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*WARNING - SOME FLASHING*

In the previous animations in this series the tree construction was played back by the drawing program that I have developed for this project (written using Processing). That was the first and most rudimentary stage of 'analysis'. What you see in this video is the next stage of development of this work - the activation of the tree using a cellular automata (CA) system. In this animation a new, fourth CA system was added and I am switching between it and the three other systems featured in previous animations.

As mentioned in the descriptions for the previous videos, the tree is spontaneously formed according to a simple formula - 'hand made' generative art. This formula captures, in a way particular to the tree form, the creative content of my state, the containing environment, and the context within which the artwork is produced. I then use systems such as the one employed here to reveal aspects of the creative content it contains. I like to say that I am playing the tree like an instrument and using this system as the 'score'. The results serve as the final artworks - the 'answers'. This entire process is what I call a 'reading' and I use it to reveal aspects of psyche in generative artwork.

I am in the process of turning this software into an interactive web app that will reside on my website so you will be able to generate your own trees through simple key commands and then activate them in different ways to obtain your own readings. I have a number of different CA systems that I have developed and you will see more recordings of the them in future videos. In the online app you will be able to freely switch between systems and see and hear the results in real time. Along the way, screenshots may be captured at your leisure and turned into prints and paintings - documents of your own psyche through the lens of this particular art project. See store link below for some examples.

The results are primarily meant to be received and understood as artwork, so any kind of insights into psyche are based on the feelings that the animations evoke. As this project progresses I will be exploring more directed, precise, and deliberate means, perhaps employing statistical analysis and similar approaches to obtain more tangible results. That being said, the final work, understood as artwork will always serve as the dominant framing.

This is my first project employing CA and I have been meaning to get to it for a while. I am interested in CA and other systems like it such as complex systems, dynamic systems, and cybernetics because they exhibit emergent phenomena. Emergent phenomena display a kind of 'aliveness' that I suggest is an effective means to find meaningful and clearly discernible evidence and manifestation of psyche - living presence - in visual and audio material. This is more than just pareidolia ('seeing things' in raw material).

This artwork, like most of my other projects, is defined by a particular formula which is designed to reveal a certain aspect of psyche. What does the tree structure reveal about our inner domain? That is what this project seeks to investigate. The processes of analysis described above serve to deconstruct the artwork further - observing it in different ways - thereby revealing new information.

The audio is from the album, 'two fields'. It is an example of my 'hand made' noise music and can be found here:
https://robgillthings.bandcamp.com/al...

2D trees project page:
https://robgillthings.net/projects/tr...

prints and paintings:
https://things.robgillthings.net/coll...

overall trees project page:
https://robgillthings.net/projects/tr...


#generativeart #cellularautomata #mediaartist #mediaart #mediaarts #generativeart #codeart #treeart #processing #sonification #sciart #psyart #fieldrecordings




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