What is generative art, and how is it different from traditional art? Ahead of a teacher training day this October, Theo Papatheodorou, course leader of Goldsmiths’ MA/MFA in Computational Arts, explains.

There are many ways of drawing. The traditional way involves taking a pen or pencil and trying to represent an object or a scene. You are in control of the process, so outcome is somewhat predictable.

The generative way of drawing involves relinquishing some of that control. Instead of making images, you make a set of rules (often nowadays executed by a computer program) which generate artworks autonomously.

But generative art is not purely determistic. Randomness adds unpredictability to the final result; at various points the program reaches a fork in the road, and the path taken is chosen by sheer chance. So despite being produced by cold processes, generative art often appears organic, and contains a level of complexity that would be impossible for an artist to produce on their own. The artist is like a gardener; she sows the seeds and tends the shoots – and then waits for something extraordinary to develop.

“Generative artists are chaos artists. They have bred the unpredictable, welcomed it, harnessed it and can fashion it into pleasing forms.” Matt Pearson

Generative art is an important element of our BSc Digital Arts Computing, BSc Creative Computing and MA/MFA Computational Arts degrees at Goldsmiths.

Recent graduate Angie Fang was inspired by time-lapse photography to create digitally-generated flower blooms. Random audio input determines the size and location of each petal, creating a unique blossom every time. It’s this mix of the real and the virtual, the organic and mechanical that makes Angie Fang’s work so interesting.

Another student, Lior Ben Gai created a system which ‘grew’ artificial bacterial colonies. He based his work on cellular automata, in which complexity emerges from a simple set of rules. At our recent degree show, visitors manipulate the growth of Lior’s digital colonies by shining a lamp onto a photosensitive petri dish.

Generative processes don’t only result in digital images. The choreographer Merce Cunningham famously threw dice during his performances to decide what the next steps should be. John Cage used the I Ching to decide the sounds, durations and tempo of Music of Changes (1951). Beijing National Stadium, too, was designed generatively. Generative art provides endless possibilities for creativity.

We’re running a special training day on Wednesday 26 October 2016, where we invite art teachers to learn some basic generative drawing techniques, understand how generative art fits within the wider context of art history, and develop ideas for delivering this content in the classroom. Book your place

Dr Theo Papatheodorou is the course leader of Goldsmiths’ Bsc Digital Arts Computing and MA/MFA Computational Arts. He is the founder of visualcortex.cc, a creative technology studio developing installations and interactive projections for live performances. Email him at t.papatheodorou@gold.ac.uk