Category: LookingOutwards-06

LO 06: Randomness

The project Sprawl by Mark J. Stock intrigues me with the correlation between randomness and naturalistic inspired art. Mark J. Stock is a generative artist who combines nature and computation in his work. In this project, he creates an organic branching structure growing on a regular array of blocks. The algorithm used sets particles at specific points and uses a random walk algorithm to let them grow until they strike a part of the existing block structure. The generated art creates a natural like growth pattern but it is interesting to see how randomness can contrast and interact with regulated forms such as the block array. I find it intriguing that some parts of the grown pattern can become restrained and seem not random but other parts are chaotic and sparatic. Stock claims that “this contrast refers to the creeping growth of our built environment”.

Link

Looking Outwards 06: Randomness

For my blog I chose to look at Rami Hammour’s “A Text of Random Meaning.”

A text of Random Meaning (2015)

According to Hammour: “This text-like visualization is a mapping of a “Register and Taps” random number generator in action. The drawing compares three registers: 9, 11 and 13. It shows the difference in values, and counting of the generated numbers while highlighting the taps.”

As a person who loves orthography and considerations of language, this idea of a meaningless or random meaning text is fascinating. Semantics being such an important part of the way we understand language, how can we confront the randomness of meaning to a computer? How do we subconsciously assign meaning to these things? I think these questions are interesting to ponder, and while looking at this piece I found myself thinking quite a bit about that. It reminds me of similar pieces which attempt to recreate “language” in random forms. For instance the Library of Babel project, or Vulgarlang. Similarly, the use of random number generation (while not present in the Library of Babel or Vulgarlang) creates a sense of interconnected forms from which one might attempt to derive meaning. That is perhaps the most interesting part of randomness to me, to try to derive meaning from the noise, because undoubtedly what you find will never be the same twice. 

looking-outwards 06

Clare Katyal

I am inspired by the randomness in the piece 4900 Colours: Version II by Gerhard Richter. Richter used a computer program to randomly assign a color to each 5×5 square, which is then put together with other squares in forty-nine 10×10 displays. The colors were randomly selected from a palette of 25 colors. This piece is very interesting because it was created in order to demonstrate the joy of looking at objects that at first glance, do not have any meaning other than being squares. And yet, the random colors and the patterns created by randomness can provoke deeper thought from viewers and inspire them to question how often colors appear randomly together. The arrangement of the panels was not done randomly, but by the artist. This makes one wonder if art is ever truly random, or if there is always a slight oversight or bias from the artist creating the art. 

https://plus.maths.org/content/understanding-uncertainty-pure-randomness-art

Gerhard Richter, 2007

Looking Outwards 06: Randomness

Artwork: Structure de Quadrilatères
Artist: Duncan Geere

The series of work I’ve chosen is Structure de Quadrilatères by Vera Mulnar, a Hungarian-born artist who many consider a pioneer of digital and algorithmic art.


I admire this work because there is an architectural quality to it that I quite enjoy. These works feature a series of quadrilaterals drawn with ink on paper.
However, each shape contains a degree of randomness – corners are offset and then returned to their original positions, heights and widths are lengthened and shortened randomly (probably through either a general random function or through perlin noise). The shapes overlap, shift and move in a way that gives the impression of vibration. Despite being composed purely of straight lines and rigid shapes (no curves), the work is dynamic yet controlled and invites the viewer to explore the identity of a shape.

Molnar’s experiments with generative art predate the cokmputer,
inventing the ‘machine imaginaire’ (ie. algorithms) follow a series of rules to create an artwork. After teaching herself the earliest programming language (Fortran), she fed punched cards into a computer which was attached to a plotter which moved a pencil or pen over a piece of paper. The discipline required to execute such a process as well as the intensity to even consider such an exploration in the first place is very evident in the final works.

Molnar is credited with saying: ‘My life is squares, triangles, lines. I am mad about lines’ and upon viewing her work, one can only agree.

Links:
https://www.artsy.net/artist/vera-molnar-1
https://spalterdigital.com/artists/vera-molnar/

Looking Outwards 06: Randomness

The painting, Shimmering Substance (1946), by Jackson Pollock combined his technique of utilizing random shapes and colors to create a comprehensive piece. I admired the way he was able to use this apparent lack of purpose to drive forth purpose in his work; a paradoxical paragon of art, if you will. Pollock was famed for the way he approached art, sparking forth a new movement of randomness in abstract art and this painting proves it all the more so. Although he did not utilize algorithms (as it was a traditional media piece), the way he approached the creation of the work could have been seen as similar to how a computer generates randomness: he utilized his whims to emulate the randomness that a computer can now generate. However, despite doing so, Pollock was able to use his artistic senses to balance out the randomness of the painting with a cohesion that allowed the painting to not only present a theme of shimmering but also look aesthetically pleasing.

