{"id":2013,"date":"2016-09-11T12:01:56","date_gmt":"2016-09-11T12:01:56","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.doc.gold.ac.uk\/blog\/?p=2013"},"modified":"2016-09-22T09:13:42","modified_gmt":"2016-09-22T09:13:42","slug":"grow-your-own-art-how-generative-artists-combine-rules-with-chaos","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.doc.gold.ac.uk\/blog\/?p=2013","title":{"rendered":"Grow your own art! How generative artists combine rules with chaos"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"'L-Pattern'
‘L-Pattern’ by MFA Computational Arts graduate Angie Fang<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

What is generative art, and how is it different from traditional art? Ahead of a teacher training day this\u00a0October, Theo Papatheodorou, course leader of Goldsmiths\u2019 MA\/MFA in Computational Arts, explains.<\/strong><\/p>\n

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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.<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

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\u201cGenerative artists are chaos artists. They have bred the unpredictable, welcomed it, harnessed it and can fashion it into pleasing forms.\u201d Matt Pearson<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

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Generative art is an important element of our BSc Digital Arts Computing<\/a>, BSc Creative Computing<\/a> and MA\/MFA Computational Arts<\/a> degrees at Goldsmiths.<\/p>\n

Recent graduate Angie Fang<\/a> 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\u2019s this mix of the real and the virtual, the organic and mechanical that makes Angie Fang’s work so interesting.<\/p>\n