Reflection and ideas

 

Research 

Source: http://understandinguncertainty.org/node/1066  

Pure randomness in art 

In an article from understandinguncertainty.org, The author writes about artists using randomness in their art.  

Cage at Kettles Yard 

One of the artists, John Cage, speaks about whys he uses randomness in his art: “I use chance operations instead of operating according to my likes and dislikes” 

“The Kettles Yard exhibition featured wonderful film of assistants reading computer-generated random numbers off a list which determined which of a row of stones were to be chosen, which brush to use, and the position of the stone on the paper; Cage finally paints around the stone, stands back and announces the results as ‘beautiful’.”  

Source: Gerhard Richter, 4900 Colours: Version II 

“Gerhard Richter’s “4900 Colours: Version II”. This is based on 196 panels each comprising a 5 x 5 square. A computer program assigned a colour to each square drawn at random from a palette of 25 colours. The 196 panels can be put together to form one huge display, or in the Serpentine exhibition were arranged at random in sets of four to form 49 10x 10 displays.”  

It’s interesting how art made using randomness can look so deliberate. We are hoping that we can emulate this experience in our exhibition.  

Source: https://www.fastcompany.com/3052333/the-value-of-randomness-in-art-and-design – here is another article talking about the importance of randomness from the Lense of design. 

Source: https://escholarship.org/content/qt9zv112f5/qt9zv112f5.pdf?t=oekaym  

We also found some great quotes In David Kirsh’s paper “The importance of chance and interactivity in creativity” speaking about this subject.  

“Chance has a privileged role in creativity. It can be used to thwart bias, overcome the drive to imitate past solutions, and stimulate new ideas” 

“Creative thinking, whether in science, art or sensemaking, is not something that occurs solely in the head — the internalist view. In most cases, creativity depends on an interactive cycle of working with artifacts, reacting to interim changes in the environment and then interacting again.” 

“Creativity does not happen in a situational vacuum” 

“The power of chance lies in its departure from tradition. It releases us from predetermined ideas about the good that constrain our vision of the possible. Too often predictions about what will be a good idea are unreliable” 

Reflection 

After individually experimenting with our own art machine ideas, we have spent the week talking about how we can collaborate and connect our ideas. We decided on the idea of an art factory, where viewers can try some of our art machines to create their own art. 

The main ideas of our exhibition are art processes with unknown outcomes and environments that confront us with new ideas. Our installation is interactive to inspire the viewer to challenge their preconceived ideas about art making and outcomes.  

Our goal was to create an experience of thought and experiment. We invite the viewer to let go of rigid ways of art making and let chance decide the outcome. It was important to us that the result of the viewer’s interaction with our work would be mostly random and out of their control, that they relinquish the control we often try have over our art process. 

They first enter our art factory to see a dimly lit room illuminated by a large red lantern. It gives off a childish, dreamlike atmosphere. This sets the mood and helps the viewers/participants see the space as a place of play. They are then presented with paper and paints to use on the various machine 

Machine 1 

Machine 2 

Machine 3 

The overall experience is supposed to be fun and unexpected, similar to the way a child interacts with art making. Looking at art more childishly can be a great way to generate new ideas. 

“Children, however, have not been subject to so many years of cultural impressions. They have a purity about them, unfettered by the various beliefs and generalities the consciousness takes as truth.” – Source:https://artblot.wordpress.com/2011/11/23/picasso-on-painting-like-a-child/  

 “It took me four years to paint like Raphael, but a lifetime to paint like a child” – Picasso