Image(s): 640*480

Jpeg Image (40 Ko)

Author(s)

• William Latham
  • Email : latham@cix.compulink.co.uk

Institute(s)

• Computer Artworks
  • Country : Great-Britain

Film 1	Video QuickTime ->	(3.2 Mo)
	Jpeg Images ->	(12 Ko)

• Date : 90

• Category : Research

• Theme(s) :

  • Biology

Technical Information

• Bibliography :

  93 Imagina's proceeding pp258-265
  
  

• Abstract :

  The paper focuses on new Artificial life and evolution techniques and their use to make art. The paper proposes the concept of "Artist as Gardener" aesthetically breeding, selecting and splicing forms in an accelerated evolution environment of three dimensional sculptural forms. In the first phase the artist is "creator" and sets up the rules of Artificial life such as : random genetic mutation, geometry, a swirling vortex. In Latham's geometric model, 3D forms are composed of "horns" which can be joined end to end to create complex biomorphic skeletal structures. These horns can be spiralled, branched, fractal and it is their geometrical genes which are mutated over time by evolution and selection. Having created this virtual garden the artist interactively works within the garden constrained by the rules of artificial life. Like a gardener breeding the perfect rose, the artist tries to breed aesthetic sculptural forms. A number of techniques such as marriage, breeding, gene freezing, structure mutation can be used by the artist. The next phase is to animate this evolution. The Animation is controlled by a biological clock which triggers life cycle events such as; birth, maturity and decay. The process of "birth" is for the offspring sculpture to be born through a hollow tube coming out of the parent sculpture. "Maturity" is the time for breeding. The process of "death" is the desintegration of the sculpture. Behavioural interaction between sculptures enable sculptures to orbit and flow around one another to create the effect of flocking. The paper also focuses on specific issues such as structure mutation, navigation through gene space by steering, automatic selection (no human involved) and problems in controlling behavioural flocking. The artistic ideas of the Latham are embodied in the software so that the artist is no longer creating an individual artwork but setting up the rules for an infinity of creation. The artist then becomes a gardener at the centre of a web of evolution.
  
  

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• Some internal links :

  Same Author

  The conquest of form

  Same Institute

  The conquest of form

• Some more Comments :

  COMPUTER ARTWORKS
  William Latham, Director and Artist
  voice: ++44 (0) 171 439 1001
  fax: ++44 (0) 171 734 1991
  Computer Artworks ltd, CFX, 16-18 Ramillies St.Soho
  London W1V 1DL, UK