LookingOutwards-06 – Page 2 – [OLD FALL 2020] 15-104 • Introduction to Computing for Creative Practice

LO-06

I really like the columns designed by Michael Hansmeyer. He is an architect which is what compelled him to make these columns. I find it really interesting that he took a very simple architectural form and and embellished it through his generative design. He used Javascript to make each layer’s pattern for the column and cut them out with an industrial mill according to one source, but I could easily see these being laser cut. Each layer is made out of cardboard or graybeard and stacked on top of each other to build the final form. The randomness used for creating this design isn’t “super” random because the program used probably limits how narrow and wide it can get in general and how much each layer can vary from the last so that it can still produce a sturdy column. So even though they’re not completely random, I would say this is very impressive within the realm of architecture in which things are usually very precise that he was able to make pieces that not only were functional/would stand, but also looked very beautiful in a surprisingly precise way.

http://www.michael-hansmeyer.com/subdivided-columns

Looking Outwards -06

For this week’s Looking Outwards, I chose to look at the work titled “bbccclll” by Manolo Gamboa Naon (https://www.behance.net/gallery/66986781/bbccclll) . In this piece of generative art, the aspects that I admire about it are the color schemes, and the way the beams of color sprout in random directions from the centers of the dots. Additionally, I like how the opacities are layered and create an overlapping effect for the shapes. In this work, the aspects of randomness are probably the colors of the center dots. They range from shades of red, yellow and blue and I feel like that is controlled by restricting the range of the r,g,b values for the colors of the circles. For each of the circles there are also multiple rings around it and the diameters and thicknesses were also probably randomized as well. I like how the artist used simple overlapping geometries to create an interesting abstract piece, and I think the artist would have been inspired by something blossoming, or exploding, and something colorful, for example fireworks. Starting form centers and bursting out is the effect that the artist was able to create, and the random changes in thickness and color are what helped produce an interesting, surprising result.

LO-06-Randomness

Jonathan McCabe, Instability Landscapes.

Jonathan McCabe creates a series of imaginary landscapes full of randomized textures, colors, and arrangements. McCabe uses Alan Turing’s reaction diffusion equations to generate these designs. This specific series additionally uses multi-scale Turing instability. This creates the mixing and merging of patterns and colors as it generates Turing patterns of spots and stripes. I find these computation arrangements inspiring in their ability to replicate familiar existing landforms but still manage to make it look like a fantasy with the psychedelic color pattern and mixture of texture. McCabe creates “algorithmic botany” through these formulaic computation operations to create an end result of an image that resembles biological forms.

As an architecture major, using computational randomization to create these landforms would be an interesting challenge for creating sites to build for. They also serve as good visualizations for collage or other methods for representing the landform. Having sources such as the Instability Landscapes for architectural exploration would be a unique way to design for formations that don’t exist in our real world, but are rather digitally man-made. McCabe’s use of shadows, color contrast, and twisting and shape of forms creates a set of stimulating and experimental images.

Looking Outwards – 06

American composer John Cage is well known for his composition 4’33”, which is based on the absence of music. A strange concept for a piece of music intended for performance, Cage’s 4’33” displays an interesting from of randomness. The piece instructs the musicians to sit on stage in silence for the duration of the piece, four minutes and thirty-three seconds. The musical concept behind the piece is not the absence of music, but the sound created in the absence of organized music. This element of randomness is biased in a sense. The possible sounds are limited to the sounds made both intentionally and unintentionally by the performers, audience, and outside influences. While the types of sounds might be predefined to an extent, the pitch, duration, tone, and frequency of each sound shape every individual performance. I admire the creativity and innovation Cage breathed into the art of classical music through his unusual concept. The creation of the piece was partially inspired by his following of Zen Buddhism.

John Cage – 4’33” (1947-48)

LO-06

Chance music (leaving one or more aspect of the music up to random chance) is known to have existed in some form since Mozart, who is said to have used dice to determine the order of measures and musical phrases in some of his works. The genre really emerged and broadened during the 1900’s, however, when John Cage pioneered music that uses chance throughout the whole work. Music of Changes (for solo piano) is one of Cage’s earlier works in which he used the I Ching to compose the piece.

When composing this work, Cage wrote parts of the music such as melodies and chords, then he used the I Ching to arrange what he had written. After he had arranged the notes and had an overall sound concept, Cage restarted and used the I Ching to assign note durations, tempos, dynamics, and other musical elements.

