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In April-May 2014 a major exhibition in Brussels celebrates the work of William Latham,\u00a0Professor of Computer Art at Goldsmiths.<\/strong><\/p>\n His first major exhibition outside the UK in over twenty years,\u00a0Mutator 1 + 2 : Evolutionary Art <\/a>includes his early hand-drawn works, large computer generated Cibachrome prints, video art and his most recent interactive projected imagery that explores and embodies evolutionary processes, physical and virtual space. William will also execute some large scale hand drawings in the iMAL space in Brussels.<\/p>\n William Latham<\/a> was one of the first UK artists in the 1980s to create computer art, and he rapidly gained an international reputation as a pioneer in the field. His work blends organic imagery and computer animation, using software modelled upon the processes of evolution. Starting with a simple shape, Latham introduces random ‘mutations’ of a form in order to generate increasingly complex three-dimensional creations that resemble fantastical, futuristic organisms.<\/p>\n Based on his methodology for mutating and evolving forms, his Mutator software allows designers to \u2018breed\u2019 designs in the same way as Latham generates art, pulling us into the virtual laboratories of artificial life. The manipulation of the natural world by humans is a theme which runs though much of Latham\u2019s work; in fact he likens himself to a gardener who breeds organic art by exploiting and amplifying mutations in order to create new, hybrid forms, a process he describes as \u201can evolution driven by aesthetics\u201d.<\/p>\n From 1994 to 2003 William was CEO and founder of leading games developer Computer Artworks Ltd<\/a>, which produced hit games including The THING (see clip below). During this time he also worked with UK rave bands producing organic graphics and videos.Biography<\/h1>\n
![\"latham\"](\"http:\/\/www.doc.gold.ac.uk\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/04\/latham.jpg\")
From 1987 to 1993 William became a research fellow at the IBM UK Scientific Centre in Winchester UK and his Mutation work achieved world-wide recognition at SIGGRAPH<\/a>. He co-authored the book\u00a0Evolutionary Art and Computers <\/a>and showed his organic artworks and films in major international touring exhibitions.<\/p>\n
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