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

LO 6

Letterfield by Judson Rosebush was created in 1978. It was created by using a random number generator that had numbers that corresponded to the letter size, color, and position of the type that appeared. It was then outputted to a plotter and then physically printed. I think what intrigues me most about this piece is how it played with randomness computationally, and then a tangible item was produced from it. This allows the artist to use randomness and their creativity to not only have art exist in a digital format, but also in a physical way that could be used as a piece for historical study years to come which is almost exactly what I am doing right now. I think how this was done computationally was that variables were assigned to different things such as size, color, and position and then when calling that variable, a random function was used, generating very different compositions every single time.

LO – 6

Randomness within art and all other aspects of life is extremely interesting. There are different types of random numbers and each type can be used in different cases. One person who’s interested me in expressing randomness is Rami Hammour. Rami Hammour is an architectural designer who created a digital piece of artwork centered toward the idea of randomness. I’m not sure of the algorithms used to create the piece although the artwork itself is not random. Like pseudo-random numbers his work has limitations and expectations that don’t make his work truly ‘random’. But the overall idea of the work is to not directly express randomness but to describe the complex relationship between human experience, “digital media, authorship, and even conceptions of reality and the divine”. The artist’s sensibilities lie in the parameters behind the artwork and the understanding that randomness is prevalent everywhere, even in nature, yet it can be completely elusive in a digital system, in which they’re designed with all the forces and processes are known and quantifiable.

Link: https://www.fastcompany.com/3052333/the-value-of-randomness-in-art-and-design

LO 6: Random Access Music

by Nam Jun Paik

The 1963 installation “Random Access Music” by Nam Jun Paik consists of many strips of audiotape, containing found sounds, randomly arranged on a wall. In front of the wall is an open reel audio deck with the playback head detached so that the viewer can play the tape on the wall by moving the playback head along the strips of audiotape. Thus the viewer becomes the composer, changing the sound being played by how and where they move the playback head. The only explicitly random thing here is the arrangement of the audiotape, but the element of interactivity here takes the final product out of the control of the artist in much the same way that randomness does. The viewer doesn’t know what is on the tape so they have no way of making an informed decision on how to move the playback head, so the resulting sound that is played approaches randomness. I think this piece is a really cool early example of interactive artwork, and a creative use or mis-use of technology.

https://www.guggenheim.org/artwork/9536

“Random Access Music” by Nam Jun Paik, seen here in 2000 at the Guggenheim Museum

LO 6: Randomness

For this Week’s LO, I will talk about Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart’s (attributed but up for debate) Musical Dice Game (1792) – also known as Musikalisches Wurfelspiel.

Seeing how we were to find Randomness, I was initially at a loss. Until I happened onto this piece that was allegedly from Mozart himself.

Its randomness lies in the fact that a die (or two) is supposed to be thrown to get a value from 2 to 12 but minus 1 – so a range of 1-11. With this number, a person will consult a chart that has 8 columns and 11 rows. The “random” number will give the person the measure of music from the row of the column and then they will move onto the next column and repeat the process. They will do this for all 8 columns and the second set of 8 columns and 11 rows each in the second chart. The end product is a 16-Measure Piece of Music.

This is where the computation comes in – it is just like the nested for loops we have been working with. Furthermore, the available measures are like the arrays.

Overall, I like Classical Music and Mozart is one of my favorites. And I find it cool that he supposedly made something like this.

Here is Mozart’s Bio and Musical Dice Games (there is a section for Mozart’s in it).

LO-06: Randomness

For this week’s LO, I looked back on a game I used to play a lot as a kid: Minecraft created in 2011 by Mojang. It is interesting how despite its simple graphics, Minecraft encourages creativity and worldbuilding. This shows that games do not need the most sophisticated or detailed assets to still be fun and addicting. One of the main defining aspects of Minecraft is its terrains that are regenerated with every game and are virtually infinite, allowing the player to explore and build however they wish.

I was curious about how the terrains were generated, as they seemed to spawn randomly, sometimes even creating floating islands. Apparently, Minecraft terrains are generated based on Perline noise functions. When the game starts, it generates a Seed (a random 64-bit number) which is used to generate noise functions. So the game starts on a broad level by creating simple topographical maps, then goes into smaller random details like bushes, animals, lakes, etc. However, these random environments and objects still have a consistent logic and constraints they have to follow to make them believable terrains. This random generation allows for a different world each time, giving the player new ideas and possibilities to define their own gameplay.

