LookingOutwards-06 – Page 4 – [OLD FALL 2019] 15-104 • Introduction to Computing for Creative Practice

Katrina Hu – Looking Outwards – 06

Mark Wilson’s e4708

The following work is titled ‘e4708‘ by Mark Wilson. Throughout the 80s, it was challenging to create artwork involving a machine. Wilson started to learn programming in 1980, after he bought himself a microcomputer. He then began using this computer to create artwork. His work generally consists of repetition in order to create complex layers that result in very intricate art pieces. Some of the aspects of his art are specifically chosen by him, while some other aspects are left to chance and chosen randomly by the computer.

Wilson’s work has also been exhibited all across the world. His distinct technological style and geometric imagery have made him famous in computer art. I admire the color and style that Wilson uses in his work. It makes the piece very complex and interesting to look at. He also includes many geometric pieces in his work, giving it a very distinct look.

lee chu – looking outwards 06

one of many real-time generations

Matt Deslauriers, a creative director, designed a real-time rendered randomly generative art piece. He uses Node.js to quickly render output the program’s results. Simplex noise is utilized to drive the particles, with each particle affected directly by the noise to curl a lot or move straight. Photographs were also used as distortion maps to further refine the end result. According to Deslauriers, photographs of snails, flowers, architecture, and geometry seemed to work the best. For instance, this photo of a rose window at Notre-Dame (rip). Check out more real-time renderings here

Jina Lee – Looking Outwards 06

This was the flat braid that the Dan Gries created.

http://rectangleworld.com/blog/archives/733

For this week, I stumbled upon Random Braids. This was created by Dan Gries. I thought this project was interesting because of the process the designer went through to create his work. He has a blog that shows different types of generated artworks. Random Braids stood out the most to me, because when you think about braids, they are very systematic. By generating random braids, it is interesting to see how they intertwine with each other.

This is the Blue Scrolling. It is animated and scrolls endlessly.
http://rectangleworld.com/demos/Braids/braids_blue_scroll.html

In order to create this design, he used JavaScript and HTML5 canvas. There are two versions of fixed images of the braids and two versions of the braids scrolling endlessly. Before getting to his final iterations, he did a lot of research. The braids show the intersection of the mathematical areas of abstract algebra, topology, and knot theory. The braids were made by a set of simple braids which have a single crossing of strings. If the top braid is attached to its inverse, the strings can become untangled.

This is called gradient. Gries made non moving gradient braids and scrolling gradient braids.
http://rectangleworld.com/demos/Braids/braids_scroll.html

What I admire about the work is how simple yet aesthetically pleasing the end product ended up being. My understanding of randomness in algorithms is mostly limited to what I have been learning in p5.js. In order for Gries to code this, he had to draw the strings row by row. He would randomly select positive or negative crossings. Through the arrays, the colors were chosen. More information about how the algorithm work can be found on his blog post about random braids.

Jasmine Lee – Looking Outwards – 06

Siebren Versteeg is a digital artist who uses algorithmic code to generate his pieces. He observes existing abstract paintings and then writes code based on his perceived understandings of those paintings. His works are a result of layers and layers of algorithmic generated strokes, which are then captured at a random point in time. Since Versteeg’s works are so complex and layer-based, the varying times at which they are captured can drastically change the end result.

*Truisms*, 2018. Images based on Jenny Holzer’s text were googled and compiled in real-time before being refreshed every 3 minutes and disappearing forever.

Before painting, Versteeg chooses the different variables he uses to create his art. These variables range from the color of the paint, the type of binder used, the way the paint sticks, and the way the paint drips, as well as more. Versteeg’s artistic sensibility is definitely visible in the way he chooses to compile his pieces, with a combination of dream-like strokes and more image-based cutouts. His pieces range dramatically, from abstract fractals to more collage inspired pieces.

*Imploder*, 2013. A slightly older piece of Versteeg’s.

Claire Yoon – Looking Outwards – 06

Random generative art piece using a film

This art piece by Vladimir Kanic, a transmedia artist filmmaker, is part of a series of artwork that incorporates chaos theory and randomness to create structured art. Vladimir created a process that alters the film to create itself from spontaneous occurrences in everyday material world. He devised a concept called ‘Magic box ‘ where twelve boxes are given to different art directors and they put in a random number of objects. A group of random people would then procede to put them in a stash and the artist would create a film by observing and measuring randomness from the objects from any one of the boxes. I found this piece particularly interesting as a unique piece of art is created through measuring randomness through a random model system of chaos.

