Gouache and cut-paper collage on mat board, 1961 Private collection
In the 1950s, drawing on developments in information science, Vera Molnár began employing a rational, rule-based approach to her geometric abstract art. Working as if she were a machine, she would design simple algorithmic programs and execute them by hand. She often used dice or phone numbers from telephone books to introduce randomness. Even with this analog method, Molnár could generate dozens of variations on a single concept.
In 1961 Molnár created a series of simple collages using square pieces of paper painted with gouache (opaque watercolor) in varying shades of parme, a pale purple color. She arranged some according to a predetermined pattern, such as the color gradients in 12 parmes. Others were arranged at random, as in 13 couleurs parmes au hasard. Molnár persistently explored the space between order and chaos over the course of her life.
Custom audiovisual software, NFT, and Ethereum blockchain, 2021 Private collection
Tyler de Witt (a.k.a. 0xDEAFBEEF) describes Advection as “a commentary on the relationship between nature, mathematics, and generative art.” Advection is an aesthetic study of fluid motion, or how liquid or gas particles move. The title refers to the way heat or matter is transferred through the flow of a fluid, like sediment being transported downstream by a river.
De Witt’s starting point for building his generative model is a simple and elegant mathematical equation for describing fluid motion:
His key insight is that the same mathematical equation can describe both vibrational patterns in sound and fluid motion, effectively corresponding to the same physical rule in nature. But his audiovisual work is not merely a strict simulation of physics. The fluid, which resembles pigment dissolving in water, is in a perpetual state of motion. The swirling pools slowly dissipate but never fully dissolve in a never-ending flux that defies the laws of thermodynamics.
With Century, Casey REAS pays homage to paintings and drawings from the 20th century and the influence of midcentury abstract art on his own artistic practice. REAS describes these works as landscapes. Each one of the 1,000 unique pieces is an abstract moving image that is always in flux, shifting subtly as if in response to invisible forces.
Century highlights two important qualities unique to digital materiality and software-based art:
• the infinite variability of generative art and programmable media, which can continue evolving over time to produce new configurations • the medium’s responsive, interactive nature, which allows for the work to change based on external inputs
REAS is one of the most influential digital artists of the last 20 years. In 2001 he cofounded Processing, an open-source graphics library and coding tool kit designed to teach nonprogrammers the fundamentals of coding in a visual, creative context. Processing is the most popular coding language used by generative artists today.
Color Blinds Study #22
Autoglyph #336
Sediment Nodes #1
Digital videos, custom generative adversarial networks (GANs), NFT, and Ethereum blockchain, 2022–23 Private collection
Entangled Others (Feileacan McCormick and Sofia Crespo) employs generative tools to portray the complex relationships, interactions, and interconnectedness between the human and nonhuman worlds. Their art uses a biologically informed model of computation (the neural network) to represent real and imagined species.
SedimentNodes was inspired by a real-life encounter with an underwater ecosystem. Crespo and McCormick, both avid divers, wanted to convey the experience of navigating sediment-laden waters after a storm. What at first appears to be a cloudy mass reveals a diverse ecosystem teeming with microscopic life-forms when illuminated. Sediment Nodes presents an evolving array of artificial organisms and landscapes, as if we’re discovering a vibrant world hidden just beneath the surface.
Crespo and McCormick’s creative process relies on custom-made generative adversarial networks (GANs) trained on images and video collected from their own dives, as well as custom synthetic data and publicly available imagery. These neural networks are modeled on the structure and functionality of brain neurons and can learn to detect patterns in source material to produce convincing fakes.
Chromie Squiggle #1458
Fragments of an Infinite Field #130 (Spring)
On-chain algorithm, NFT, and Ethereum blockchain, 2021 Private collection
This series of 1,024 unique artworks evokes snapshots of a fictional forest meadow changing throughout the year. “I was captivated by the concept that a field is a continuous spatial and temporal entity, yet we only experience fragments of it,” says artist Monica Rizzoli. “Even if you walk along the same forest path for years, the macro-landscape remains largely unchanged […] while the micro-landscape is constantly evolving—new each day, yet cyclic in nature.”
Rizzoli created a compositional system that generates an idealized plant species in a potentially infinite field of foliage. The compositions change according to the seasons, including the color palette and seasonal phenomena such as snow in winter, pollen in spring, and falling petals in autumn.
Rizzoli finds plant growth captivating both mathematically and visually. Her generative systems always start with her own observations of nature, such as a study of the passionflower in Fragments, then move beyond scientific description into something more subjective and impressionistic.
