Category: LookingOutwards-06

Looking Outwards 06

Jae Son
Section C

Looking Outwards 06

I found Marius Watz’s “Abstract01.js” interesting. Using processing.js, he created this piece of computational art. I think it might be “pseudo-random” because of the composition. The composition/visual of the shape when mouse clicked is random yet has somewhat consistent shape. To make it complicated and random but organized at the same time, I think Watz has used probability distributions to bias randomness to get this kind of composition. I admire the randomness and organized system that coexist in this artwork. I like the interactivity of it, too. It draws the shape when I click the mouse, and I like how interactive input and randomness are both present in this artwork.

Abstract01.js

LO 06 – Randomness

Last year, I was browsing Reddit when I stumbled on a post that took me to a little website: https://nopaint.art/. It’s the work of Jeffrey Alan Scudder, a digital artist who teaches Emerging Digital Practices as a professor in Oregon currently. No Paint is a pseudo-random artwork in the sense that the algorithm contributes randomness, but the user can determine how to utilize it.

No Paint is an online painting game / program. However, the user is presented with only two buttons to interact with the canvas: “No” and “Paint”. Within the program, a vast array of brushes, stickers, and effects are programmed in. Each round of painting, the program presents the user with a brush, sticker, or effect: for example, a two-tone brush that snakes in a random direction continuously, or an effect that continuously changes the saturation the entire canvas. When the user clicks “Paint”, the element or effect is applied in its current state. For example, if a user was presented with a randomly snaking brush, they could wait a long time for the brush to cover most of the canvas before pressing “Paint”, or press it shortly after for a short stroke. Pressing “No” cycles onto the next element or effect. 

This project stuck with me because of its unique take on drawing programs. Since the brushes are randomly chosen and most never cohere well with your existing artwork, you have very little control over what you can draw on the canvas and have to be creative with using randomly selected elements to form a cohesive artwork.

Looking Outwards 06: Randomness

Robbie Barrat’s Neural Network Balenciaga series is a fascinating
amalgamation of AI, fashion, and the fine line between creativity
and mimicry. Barrat utilized new neural network processing methods
to analyze the similarities in thousands of images from Balenciaga
runway shows and lookbooks and pushed this data to another one of
his neural networks, prompting the system to interpret what makes
Balenciaga Balenciaga. The results are random but creative
mishmashes of what the AI learned from thousands of images and
is trained to think Balenciaga looks like.

I was especially drawn to this work because of how it throws the whole
concept of randomness into question – the AI may generate random iterations
of Balenciaga outfits, but the iterations look so similar to each other
that it makes the viewer ponder about the original source material itself.
I additionally was interested in this glimpse into how generative algorithms
really work – the AI doesn’t know what Balenciaga or fashion really is, yet
tries to replicate these foreign concepts to its best approximation and
succeeds quite well.

LO 6 – Randomness in Computational Art

Randomness in Time

Daniel Kim (2015)

Daniel Kim’s Randomness in Time is a featured project from RISD’s spring Coding Architecture course taught by Carl Lostritto. The artwork has an array of random numbers on the left side along with a spider web of randomly interconnected lines on the right side. Kim explains that the project examines “data from the running time of a particular algorithm.” This running time data is then stored, placed in a list, then evaluated. As the algorithm continues to run, the values deviate further and further away from the initial starting point, thereby creating more randomness and unpredictability. I found this piece particularly interesting because the idea of using an algorithm to create randomness seems paradoxical, and begs the question if the values generated can truly be considered “random.” It also makes me wonder if it is possible to  create truly “random” computational art; it seems as if there always needs to be a set of rules, restrictions, algorithms, etc. to create the starting foundation for the piece.

Daniel Kim’s Randomness in Time.

Looking Outwards 06 – Randomness

Image of “4900 Colours: Version II” in exhibition

Gerhard Richter’s “4900 Colours: Version II” is an artwork of 196 panels that is made up of 5×5 squares. The colors used in these panels are distributed randomly by a computer, and then the panels are randomly arranged by the eyes. The 196 penales can be displayed as one whole artwork together, or it can be arranged at random in sets of four panels (which forms a 10×10 square panel). What’s amazing about this artwork is that the 4,900 colors used in each block of Richter’s artwork are fully randomized by computer, yet they still look very harmonized all together. I can see how the artist incorporates the beauty of randomness into his artwork, and how the artist uses his artistic sensibilities to arrange the panels and create a harmonious and beautiful piece of artwork. I love the fact that his artworks are not limited, and shows a variety of expressions through his artwork by randomly generating colors.