Undergraduate music majors commonly study this piece in their music history and theory classes because it is one of the most randomized pieces in the literature. It brings about the question of whether or not it is music: there are no coherent melodic or harmonic lines, and a toddler could probably bang out something similar if seated in front of a piano. The composition style and intent behind it, however, is what makes it art. Cage predetermined notes and harmonies, then intentionally and methodically randomized and organized them. The piece might make a better talking point than listening experience, but it is interesting to know that it is out there.

Music of Changes (1951) by John Cage

LO 6

An artist I follow, Geoffrey Bradway, creates computational art that is randomly generated through AI. Most of his work is a series of layered repetitive lines that create dynamic and fluid images, but other works include generated works that are based on other artists.

His process is writing software that utilizes ML to generate the patterns that are then drawn using his plotters.

LO: Randomness in Comic Art

In exploring randomness used as a generative tool in computational art, I came across a randomly computer-generated comic by John Pound.

An example of a randomly generated comic sequence

The program used to create this comic pulls from a database of random words, colors, shapes, figures, objects and scenes in order to create these comic pages. Playing off the “Sunday Comic” aesthetic and subject matter, Pound wanted to explore the parameters we set for ourselves as comic-writers and comic-readers. What are the minimum requirements needed to deem something a comic? To what extent can we abstract and randomize something yet have it remain fully recognizable (in this case a page of comic panels)?

This piece makes me think about the purpose of randomness in the ways we conduct our lives; to what extent are we truly in control of our lives? If a randomly computer-generated sequence of elements can register as an everyday comic, how much of our everyday lives are in fact random and out of control? We may, in fact, subconsciously prompt ourselves to recognize these occurrences as something intentional that we have crafted.

LookingOutward_06_Randomness

For this week’s topic, I would like to talk about Julius Horsthuis. He is a fractal artist with a background in special visual effect.

http://www.julius-horsthuis.com/still-gallery

I would like to talk about his short film – Fractal Time.

I am a concept artist and his work inspired me a lot in the direction of combining technical skill with design ideas. He uses abstract geometric shapes to describe some vague and abstract ideas as time and space. I think I can study his work a bit to find a creative way to use basic shapes as my inspiration to do some sci-fi designs.

I think he uses shape, size, depth, color as randomness to generate the final image. I also think he uses perlin noises frequently in his work.

I can see his sense of visual special effect being expressed a lot in his final film. I think he want to use some undefined shapes and even narrative rhythm to express his understanding of time and space.

I would say he is a really innovative artist in terms of film production.

LO 6 – Randomness

*A Year From Monday & Empty Words & Roaring Silence* by John Cage

Titled A Year From Monday, Empty Words, and Roaring Silence, these books comprise of collections of lectures and writings by John Cage. In an attempt to resonate with John Cage’s musical compositions while portraying a “sense of progression which culminates in the diagonally cut slip case”, Zhuoshi Xie designed three different, yet visually correlated book covers.

Initially presented by deep, cool colors on the books’ spines that is revealed to incorporate a flood of bright, saturated red on the books’ covers, Xie expresses how randomization does not always have to be a surprise or even “a smack in the face”.

Randomization can be a gradual progression, and sometimes, it can be the more subtle, unexpected touches that are most effective. In this case, Xie’s goal of reflecting a kind of unexpected randomness that alludes to John Cage’s work is successfully achieved through the red color composed from small, random individual red letters that creates an almost eerie effect.

Looking Outwards 06

After looking at a couple of articles on randomness in the computation of art, I came across the work of Rami Hammour. The project presented is called “A Text of Random Meanings”. The art piece was completed during Hammour through the usage of python script as well as the “registers and taps” method of random number generator. From afar, the project simply looks like lines of texts which are created with various types of strokes in each column. It’s very interesting to see that from a distance, it resembles lines of texts. This causes the viewer to be curious and want to take a closer look at the text. However, because it is “random text”, there is no actual definition or meaning to the text. It represents randomness. If it was a regular piece of text, the natural reaction that humans would have is to read it because it would have meaning. If all the letters of each word were to be shuffled, each word would lose its meaning. For that reason, the “text” would also lose meaning. To add on, it is also interesting to see how numbers can be represented in an artistic way. Through the mapping of a random number generator, Rami Hammour combines computation and art in a very simple way while creating an intriguing outcome.