LookingOutwards-02

Looking Outwards 02: Generative Art

One Generative art piece that I find inspirational is My Climate 2050 by Mitchell Whitelaw and Geoff Hinchcliffe. Made in December 2018, it was requested by Australian Conversation Foundation to “communicate localized climate change impacts for a range of sites around Australia”. The mission for this generative art piece is what I admire so much about it. Especially when a time where Global Warming is becoming such an issue, using art to make a statement is extremely necessary. It touches on the idea that art can create change within our world. Using art also enables a larger audience to understand and take action against a complicated idea like Global Warming. An algorithm was used with a dataset of 4700 projections to develop an “adaptable visual form that reveals changes including average temperature increase, summer extremes and changes to seasonality”. Mitchell Whitelaw’s and Geoff Hinchcliffe’s artistic sensibilities manifest in this piece as they are trying to persuade a larger audience on an issue. With this mission, it forces the artists to portray their art a very specific way making them use their artistic sensibilities. In conclusion, I really enjoy looking at this piece and the message that it has to offer.

https://mtchl.net/acf-my-climate/

“Body Paint”

Uniqueness – something that every living and nonliving object possesses. Every fingerprint, every snowflake, every grain of sand is unique. Our every action or thought somehow, even by little, is very different from the actions or thoughts of another person. An artist and computer scientist from Istanbul, Memo Atkins, created an interactive visual piece known as “Body Paint” that uses motions made by people and transforms them into paint of certain color on an interactive canvas: “Different aspects of the motion – size, speed, acceleration, curvature, distance all have an effect on the outcome – strokes, splashes, drips, spirals – and is left up to the users to play and discover” said Memo Atkins in 2009. I admire this artist due to his vision of the world – his biggest inspiration is studying the nature of nature. He gets inspiration to create from very little and random things such as the nuclear fusion in the heart of the sun or the photosynthesizing organisms that bring everything to life. He created “Body Paint” for people to paint on interactive canvas and not a single painting was the same – every action was different due to its speed or size of a person which makes it so beautiful. Memo Atkins uses artificial intelligence and computational creativity, maybe a language like p5.js, to generate his creative works. Memo’s artistic sensibilities play the biggest role in his algorithm because he creates it for people to have fun, he always makes sure that his new creation is something that others will enjoy.

http://www.digiart21.org/art/body-paint

Memo Atkins, “Body Paint”, 2009

LO: Generative Art

The art work that attracts my attention is a hypertext poems website called “Do You Want Love or Lust?”. This website presents decontextualized This or That questions from popular magazine. Instead of directly writing the poem, the creator let participants to focus on choosing their preferences, thus generating the poem based on the choices made earlier by the participants. This project then create a place, where people could interact with art individually, by applying algorithms. I suppose that the creator must have a basic structure for the poem that would be generated eventually, but there are parts in the structure that would be filled by choices participants made in the provided questions. Therefore, the content in the poem may be based on different people’s preferences, but the overall poem structure and style are dependent on the creator’s taste. It is just interesting that basic algorithms, which seem totally irrelevant to art, actually help people to create a new form of art that could let them easily manifest their personal bias and styles.

Artist: Claude Closky; Title: Do You Want Love or Lust?; Inception: 2001

https://webenact.rhizome.org/do-you-want-love-or-lust/http://archive.rhizome.org/artbase/1827/1375b.html

LO: Generative Art

Turbulence by Jon McCormack, 1994

Turbulence by Jon McCormack is an installation piece that combines computer algorithms and human creativity. The installation consists of a screen and a projector that outputs images and videos of the artist’s work. McCormack used genetic algorithms to create “lifeforms,” such as flowers, trees, and animals. I admire this generative art project because I was thrilled by the idea of creating “life” with a computer. I also found it interesting that, although the creation of artificial lifeforms in this artwork is autonomous, the algorithm mimics the process of natural selection, which is a significant phenomenon in biological ecosystems. Ideas of natural selection are present when the algorithm automatically selects the most beautiful and visually exciting “lifeforms.” Also, I find it interesting that the codes function like DNA, in which McCormack categorized the imagery of different “lifeforms” by the similarity in their code. Even though McCormack’s “lifeforms” were fictional and virtual, they made me reflect on our relationship with machines and with the natural world.

