might have imagined.

https://archive.bridgesmathart.org/2003/bridges2003-547.pdf -cool article on Sol LeWitt , one of Krawczyk’s inspirations

http://bitartworks.com/summer/

Summer 2019 Diversions!

Lauren Park-Looking Outwards-06

Nicolas Ménard directed a television commercial for a brand called “Habito”, produced at Nexus Studios. This commercial contains multiples images of different randomized algorithms. This series is a “metaphorical visualization of the brand’s powerful mortgage matching algorithm”. I really admire the audio and the narrative that harmonizes with the series of algorithms. These visuals becomes more like scenes that informs the audience about Habito and what the brand does.

Using variable.io for coding, the artist created instructions that were then translated into versatile Web apps by Marcin Ignac and Nick Nikolov, in order to change and play around with the visuals and speed of algorithms. Additionally, sound was also incorporated in the same way.

By collaborating with David Kamp, the sound designer, and many others to finalize this commercial at the end, I think Nicolas Ménard was very successful in creating those layers of algorithms that build up a storyline for viewers to understand about easy mortgage. Although the algorithms started off randomized in the process, they look to be very orderly and organized in the commercial overall. And with all these random, colored algorithms, along with the narrative, it shows how complex and confusing figuring out mortgage can be in the beginning of the commercial. This is very crucial for Nicolas Ménard’s goal of getting the message across that unlike these generated algorithms, the people at Habito can help simplify the mortgage process.

Nicolas Ménard (Nexus Studios), “Habito” commercial, 201

Aaron Lee – Looking Outwards – 06

These articles talk about how the shuffle mode in the music streaming app such as Spotify seems to be random when it is not actually so random. Despite the fact that people use shuffle mode to discover new music, they often realize same musicians appearing over and over and abruptly conclude that there is a certain pattern in algorithm. Soon, many complaints were made by Spotify users and various conspiracies arose that the company was advocating certain musicians only. However interestingly, the playlist the Spotify provided were actually random. It was just that the people didn’t find it random enough. The article focuses that there is a clear difference between the true randomness vs randomness that people conceive. This may be similar to other media that deals with randomness. For example, although Jackson Pollock’s painting may seem random at first glance, there still are many biases and certainties actively decided by the vision of the painter. Therefore, the same logic applies to the music streaming apps. The developers carefully articulate the randomness of shuffle mode so that the people can feel the right randomness.

https://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/gadgets-and-tech/news/why-random-shuffle-feels-far-from-random-10066621.html

https://www.quora.com/Is-Spotifys-shuffle-feature-truly-random-I-keep-hearing-the-same-songs-in-my-library-too-often-for-it-to-be-a-mere-coincidence-Does-Spotify-use-some-kind-of-special-algorithm-to-determine-what-song-plays-If-so-why/answer/Mattias-Petter-Johansson

Alice Cai Looking Outwards 06

Mark Wilson is a digital artist that self learned programming to create computer-generated works. He wrote his own software after buying his own microcomputer. His work combines human and machine decisions by having a combination of intricate design and random generation.

His project e4708 is very geometric. It consists of overlapping circles and rectangles in many neon colors. There are patterns, but there are also random inconsistencies. He created this image by running and rerunning random generating computer software. After selecting successful images, he weaved them together to create patterns.

https://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O164447/e4708-print-wilson-mark/

Stefanie Suk – Looking Outwards – 06

Natalie Stopka is an artist who focuses on the creative process from the materials and forces of the natural world. One of the art techniques she likes to use in her work is marbling, which is a method of creating “random” pattern designs using color and water. This method is the result of floating color onto the surface of the water, then transferring the pattern to an absorbent surface, like paper or fabric. Marbling is a perfect definition of randomness because the artist never has full control over the design. Although the artist may be able to create designs using a sharp utensil to form patterns on the color, every single drop of color the artist puts on the water spreads differently throughout the surface. The direction, size, and color changes every time the color is dropped onto the surface of the water, and I think this marbling method effectively uses randomness to create unique patterns. Natalie Stopka’s marbling artwork shows a perfect example of the use of random movements from the natural force of color.

Video of Marbling Method

Jai Sawkar – Looking Outwards – 06

This week, I found the work of Holger Lippmann. Lippmann uses a rework of an ongoing script to slowly morph lines and curves into landscape paintings.

Most of the technical aspects are pretty simple, adding a mix of ellipses, noise, and color arrays. He also notes that these numbers are randomly generated, and he creates these drawings by sorting the values and allowing the randomness to blossom.

I always find computational designs so interesting, as changing just one aspect of the control can play a discernible role in changing the project completely.

Link

Sammie Kim – Looking Outwards 06

35 years ago, Ken Perlin won an academic award for discovering a technique now called “Perlin Noise.” It is defined as a type of gradient noise that interpolates random values to create smooth transitions through the noise function. While it is readily controllable, Perlin Noise can also be embedded flexibly into other mathematical expressions to create a wide range of textures that imitate the controlled random appearance of textures in nature.

Thus, this technique is a powerful algorithm that is used in methodical content generation, particularly popular in visual media from games to movies for adding realistic randomness to CG renderings of smoke, fire, and water. Likewise, the bottom artworks “Perlin Noise Patterns” by the artist Martin Tinram really inspired me, especially with how delicate and sophisticated the texture are rendered. It was astonishing how they were computer generated, as they looked so detailed and realistic, almost like photographs. The effects are mostly present in the 2nd and 3rd dimension, although it could be extended into the 4th dimension as well. With this, I learned how significant randomness can be in computation and design, as it could be both readily controlled for specific aesthetic results, yet unprecedented at the same time.

https://www.behance.net/stingingeyes