[spectre] Call for papers - Generative & Algorithmic Art, Leonardo Electronic Almanac

[Lanfranco Aceti]

Call for papers - Generative & Algorithmic Art, Leonardo Electronic Almanac

In his essay “What is Generative Art? Complexity Theory as a Context
for Art Theory,” Philip Galanter provocatively suggests that
“generative art may be as old as art itself.” [1] The programmatic,
mathematical patterns that appear in Islamic tile work, Tibetan
mandalas, and textiles from around the globe (and particularly from
Jacquard’s early 19th century punch card loom) all exhibit the
qualities of generative art: they are produced by preset instructions
or procedural rules that dictate the forms and structures they might
take. Defining a generative mode of production in its most general
terms, Galanter writes, “Generative art refers to any art practice
where the artist uses a system, such as a set of natural language
rules, a computer program, a machine, or other procedural invention,
which is set into motion with some degree of autonomy contributing to
or resulting in a completed work of art.” [2] Depending on the
technology implemented by the artist and the material form of the
finished artwork, there can exist wide variations in the degree of the
system’s autonomy, the impact of artistic intention and influence, and
the complexity or predictability of the system used to generate the
artwork. A technology can be as simple as a written set of natural
language instructions resulting in a wall drawing in graphite or as
complex as a string of computationally executable code that manifests
in a spectacular array of screen-based graphics. The degree of
artistic intervention in the final product effects the extent to which
a system can be defined as functioning autonomously; in a true
generative system, the rules of the program are produced by the
artist, set into motion, and then left to develop, often in ways that
could not be predicted by the artist due to the incursion of random
variables.

This special issue of Leonardo Electronic Almanac seeks to investigate
the long history of generative and algorithmic art, from the
historical predecessors mentioned above, to contemporary computational
artworks. We invite proposals for articles examining generative and
algorithmic art practices from the ancient world to the present day,
and artists’ projects and pictorial essays engaging with these
procedures and structures. Submissions might investigate issues of
authorial control, predictability and unpredictability, chance and
“aleatoric” methods of art making, or might propose theoretical and
philosophical explorations of the concepts of hardware and software,
the materiality of generative systems, video feedback as a generative
system, the relationship between generative art and cinematic
practices, or the historically expansive and ever expanding range of
technologies capable of executing generative systems.

[1] Philip Galanter, “What is Generative Art? Complexity Theory as a
Context for Art Theory,” in Generative Art Proceedings, 2003.
http://www.generativeart.com/
[2] Ibid.

Our publication formats allow for full-color throughout and we
encourage rich pictorial content where relevant and possible.

Senior editors for this issue: Lanfranco Aceti, Meredith Hoy, and Kris Paulsen

http://www.leoalmanac.org/generative-algorithmic-art-lea-call-for-papers/

Deadline for submission September 15, 2012