new wave Generative Art

In the early days of computing you had not many choices when you wanted to create computer art. One of the very few available strategies was to embrace programming and to try to unleash the "generative power" of the machine. Today, many methods to visualize with computers are beckoning, incl. photoshopping, 3D modeling, drawing, painting, etc pp...

No longer forced by sheer necessity there seems to be a growing number of graphics afficionados who use some kind of programming language to generate their art. It appears to me as if the net art of the 90's with its sometime furious attacks on form and content of the browser has left its mark. The new wave of computer artists prides itself to be technically savy and to tickle more than the obvious out of digital technology. We seem to have entered the phase where digital aesthetics might really come into its own.


Audio wave in random ether by Tony Scott AKA Beflix

Here are a few pointers to work I have recently seen and enjoyed. In most cases visual wizardry is intertwined with a good dose of intellectual curiousity, both potent ingredients for novel artistic discoveries.

A free-ware programming system named processing has been incubated in the Aesthetics and Computation Group at MIT's Media Lab by (former) students Ben Fry and Casey Reas. On their webpage www.processing.org you'll find downloads related to the programming environment, as well as pointers to the personal sites of the founders and the growing community of users and developers.

Then there are personal sites of artists like Paul Prudent in London. Paul actually manages two sites, one is the always informative and widely read "DataIsNature" blog and then there is his studio site transphormetic where he showcases his own artistic work mostly executed in Flash.

Also check out a new blog G2 by Indian software artist Sajied Saiyed. G2 carries the ambitious subtitle Generative Graphics Portal. Judging from the frequent and well selected updates and his ongoing outreach to an interested global community, Sajied is starting to do justice to his lofty objectives.

Finally, let me recommend the sites by two artists who are courageously and uncompromisingly investigating the thresholds to bold and promising new image territories. Chris Ashley paints and also creates html pictures that are dominated by big bold blocks of colored pixels. Some have the innocent feel of children's drawings, others in the series come across as visual products of a somewhat stubborn artistic credo. Follow the title of his blog and Look and See!

Tony Scott (AKA Beflix) is well on his way to make visual scratches, mistakes, and glitches into a high art form. His goal is to complement the audio glitch with its visual equivalent. We will see if he'll succeed to rival the popularity of the audio artefact which is loved and listened to by millions of techno music fans. Then the outtakes from yesterday will be the masterpieces of tomorrow's Glitch Art.