http://www.levitated.net/daily/levDropinLetters.html

http://www.levitated.net/daily/levTextSphere.html

http://www.levitated.net/daily/levEmotionFractal.html

http://www.levitated.net/daily/levTextSpace.html

“Created by Casey Reas and Ben Fry in association with Jared Tarbell, Robert Hodgin, and William Ngan. Work shown are created with Processing.”

 Philip Galanter, «What is Generative Art? Complexity Theory as a Context for Art Theory,» in: Generative Art Proceedings, Milan, 2003, p.1

by Geoff Cox

http://www.generative.net

Abstract

Aesthetics, in general usage, lays an emphasis on subjective sense perception associated with the broad field of art and human creativity. Drawing particularly on Jonathan Rée’s I See a Voice: A Philosophical History (1999), this paper suggests that it might be useful to revisit the troubled relationship between art and aesthetics for the purpose of discussing the value of generative code. Our argument is that, like poetry, the aesthetic value of code lies in its execution, not simply its written form. However, to appreciate generative code fully we need to ‘sense’ the code to fully grasp what it is we are experiencing and to build an understanding of the code’s actions.

To separate the code and the resultant actions would simply limit the aesthetic experience, and ultimately limit the study of these forms – as a form of criticism – and what in this context might better be called a ‘poetics’ of generative code.

Aesthetics

‘The taste of the apple… lies in the contact of the fruit with the palate, not in the fruit itself; in a similar way… poetry lies in the meeting of poem and reader, not in the lines of symbols printed on the pages of a book. What is essential is the aesthetic act…’ []

From the Greek ‘aisthesis’, aesthetics is broadly defined as pertaining to material things perceptible by the senses, and is more precisely defined by Baumgarten in Aesthetica(1750) defining beauty as ‘phenomenal perfection’ as perceived through the senses; with aesthetics ‘pertaining to the beautiful or to the theory of taste’ []. Thereafter in general usage, there remains an emphasis on subjective sense perception, but with particular reference to aesthetics and beauty generally associated with the broad field of art and human creativity. This applies despite Kant’s attempt to distinguish beauty as an exclusively sensuous phenomenon and aesthetics as a broader science of the conditions of sense perception []. For the purposes of our argument, we will retain this broader use of the term ‘aesthetics’, and add the proviso that there is an ideology to aesthetics that lies relatively hidden and difficult to perceive critically. This ideological aspect lies outside the scope of our paper but it is worth noting Slavoj Zizek’s evocative description of ideology – the ‘generative matrix’ [] – that analogously expresses the generative code beneath the action. The suggestion, in keeping with this paper, would be that this requires a certain transparency to open it to criticism. We hope that revisiting the idea of the limits of aesthetic experience might serve to resolve some of the oppositions between theory and practice, and intellectual/physical division of labour involved in the production of generative art works. These issues are all too easily overlooked in an over-concentration on aesthetic outcomes that are all often reduced to subjective judgement and taste.

ware systems. He is known for his bold use of colors and hard-edged geometric compositions, 

producing work for live projections, print and audiovisual performances. 

Grid distortion (2008)

Orderly grids are distorted through a gradual transformation, causing lines to crack and bend. Under pressure, two two dimensions become three, the lattice looking like bubbles as they emerge towards the viewer.

Laser cut plywood, 541 x 420 mm