Intersections - Nguyen Dang Binh

oredomresearch
randomSeed 001
22 inches x 22 inches
Computational image
ARTIST STATEMENT
The randomSeed works were developed after extensive research
into computational models used in the study of artificial life. In part,
this was undertaken during boredomresearch’s residency at Artsway
in the New Forest, United Kingdom (2002–2003). During this time,
the artists deconstructed the process of building computational program-dependent
artworks. Reversing the normal trend of translating
physical properties into electronic form, boredomresearch de-digitised
their artistic practice, converting programmed works into a
paper-based form. This led to an interest in computational models
that predated electronic computing. In particular, the artists were
fascinated by cellular automata. Despite the fact that it is now predominantly
being created on computers, this technique for modelling
artificial life was originally executed on graph paper and allegedly
conceived using broken plates on the tiled floor of its inventor’s (John
Conway) kitchen. This drew the artists’ attention to the high level of
visual complexity that can be achieved from the repeated execution
of very simple rules, and they developed an extensive range of cellular
automata-based rules and systems before finally arriving at the
ones implemented in randomSeed.
It is all too easy to simply think of space as the stuff we move around
in and time as duration. For boredomresearch, the interesting quality
of cellular automata is the incredibly intricate patterns revealed as
a product of their space-time continuum. Viewed as a static image,
time is no longer the perception of change but something more
beautiful. In randomSeed, the image represents a record of the
machine’s movements and can also be thought of in this way.
CONTACT
Vicky Isley & Paul Smith
boredomresearch
80 langdown Road
Hythe Southampton SO45 6EQ
United Kingdom
siggraph@boredomresearch.net
www.boredomresearch.net/randomseed
boredomresearch are interested in how they can’t predict the images
created as the machines respond to their environment. The main
attraction in building this work is observing the different outcomes
of the innumerable permutations that are outside of the artists’ aesthetic
control.
TECHNICAl STATEMENT
In randomSeed, tiny creature-like objects can be observed busily
moving about in encapsulated worlds, like “workers” in an ant’s nest.
boredomresearch have created simple movement instructions for
their “workers” (which they refer to as machine heads). They march
out from the centre of their world, leaving movement traces by
changing pixel colour.
The audience finds itself absorbed by the intricate and beautiful
images the machine heads make by following simple rules. Eventually,
the machine heads fill their world with different coloured pixels
and can no longer move in straight lines. Their behaviour changes as
their environment becomes increasingly complex. Finally, their world
takes on a textured appearance similar to granite.
By slightly varying the machine-head instructions within different
systems, randomSeeds can create a huge range of diverse images.
In one randomSeed system, machine heads leaving the circle return
to the opposite side; in the other system, they are placed back in the
centre. After running both these systems for a couple of months, you
can appreciate the subtle differences in how the images develop.
But however many times a system is relaunched, the artists still find
themselves surprised by the beauty and intricacy of the images.
Artworks Art Gallery Electronic Art and Animation Catalog