Gerhard Richter’s Website: https://www.gerhard-richter.com/en/art/paintings/abstracts/colour-charts-12

Video of “4900 Colours: Version II” in exhibition

Project – 06 – abstract clock

sketch
    // Fangzheng Zhu
    // Section D
    // jtimczyk@andrew.cmu.edu
    // Project-06-abstract clock



function setup () {
  createCanvas(480, 480);
    background(0);
}


function draw (){
    angleMode(DEGREES);
    let hr = hour();
    let mn = minute();
    let sc = second();

    push();
    translate(240,240);
    rotate (-90);
    strokeWeight(8);

    // second circle
    stroke(255,100,150);
    noFill();
    var end1 = map(sc, 0, 60, 0, 360);
    arc(0,0,300,300,0,end1);

    //minute circle
    stroke(150,100,255);
    var end2 = map(mn, 0, 60, 0, 360);
    arc(0, 0, 280, 280, 0, end2);

    //hour circle
    stroke(150,255,100);
    let end3 = map(hr%12, 0, 12, 0, 360);
    arc(0, 0, 260, 260, 0, end3);
    pop();

    


    //face
    //black eyebrows 
    stroke(255);
    fill(0);
    rectMode(CENTER);
    rect(170, 170, 25, 5, 15);
    rect(310, 170, 25, 5, 15);
  
    //eyes
    ellipseMode(CENTER);
    ellipse(170, 200, 20, 20);
    ellipse(310, 200, 20, 20);
  
    //nose
    noStroke();
    strokeWeight(6);
    fill(204, 95, 95);
    rect(240, 230, 15, 30, 20);
  
    //lips
    stroke(250);
    noFill();
    rect(240, 280, 60, 20, 20);
  
    //teeth
    line(240, 270, 240, 290);
    line(240 - 15, 270, 240 - 15, 290);
    line(240 + 15, 270, 240 + 15, 290);

    //face animation
    if (sc % 2 == 0) {
    //eyebrows raise
    //cover old eyebrows w white
    stroke(0);
    strokeWeight(8);
    rectMode(CENTER);
    rect(170, 170, 25, 5, 15);
    rect(310, 170, 25, 5, 15);
    //new raised eyebrows
    strokeWeight(5);
    stroke(255);
    rect(170, 170, 25, 5, 15);
    rect(310, 170, 25, 5, 15);
    
    //mouth becomes smaller
    //cover old mouth
    //lips
    strokeWeight(10);
    stroke(0);
    noFill();
    rect(width/2, 280, 60, 20, 20);
    //teeth
    line(width/2, 270, width/2, 290);
    line(width/2 - 15, 270, width/2 - 15, 290);
    line(width/2 + 15, 270, width/2 + 15, 290);
    //new small mouth
    strokeWeight(6);
    stroke(255);
    ellipse(width/2, 280, 20,20);
  }
  
}

LO 6

“Future Alterations” by Anders Hoff explores randomly generated art that explores future changes applied to a simple graph. He describes these changes as alterations in which these nested alterations are dependent to other alterations. He created a dependency graphs of futures. The graphs started with a single straight line or edge and then proceeds to select edges at random. The edges sometimes split in the middle or rotate around to produce new edges. I founded the implementation interesting because of its simplistic nature, but the results can be drastically different from one another. Hoff describes how having this functionality allows him to write an algorithm that almost looks like pseudo code. From my own experiences with coding, I can safely assume that he is using random variables in his functions, which result in multiple future changes.

“Future Alterations” by Anders Hoff

https://inconvergent.net/2020/future-alterations/

LookingOutwards- 06

This project <Noise Turbulence Doodles >was created by Raven Work.

I really enjoy this project because it is interactive and the logic is really simple. The user just needs to drag and draw in the interface and the art is created. The artist used the noise function to create this project that the objects wander around but remain smooth and organic. This artwork reminds me of the ancient Chinese legend that the fairy is flying on the colorful clouds but is presented in a modern way. Also, the randomness of the color creates a dreamy feeling.

LO 06 – Randomness

John Cage was an American composer who was one of the leading figures of the post-war avant-garde. While most of his work involved music and non-standard use of musical instruments, he also produced visual art. One project titled “Rocks” used randomness to determine the tools and placement of the objects being painted. Cage used computer-generated random numbers from a list which determined what group of stones would be used in his drawing/painting. He would then go through the same process to choose the brush/pencil he would use, and the position of the rocks. After this “seed” has been chosen, Cage would trace the rocks in their random positions. I particularly enjoy this work because of the simplicity in the randomness. While these pieces of art do not use complex algorithms to produce random results, they use random number generators to select the materials, and Cage is still able to physically contribute to the pieces. This is certainly a contrast to the work of Jackson Pollock, which appears to be completely random, but in the end, Pollock is controlling every splatter of paint. In the work of John Cage, his work looks so controlled, yet every aspect of it, aside from the shape of the rocks, is random.

Link: http://hanesgallery.wfu.edu/portfolio-item/johncagerocks/

LO-06: Paintings with Randomness

https://dhruvkaran.com/recreating-paintings-with-generative-art/https://dhruvkaran.com/recreating-paintings-with-generative-art/

Taking inspiration from the work of Jackson Pollock, I was interested in finding interesting ways in which artists have applied randomness in generative art, specifically using concepts like the random walk.I stumbled upon a website called Unography Mag where several famous paintings are recreated using randomness principles.

Based on this, artist Dhruv Karan recreated Vincent Van Gogh’s self-portrait is an appropriate example of using randomness in generative art. What I particularly enjoy about this work is that it gradually reveals the full picture, so someone watching it can spend time trying to guess what the picture is and therefore be engaged in the artwork. Applying Brownian motion and Perlin noise, Dhruv Karan used the tracing of the line across the canvas like a digital paintbrush.

It seems like while defining how the random walk of the line will happen, the algorithm uses a certain mapping of color to paint the picture, so a line on it’s a path in a way “deposits” color on the canvas to reveal a part of the painting. He also describes how pixels can be assigned rgb values for this artwork. It reminds me of how pointillism was used in painting, where the smallest unit is a point or pixel.