Introduction:

Generative Art refers to art that in whole or in part has been created with the use of an autonomous system. An autonomous system in this context is generally one that is non-human and can independently determine features of an artwork that would otherwise require decisions made directly by artist.

Task :

1. Create two pieces of generative art (you will be given some basic instructions) to showcase the following professional skills: 
   
2. Research 2-3 other examples of generative art, then critically and contextually analyse them by carrying out the following these steps: 
3. Repeat task 2, but this time analysing a computer game.  For example, find out when it was made and how this affects the graphics, game play, narrative etc. What is the context of the game and is it addressing any (political / social) issue?  Or, has it just been made for entertainment purposes? What game engine was used to make it (and why)? What language was used (and why)? Which person / company made it?  Why was it popular / unpopular?  How has it influenced other computer games? Write all this up in your reflective logs, including screen shots, references and your own thoughts. 

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Development of the Task 1:

• I managed to create the code to draw the circles in a Sudo Random order

Document 3

Coding Task 1 Finished :

• After loads of headaches and some research I’ve managed to create the code to a decent version

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Task 2:

Critical and contextual analyse 1

P-197

• Manfred Mohr (b. 1938, Germany) began his artistic career as a jazz musician and an action painter, but in the 1960s his interest turned to geometrcism and the use of signs and systems in art. Mohr began working with the cube in the early 1970s to systematically explore the representation of multi-dimensional space in two-dimensional form. It has been the sole focus of his work for over thirty years.
• This screenprint was made after a plotter drawing produced using a bespoke computer program written by Mohr. A plotter is a mechanical device that holds a pen or brush and is linked to a computer that controls its movements In this image Mohr has divided the cube vertically into two parts using one of the Cartesian planes (the Cartesian planes are x [horizontal] and y [vertical] axes, onto which a point can be plotted using a set of co-ordinates). Each one of the 64 small images consists of two halves in which a cube has been independently rotated. Mohr’s computer program contained the equations for plotting each point of the cube and its rotations.
• Mohr worked exclusively in monochrome from 1962, but began using colour in 1999 owing to the increasing complexity of his work.

Critical and contextual analyse :

• In my opinion that picture is a  bit racist because are predominant the two colours : black and white
• It might lead us with the thoughts to the imperfection because none of those squares/rectangles are not perfect
• Can also lead us with the taught to love , because nothing is perfect , but if you really try to find a solution , you can make everything work
• As we can see there is a kind of a grid which can indicate nothing is randomly [based on physics laws ], every action has a reaction
• All the shapes are divided into two different pieces but the cuts are made vertically not horizontally , which can mean dualism / bipolarity /etc

Critical and contextual analyse 2 :

I decided to analyse one of Daniel Shiffman codes which is about a Bouncing Ball with Vectors . First let’s figure out who that guy is ….

Daniel Shiffman (born in July 29,1973) is a programmer and former project lead with the Processing Foundation , and an Associat Arts Professor at the Interactive Telecommunications Program at NYU’s Tisch School of the Arts. Shiffman received a BA in Mathematics and Philosophy from Yale University and master’s degree from the Interactive Telecommunications Program at NYU’s Tisch School of the Arts .

Daniel Shiffman is focused on developing tutorials , examples and libraries for Processing , the open source programming language and environment created by Casey and Ben Fry . Shiffman has expressed that “Processing , for me , has always been just the most wonderful thing ever. It’s given me a mission and a passion , to bring computation to everyone : artists , designers , musicians , biologists , etc . Writing code can be scary something many mistakenly think is reserved for computer scientists and engineers . Processing has helped eliminate that fear , making programming accessible to a wider audience , particularly artists .

Questions :

1. Why have they chosen that particular language ?
2. Why have they chosen a particular style / convention to name variables ?
3. Why have they (or haven’t they) included comments at certain points in the program ?
4. Why have they named classes using particular styles/conversion?
5. Why have they used ‘i’ for loop counters (why not another letter)?
6. Why have they formatted/indented the code that way ?
7. Why/how have they used ‘white space’?
8. Why have they solved the problem that particular way ?
9. Why have (or haven’t) they used functions .

 

Answers :

1. Daniel Shiffman is focused on developing tutorials , examples and libraries for Processing , the open source programming language and environment created by Casey and Ben Fry . Shiffman has expressed that “Processing , for me , has always been just the most wonderful thing ever. It’s given me a mission and a passion , to bring computation to everyone : artists , designers , musicians , biologists , etc . Writing code can be scary something many mistakenly think is reserved for computer scientists and engineers . Processing has helped eliminate that fear , making programming accessible to a wider audience , particularly artists .
2. Daniel Shiffman has chosen a general convention to name the variables .
3. He included comments in the program to make us understand the code easier / or for himself to have like reefer points .
4. He names all the classes quite straight forward to make us understand what are they about .
5. He used just if functions .
6. He formatted the code to make the mistakes more obviously and to give it a clean aspect .
7. Daniel didn’t used any white spaces .
8. He solved the problem that way because is efficient .