Sarah Kang- Looking Outwards – 06

Fabio Morreale’s research focuses on how understanding the influence of computer technologies in shaping the way people compose, learn, listen to, and perform music. “Medusa” is one of his few visual works that “explore the redistribution of control between human and computer agents in the creation of visual artworks” (Morreale). What first drew me to this artwork was the fluidity and organic nature of the composition. This project was coded on Processing. Morreale uses the initial position of a virtual pen on his virtual canvas as his driver, and traces lines that produce numbers of autonomous agents that independently begin to roam the canvas, while leaving a trail. The only human control in this artwork is the original location of the agents, not the control over their evolution. Through this artwork, Morreale explores the cause and effect evolution paths between the relationship of humans with computer technologies, and the ratio of control between the two spectrums.

Another piece from “Medusa”, by Fabio Morreale, PHD

https://fabio.kiwi/medusa

Ian Kaneko Looking-Outwards-06

A really cool project I found that uses randomness is a musical piece called “Birds on The Wires” by Jarbas Agnelli. This project likened a picture of birds on a telephone wire to notes on a staff. There just so happened to be 5 telephone wires which correspond to the 5 lines on a musical staff.

The original picture of the birds and the translation to music beneath it

While the placement of the birds is not completely random (animals have their biases too) it was still completely out of the artist’s control where the birds decided to land.

This project does a good job at balancing the randomness with the creativity of the artist. While the birds gave him the notes, he freely decided the rhythm that notes would be played. Also in the audio of the piece, you can hear many embellishments in percussion, counter-melodies, and harmonies that where not decided by the birds.

Video of the piece on the artist’s YouTube channel

Ghalya Alsanea – LO-06 -Randomness in Nature

An art show displaying Patterns that Emerge From Randomness in Nature

This work is created by Jonathan McCabe, a generative artist and designer, based in Australia. The work was inspired by Turing’s theory about naturally occurring random patterns (aka- the reaction-diffusion method).

Turing’s Theory : He believed that randomness result from the interactions between individual cells. (i.e. the state of a cell influences it’s neighbor, which influences it’s neighbor and so forth, creating a pattern of randomness.

McCabe’s Art: He created a digital representation of Turing’s theory, but instead of cells he used pixels.

“Each pixel gets a random value, usually a number between -1 and 1, which is represented in the final image by a color. Then, McCabe applies a set of rules that dictate how each pixel’s value shifts in response to the ones around it. As the program progresses, pixel values change, creating clusters of shapes that begin to emerge from the originally random mix of numbers.”
NADIA DRAKE

The reason why I chose this project is the fact that McCabe’s art starts to strangely resemble what you would see in a cell under a microscope. I am also very fascinated by the idea of a “natural random pattern” because it’s so ironic. Randomness usually means without a pattern, but yet the natural world is basically a bunch of structured randomness. Other than that, the art is also mesmerizing to look at.

Read more on the back story and the work behind the art here.

Min Ji Kim Kim – Looking Outwards – 06

Blue White Black 0.48 by Tyler Hobbs is one of his many algorithmic computational pieces that displays the properties of randomness. Hobbs is a generative artist that particularly focuses on the interaction between randomness and order. This particular piece models how brush strokes would appear on a physical canvas. At first glance, the painting exudes a loose and free vibe. However, upon closer inspection, you can actually notice the fine structure and detail involved in the rendering of each brush stroke. By using computational algorithms, Hobbs created an art piece that seems random at first, but is actually made with extreme mathematical precision.

A close-up of a portion of Blue White Black 0.48

I was attracted to this art piece because of how realistic the brush strokes and paint drips were rendered. These brush strokes looked really random to me at first but after looking closely, the details and preciseness involved amazed me. I really loved how Hobbs was able to blend the dichotomy of loose painting and precise algorithmic computation into this piece.

You can check out Tyler Hobbs’ portfolio here.

Joanne Chui – Looking Outwards – 06

What is extremely interesting about Manolo’s art is that he basically mimics certain design logic of existing paintings, but with a twist. He reduces the paintings into their simplest geometries, and with that pieces back the painting through code and algorithms to produce a fresh and more modern version of the precedents. Manolo manages to keep the spirit and core of each art piece but putting a more computation spin onto them. It is really interesting to see how minute changes in variables can produce such beautiful and unique artworks, and in a way makes the art more accessible to viewers by having a more recognizable methodology of computation.