6: generative art

intro: two starting points

theories of beauty
Laszlo Moholy-Nagy: EM 2 (Telephone Picture), 1923.

Laszlo Moholy-Nagy's "EM 2 (Telephone Picture)", 1923.
Laszlo Moholy-Nagy’s “EM 2 (Telephone Picture)”, 1923.

a brief survey of approaches and algorithms

composition systems
information theory
shape grammars
L-systems
special effects industry: boids (reynolds 1987), particle systems (reeves 1983)
artificial life
evolutionary algorithms
deep learning

An example of an L-system.
An example of an L-system.
The first particle system as used in Star Trek.
The first particle system as used in Star Trek.
Evolutionary Algorithms by Karl Sims.
Evolutionary Algorithms by Karl Sims.
An example of artificial life: Thomas Ray's "Tierra".
An example of artificial life: Thomas Ray’s “Tierra”.

tools

processing, jitter, vvvv, etc.

a selection of generative art pioneers

Harold Cohen – Aaron

Harold Cohen and Aaron.
Harold Cohen and Aaron.

Vera Molnar

Vera Molnar
Vera Molnar

Manfred Mohr

P-1632 by Manfred Mohr.
Work by Manfred Mohr.

examples of recent approaches

LIA

Patrick Tresset – Paul

Driessens en Verstappen

An early version of 'Evolver' by Driessens en Verstappen.
An early version of ‘Evolver’ by Driessens en Verstappen.

Jonas Lund – Fear of Missing Out

A procedurally generated contemporary art work by Jonas Lund.
A procedurally generated contemporary art work by Jonas Lund.

moral

more interested in process / series than in individual works
get rid of prejudices / taste / personal limits through procedures
make process more explicit and exterior: reflect on making
can machines be creative ? who cares ?

Joost Rekveld