LO: Generative Art

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.