Plan for NMA Project

1
Plan for NMA Project

• 20 credits 20 hours of your own time a week!
• Weeks 1-4 Identify and Refine Idea design
• Week 5 design plan
• Week 6 CRIT PRESENTATION (something to show re.
  visuals and sample how it might work)
• Week 7 code
• Week 8 code/design test
• Week 9 design, report
• Week 10 presentation
• Week 11 Tweak Hand-in

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http//www.numeral.com/everyicon.html

• EveryIcon, 1997, John F Simon Junior
• Endless Art More Conceptual than Aesthetic
• What is creative about it? What is authentic
  about it?

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Session 4Generative Art Code as Art
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Bridget Riley 1960s OP Artist
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William Lathom
William Latham, The Garden of Unearthly
Delights, 1992
William Latham Biogenesis, 1994
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What is Generative Art

• Generative art refers to any art practice where
  the artist creates a process, such as a set of
  natural language rules, a computer program, a
  machine, or other procedural invention, which is
  then set into motion with some degree of autonomy
  contributing to or resulting in a completed work
  of art Philip Galanter

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http//www.yugop.com/

• Yugo Nakamura portfolio site

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Creativity, Autonomy, Authenticity

• Generative Art causes these terms to be
  problematic. How can we, using Adrian Wards
  thoughts as a starting point, discuss these terms?

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Is autonomy simply randomness?

• Tristan Tzara NewsPapers are cut up and Words
  randomly plucked out to create random poetry. Art
  without authoritative voice.
• Mydata, data is actually changed.
• The code could run forever, and it would always
  be producing new arrangements McLean, Cox
  Ward

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Software design as creative endeavour

• Stephen Wilson The creation of computer
  programs and algorithms can require extensive
  creativity
• Adrian Ward When a programmer develops a
  generative system they are engaged in a creative
  act. Programming is no less an artform than
  painting is a technical process

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Methods of Production

• John Maeda from Maeda _at_ Media
• software must become truly soft. Capable of
  being moulded and recast into new tools by the
  will of the artist
• Top Down vs Bottom Up

• Code is mainly openly available
• Code is frequently elegant and minimal, but
  of course retains stylistic preference of the
  coder.

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AutoShop and Adrian Ward

• Visithttp//www.generative.net/
• Adrian Ward Programmer turned artist
• Auto Shop and Auto Illustrator
• Software mocks - http//www.wordperhect.net/ -
  Tomoko Takahashi

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Mark Napier, Shredder 1.0

• Site is deconstructed then recreated according to
  randomising algorithm.
• What is significant about this?
• http//www.potatoland.org/

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Is the art the code or the output?

• Perhaps this idea of unique execution could be
  seen to re-establish aura
• Creativity lies not in the modification of the
  rules, but in setting the criteria for the rules
• -Adrian Ward

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http//www.transphormetic.com/t4/_radiolarian01.ht
m

• Paul Prudence
• Flash Math Creativity Author
• All elements are created from Actionscript
  drawing tools, thus borne of code alone.

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Poetry as code? Music as code?

• Cox, McLean Ward
• Musical Notation - composer is one-stepped
  removed from materials but uses inner-ear.
• Poetry is more than marks on a page, Poetry is
  executed and performed.

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The Loop

• Computers love to iterate
• The skill for improvising with software loops
  lies in the making interesting exceptions to the
  rules so that each repeat is more like an echo
  than a copy John Simon JnR, in Maeda Creative
  Code, 2004, p.46

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Patterns

• Daniel Canogar, Horror Vacui, 1999

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Generating Patterns in Flash

• Loops and Duplication nested Loops.

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Drawing in Flash

• Step 1 create a blank movieclip_root.createEmpt
  yMovieClip (name", level)
• Step 2 Issue instructions to the new movieclip
  with(_root.name)
• Step 3 Put in Drawing instructionslineStyle(thi
  ckness, colour, alpha), beginFill(colour, alpha),
  moveTo(x,y), LineTo(x,y)

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Drawing a triangle in Flash

• _root.createEmptyMovieClip ("triangle", 2)
• with (_root.triangle)
• beginFill (0x0000FF, 10)
• lineStyle (1, 0xFF00FF, 10)
• moveTo (200, 200)
• lineTo (300, 200)
• lineTo (250, 150)
• lineTo (200, 200)
• endFill()