LO 2 – Generative Art

Galápagos

Karl Sims (1997)

http://www.karlsims.com/galapagos/

The piece of generative art that I find fascinating is Galápagos by Karl Sims—an interactive evolution of virtual “organisms.” Viewers participate by selecting an organism they find the most aesthetically interesting out of 12 organisms displayed on TV screens. They then stand on sensors in front of the display, and the chosen organism mates, mutates, and reproduces to form new offspring. Organisms not selected are transformed into new offspring from the chosen organism. Gradually, increasingly interesting and creative organisms are produced and emerge on the TV displays.

I was first drawn to this piece because I thought the organisms looked extremely cool—one had multicolored spikes and tentacles, another had globular yellow “feet” protruding from a mushroom shaped “body,” and another one seemed fluorescent with its glowing “legs” that resembled butterfly wings. To create this piece, I assume that Sims would use the randomize function that we used in class to continuously create refreshing and new designs. The parameters, however, would become more constricting as the evolutionary line becomes more specific with each participant selection to create a family of organisms that are visually related.