This blog post refers to Philip Galanter article named “What Is Generative Art? Complexity Theory as a Context for Art Theory”. Philip Galanter constructs a variety of generative software and hardware systems and he is considered as a generative artist. In this article he defines generative art and describes a set of rules that is the basis of generative art. Although he thinks that computers are not required for this kind of art, digital technologies play an important role in production and dissemination of these kinds of art works. A digital user interface would facilitate interactivity for more than one user; that is why nowadays artists prefer to use digital form of generative art.
Philip Galanter defines generative art as “Generative art refers to any art practice where the artist uses a system, such as a set of natural language rules, a computer program, a machine, or other procedural invention, which is set into motion with some degree of autonomy contributing to or resulting in a completed work of art”. In this meaning a piece of art work is creative and the outcome is unpredictable. He claims that generative art is as old as art itself and at the same time is separate from any specific ideology or art theory. “It is simply a way of making art, and in that respect it is something of a blank slate”; generative art happens when the artist give some part of control to another system so as the result would differ from an art creation of spontaneous decisions of an artist.
After he tries to define generative art, he describes the use of systems that are very important in production of this kind of art. By use of computers, randomization is the most used technique among artists. He explains the complexity theory and order and disorder of complex systems as principles in review of various systems. Complex systems do not refer as complicated in meaning; on the contrary, it refers to various small parts and elements which interact with similar parts. This leads to a self organizing system with no external control. That is why these systems are often unpredictable and the result might be dramatic and random.
The strong point of this article is to explain generative art and a definition of it inclusively. Many articles referenced this definition to talk about their point of view, so I think he was quite successful to generate a good and comprehensive definition for this term. Another interesting point is that he points out with the intention of generative art which is not necessarily dependant on the digital technology to be generative. Generative art can be created without computers. For instance, an artist, William Latham used an evolutionary system on paper then he changed it on the road to use by computer quite late. However, computers facilitate some ways of production for a generative artist. These sorts of art by adopting computers by means of natural processing and algorithms opens its ways through information and communication technology and have a great social and cultural influence. The way he explain about generative art and goes back to its history, examples from artists such as Sol Lewitt and Hans Haacke and many other examples of various artists and their works clarifies the understanding of generative art.
In this article the conceptions are presented by clear examples of life and these examples are very helpful to well connect various parts of concepts in the article. For instance, complex chaotic system is compared to real life phenomena. The uncertainty we always face toward the weather prediction and surprises might happen in nature make artificial random systems close to the real life. By functions of ordered and disordered systems and their combination to produce a strong generative art he describes the notions of an effective complexity. At some point he concludes that complex systems are not necessarily better than simple systems to produce the generative art. Arrangement of ordered and disordered, and simple and complex is desirable to produce an effective art practice.
Reference:
Galanter, Philip. (2003). What is Generative Art? Complexity Theory as Context for Art Theory. In GA2003 – 6th Generative Art Conference.