Some examples of McCormack’s “lifeforms.”

Sources:

website

image

In high school, I would always have discussions about whether artificial intelligence can create original art in my Theory of Knowledge class. And as a design student, I still wonder where the line lies between human created art and soft-ware generated. I think the term “generative” is also very interesting, because it contrasts the “creative” nature of art.

While exploring through the websites of different generative artists, I was intrigued by Marius Watz’ “Wall Exploder A”, because at a glance it just seemed like a regular mural. When I realized that it was a traced piece, I thought it was very interesting that it is a hybrid artwork that utilizes both software and manual work.

LO: Generative Art

3D rendering of a Meander map

Meander, Robert Hodgin, May 2020

While looking through the generative artwork, I was very drawn to Meander by Robert Hodgin. This is a project about generating “historical maps of rivers that never existed”. The work is very aesthetically pleasing as well as interesting from a generation perspective. The rivers are generated, but so are the historical remnants of the river, the “local” geography, the roads, settlements, and even the names on the top of the maps. Hodgin does not talk in depth about the techniques he uses to produce the river maps, but does mention a potential spline technique moving forward with this project. He does, however, show the results of different potential generation patterns and the process of creating the current generational code. The final result has beautiful colors and intriguing patterns, an artwork in every right.

Looking Outwards 02: Generative Art

“Animal Imagination” is an artwork consisting of 50 iterations created by software artist LIA in 2018. The piece was created through an algorithmic system in which each iteration used different parameters for them to flow from one to another, evolving into a series of digital paintings. The artist used various shapes and colors to express elements from nature and animals. For instance, one piece involved a yellow and brown color scheme with overlapping circles of various transparencies, resembling the wildlife of the safari. I admire this project for how each individual iteration is unique and involves different elements, but they still transition very smoothly to each other. This provides a sense of harmony to the entire artwork, and I think that’s quite impressive. Another part of the project that I admire is how it’s very abstract with only lines, shapes, and patterns, yet it successfully captures the image of the sea, forest, and animals. From “Animal Imagination” as well as her other works, one can truly see how LIA emphasizes and works beautifully with abstract forms and fluidity.

LO-02: Generative art

Joshua Davis Studios

I chose to take a look at the work of Joshua Davis. I chose to look at his project “the V01D,” which, like my last post, has to do with music. My last post dealt with the autonomous creation of music, however this project was the autonomous creation of an animation that goes along with musicThe V01D is a type of generative art, which means it was created with the use of an autonomous system. Davis used dozens of reactive algorithms in order to turn the music of Kurt Uenala into animation. When paired together (the animation and the music), it is a very cool experience. I admire this project because I enjoy music and enjoy generative art like this, and since it combines the two it is very cool. Davis used 36 different algorithms in order to create these seamless animations, which is a lot more than I thought would need to be used.

Michael Hansmeyer

I really admire the complexities of the geometric shapes that are created by Michael Hansmeyer, in particular, his “Subdivided Columns” work. In addition, I like how the pillars and the architecture have such minute details and the way the art is configured creates a sense of fantasy and magic. I like the “Subdivided Columns” piece because the code allowed for such flowy and symmetrical columns. While the art is very fantastical, it still operates as a normal column. I have no idea to begin analyzing the code for such detailed columns, but one thing is for sure, I feel like because of the level of detail, it would nearly be impossible for a normal architect to create this design. There do seem to be some repeating patterns, which tells me that there are loops involved in the algorithm. In addition, the way that the general shape of the columns flows smoothly in and out allows the columns to not only appear as smooth but sturdy.

Subdivided Columns(2010-now)

Looking Outwards 02: Generative Art

https://www.dataisnature.com/

I have always found the idea of math and data present in nature and art very fascinating. In my previous design courses there was always a mention of how the forms of nature can be an inspiration to art. A specific example would be the classic Apple logo. The logo follows the golden ratio: a ratio of a line segment cut into two pieces of different lengths where the ratio of the whole segment to that of the longer is equal to the ratio of the longer to the shorter. The golden ratio is found in everyday applications/programs along with natural elements we see. Apart from the technological incidences, the golden ratio is present all around campus: leaves, flowers, ants, bees, cicadas, etc. After reading the article “Data is Nature” I found a more profound interest in finding these mathematical elements in daily life.