LO 06: Randomness

Andrej Bauer, a professor of computational mathematics at the University of Ljubljana, created “random art.” Every picture is created by a computer program that accepts a string from which an image is randomly generated. The picture’s name is the base for a pseudo-random number generator, used to create a mathematical formula, which determines the colors used in the picture. The same name will always create the same picture, though adjustments like capitalization will produce a change. If the picture name consists of two words, the first word determines the colors and focal points of the image, while the second word determines the selection and arrangements of elements present. You can make your own random art – just type in a name for the picture, press “Paint,” and watch as the image loads. At first the colors are selected, and you see a pixelated screen of color. Then, it begins loading and becoming a more complex and high quality painting. Some string images are generated more quickly than others.

http://www.random-art.org/

“Play That Funky Music” random picture, words capitalized.

“play that funky music” random picture, words not capitalized.

LO-06

Karlheinz Stockhausen’s KLAVIERSTÜCK XI

I chose to write about German composer Karlheinz Stockhausen’s KLAVIERSTÜCK XI for this week’s Looking Outward assignment. Klavierstück XI consists of 19 fragments spread over a single, large page. The performer may begin with any fragment, and continue to any other, proceeding through the labyrinth until a fragment has been reached for the third time, when the performance ends. This means that there is an almost unimaginable number of versions. This huge number of options stems from the fact that it is an “open-form” composition. The nineteen fragments are then distributed over the single, large page of the score in such a way as to minimize any possible influence on spontaneity of choice and promote statistical equality. While this is not completely “truly” random, it still is similar to randomness. I think this piece by Karlheinz Stockhausen is extremely interesting and think you should look in to it more, as there is lots to learn!

6 of the 36 possible rhythm patterns from the “final matrix”.
(from Truelove’s “The Translation of Rhythm into Pitch in KLAVIERSTÜCK XI”)

Looking Outwards 6

http://www.random-art.org/online/

The Random Art Program by Andrej Bauer is a website that generates an image based on the text the user inputs as the title. The test is used as the seed for a pseudo-random number generator for a mathematical formula. The formula dictates color and sequence of random choices. Although the same title always produces the same image, it is difficult to predict the outcome of the image from the name alone. If the title has two words, the first word determines color and layout, and the second word determines composition and selection of graphics.

I had a lot of fun trying out different titles. The program is case sensitive, drastically affecting the outcome of the image.

Looking Outwards 06: Randomness

This week’s topic of projects regarding randomness is probably my favorite so far. As randomness in art is open ended and up to the audience’s interpretation, it gives a much more interactive aspect to observing projects. A specific work I want to focus on is Jackson Pollock’s work. He was a major figure in the expressionist movement and widely appreciated for his contemporary art and recently has a memorial exhibition at MoMA. His methods of creating art were largely using the “drip technique” which were random pouring of paints onto the canvas. These methods create randomized artworks where no two pieces would be the same. Another influence onto his paints would be that between 1947 and 1950 was the “drip period” where these techniques were popular. My favorite specific piece from artist Pollock would be “number 1” as it is the first drip technique painting he made, using thinned paint and cans of commercial enamel. It is veru interesting to me how a random method and progress to create a piece would result in something so famous and well known.

Faces of Randomness

Randomness. Such a broad idea in this world. Whenever I try to randomly pick numbers while filling up the lottery ticket, I close my eyes and move my hand in the air to pick a number thus trying to imitate the effect of randomness. Yet, despite the fact that I don’t see the numbers, I still feel the need to stop at some specific point. So, … maybe it’s not random after all? Just a so-called “gut feeling” or “woman intuition”?
For this Looking Outwards assignment I chose a digital art by Martin Krzywinski called “Faces of Randomness”. This project inspires me because it shows that even though all generated drawings look very similar, they’re all unique with their own random variables in algorithms. It’s very similar to humans – we all buy the same clothes, yet our personalities are all unique.
In his art, Martin Krzywinski used “sixteen random numbers with 1000 digits each represented by their digit transition paths and frequencies.” I assume Martin wrote an algorithm that generates 16 random numbers with 1000 digits each which draws random lines from one point to another and the color depends on the location of the line at the random points. Very similar to our previous project of “String Art”.
The creator’s artistic sensibilities manifest in the final form by creating a beautiful string art effect using only 16 random digits that show color transitions based on the random paths that the lines were drawn in.
I chose this project because it is very similar to what we are doing in class. In this sense, I feel some kind of connection and realization that anything is possible. Even though this idea of computer scince for design and creative usage was new to me, I was able to learn so much in such short amount of time to even understand the methods behind some computational art. And I think it’s beautiful.

https://fineartamerica.com/featured/1-faces-of-randomness-martin-krzywinski.html