^^ the aforementioned painting

lo: randomness

Rather than a specific project or artist, I took interest in the random generator tools at the disposal to artists. One great example that I’ve used many times before is coolors.co . It randomly generates color palettes, with the ability to make palettes based on certain colors, color modes, and gradients. Tools like this strike a balance between true randomness and useful brainstorming in the creative process. Obviously, some colors are visually and mathematically better palettes than other, but within that bias there’s still an element of randomness, which can help with things like creative block and monotony in work. Other similar tools I’m familiar with as a design student are AI generated image and typography services, which strike a similar balance. I find all of these tools to be more interesting than truly random pieces of art, because they can be amazing aids in making new, but purposeful, art.

LookingOutwards – 06

Wilke is a biologist who became interested in abstracting representing his studies using t-distributed stochastic neighbor embedding (T-SNE) that allows his data to become 2D and 3D artworks. Wilke’s artwork, Eternal Connection (2022), uses randomness to generate forms that are all different, yet follow parameters of his code that allow them to appear similar enough to one another to be recognized as the same type of project. This collection, like many of his previous, is used as a learning opportunity to explore and expand his computational abilities; for this reason, his works are informal and playful compared to the strictness of his data collection. Most of his works, like this one use circles, dots, and spheres to generate images. 

Series 1

Looking Outwards 06: Randomness

I really like June Lee’s Cubic Tower, and I found randomness in their design. The reason why I admire their work on using randomness in computational design (this time is Grasshopper), while the randomness is still controllable. For example, they use boundaries and populate geometry to get computed random points inside the extruded square base using seeds, then they are able to create smaller cubes with only 3 different sizes using the Octree functions, which creates cubes by determining how dense the points are in the area, to be the components of the tower. Even after creating the randomness (that is inside a boundary), they are still able to add details afterward by using functions that turn the mess into individual components. Even after creating the cluster of computer generated randomness, they are still able to split the randomness randomly to add different materials towards the final product. I was really amazed by their ability to fully control the randomness even after already initializing the random points. 

Link:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ETWWx88iXec

Cubic Tower by June Lee

Looking Outwards 06: Randomness

This piece displays randomness because the artist used it to create different-sized polygons. They used the Pareto distribution, which helps in creating a balance of different sizes. In his artwork, he used this to choose the length and width of the shapes. By doing so there are many small shapes but only a few large shapes. This way, even though the size of the polygons is random, the composition that is created is still balanced. If there were too many big shapes then they would overpower the composition. What I admire most about this project, is that it shows control even though it is generated through randomness. So even though the length and the width are controlled by chance, the artist still has some control so they can still get the desired effect. If there was no control, then the composition might communicate something that is unintended.  The artist particularly used this form of randomness because they believed that it is what is most common in society and nature. To prove their point they provided examples. One of the examples was that the amount of people that have a lot of money is less than the number of people that don’t. This piece can be something that helps visualize this idea.  

Community

By: Tyler Hobbs

https://tylerxhobbs.com/essays/2014/probability-distributions-for-algorithmic-artists 

Looking Outwards – 06

I admire the artwork of Tyler Hobbs called Continuity No. 8 made in 2014. It is from a series of work that is formed by pseudo-random quadrilaterals. The overlap of the quadrilaterals is the negative space, and the positive space is built up by layers. The proximity to the pseudo-random focal point changes the brightness, transparency, and sharpness of the positive space. The first layer helps generate the second layer, helping the work be more cohesive. This entire collection is generated this way, but this piece is my favorite because of its final composition. It reminds me of a subway passing by so fast with the lights bright. It seems never ending and continuous just like the name of the artwork, Continuity. I believe the artist shows their sensibilities in the bias of the pseudo random numbers that are chosen as the focal points of the work and the choice of picking this artwork to be shown. There must have been many iterations made using this process, so I think showing this specific one shows the artist’s sensibilities.

https://tylerxhobbs.com/essays/2014/randomness-in-the-composition-of-artwork