#001 - Generative Arts Weekly
“Nothing's perfect, the world's not perfect. But it's there for us, trying the best it can; that's what makes it so beautiful.” - Hiromu Arakaw
The beauty of art is that it is experimental, emotional, spiritual, and an artist; it helps better understand who we are and why we are by expressing the inner self. It can be a medium of unity; it can be a cry for anarchy. It can be informative, or it can just be there because we can. It's one of the wonders we possess as humans.
This is the first newsletter that I have put together, and I know it won't be read by many. However, I hope to bring you the same amount of joy from learning and developing an interesting newsletter you might find value in. But share it if you find that there is potential here that you will find interesting.
I’m planning on adding additional themed pieces together to make them especially helpful when looking for a particular topic. Make sure to leave any suggestions below.
Inspirations
🖌️Unconventional Media
I am not sure what to think about this style. It seems to be a bit worrisome to use ants as agents to generate the images here. But at the same time, there are some fascinating concepts of generative intelligence that I find interesting enough to add. (source)
📸Generative Graphics
Here is a newly started Twitter account called @LFractals, as you see with the following images. There is some complex looking mathematics going on produce some beautiful Lyapunov fractals.
🎶Music
In this showcase, we simply used the Zwobot LorenzFX-Module as a basis FX and just playing around with other Zwobot-FX on top of it. The variety is endless.
This time we learn no new programming concepts but find out how to install a MIDI library in Processing to control program parameters using an external hardware device. MIDI controllers are often used together with music programs to do things like changing volumes or effect amount. But they are a great tool for experimenting with your programs because they allow you to change numbers without restarting your program. You turn a knob or move a slider and see the graphics change.
🏛️ Exhibits / Installations
A couple of weeks ago, the Daemon LED installation occurred at the Luch Festival in Yekaterinburg, Russia. Below you can see some videos from the installation and some further images that capture some simple light generation.
Daemon LED at Luch Festival September 01 — 06, 2020
🚤 Motion
Generative Design using Touch Designer
Simple, but it is amazing how little has to be shown to get a fascinating view of what a simple triangle might look like based on the information coming from the sound.
Generative Design using Notch
Though I haven’t seen much Notch usage, I know that it is one of the up and coming installation packages similar to vvvv and TouchDesigner.
Mass. Audiovisual performance. A modular synthesizer controls the algorithm.
It’s simple, but the fluid nature and the synthesizer are paired together to create a simple symphony of the modern age.
Articles and Tutorials
"The following is a compilation of artists whose medium happens to be code. They are artists first and technologists second. Technology is used in the service of the art and not the other way around."
I found this article a great way of highlighting the latest innovations/techniques in the generative arts.
"Game of Life is an automaton or zero-player game in which every cell on a two-dimensional, rectilinear grid responds to the behavior of its neighboring cells—the development of the system varies only according to the initial configuration provided by a player.
"This post talks about a generative system called Physarum model, which simulates the evolution of a colony of extremely simple organisms that, under certain environmental conditions, result into complex behaviors."
I've been following the blog from Fronkonstin for a while now, and I am always impressed by the incredible things he finds interesting and then performs some magic to create the most fantastic images.
Courses
🎨 Impressionistic Paintings from Photos with Processing
Here is a fun course on using Processing to generate impressionistic paintings using processing. It is on the Skillshare platform, which does require a subscription.
Books
The Nature of Code by Daniel Shiffman
This book focuses on a range of programming strategies and techniques behind computer simulations of natural systems, from elementary concepts in mathematics and physics to more advanced algorithms that enable sophisticated visual results. Readers will progress from building a basic physics engine to creating intelligent moving objects and complex systems, setting the foundation for further experiments in generative design.
The Nature of Code written by the Youtuber Daniel Shiffman of The Coding Train is by far the best "get into the nitty-gritty" how-to book to build oneself a framework to build the beautiful systems that mimic nature, including fractals, fungal growth, firefly lighting patterns, and more. It's been a long time since I've read it. Still, I found it particularly useful to help create a framework by which interesting experiments can be run to experience discovery excitement.
Daniel Shiffman, not Adam. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Daniel_Shiffman