Assignments

1
 Group presentation
20%
see schedule
2
 Generative graphics
20%
21 Mar 08
3
 Digital realization of an OuLiPo work
25%
02 May 08
4
 Final Assignment
25%
16 May 08




Group presentation
1) "Images & Texts: a Dialogue" by Alain Robbe-Grillet (Chapter V, Generative Literature & Generative Art, 1983 )
2) "Generative Systems in Visual Art" by Diane Kirkpatrick (Chapter II, Generative Literature & Generative Art , 1983)
3) "GENERATOR, the group and their arts" (see handout based on http://www.generative.net/generator/browse.cgi?page=outline
4) "How I Drew One of My Pictures: or, The Authorship of Generative Art" by Adrian Ward and Geoff Cox (see Class Material)" + examples quoted from http://www.levitated.net/
5) 6) [selections from Oulipo: a Primer of Potential Literature by Warren F. Motte ]
+ see also OuLiPo: http://www.nous.org.uk/oulipo.html + Oulipo, a Compendium
7) "What is Generative Art? Complexity Theory as a Context for Art Theory" by Philip Galanter
8) First chapter of Emergence : the connected lives of ants, brains, cities, and software by Steven Johnson
 
Assignment 2: Generative graphics

Starting from a very simple shape, create/generate a more complex graphics based on the simple one. You do not need to add interactivity into the movie.

  • Use Flash as the main creative platform. You can either use MovieClip or Sprite to create your graphics.
  • It will be an animated display. The generation will be shown in your movie frame by frame.
  • You cannot use RANDOM, i.e. Math.random() in your movie.

An example is a line generator written in Processing.

 
 
Assignment 3 : Digital Realisation of an Oulipo work.

Choose one Oulipo work and transform it into digital format (e.g. interactive programe / application ). Alternatively, you could create your own text-based generative digital work based on the working principles of the Oulipo group. (e.g. String manipulation in Flash???)

You could make reference to the examples we have covered in the workshop:
1) 100,000,000,000,000 (100 billion poems) by Raymond Queneau.
2) Matthew's Algorithm by Harry Matthew
3) Tree Theather : A combinatory Play by Paul Fournel

There are some more examples which you could find from the book:
ulipo : a primer of potential literature by Warren Motte

Example files in the flash workshop can be found in each class' section.

Submission format: flash (swf) through ACS
Deadline: 2nd May
 
Final Assignment: A book or an art work that demonstrates generative features

Based on our discussion of generative processes and general characteristics of generative art, plus the various examples we have worked through, create an art work with a medium of your choice, or a work that is inter-media. Attached to your work a simple artist statement explaining the generative character of your work and what kind of process(es) it provides for its user/reader.

For BOOK CREATION only..

Here are a few quotes from writers and theorists on the experimentation with books created with a generative method:

...There is no necessary beginning and end...A book matters for its "spatial interiority" and the reader's "process of participation."

...There is no difference between what a book talks about and how it is made. (Deleuze & Guattari: discussion on "rhizome" in A Thousand Plateaus )

...All conceivable books are comprised by and within a good dictionary. (Umberto Eco: discussion on the history of the book in Geoffrey Nunberg's The Future of the Book, p. 302)

...[A] text is made of multiple writings, drawn from many cultures and entering into mutual relations of dialouge, parody, contestation... (Roland Barthes: discussion in "The Death of the Author" and the birth of the reader)

Some "GENERATIVE BOOK" examples:

Raymond Queneau, Exercises in Style (first published in 1947 in French)

Raymond Queneau, "100,000,000,000,000 Poems" [100 billion poems]

Tentative due date: 16 May 08
You can form a small group of 3 to 4 students for this project.
Submit your proposal on next Monday, 21 Apr 08