THE IRONY OF AN ALGORITHMIC 'ACCIDENT'

July 30, 2024

I was thinking about the irony of purposely working hard to replicate a water spill in code. (See Sudfah.) On the surface it seems very odd. Why would one spend years trying to figure out how to make a precise, mathematical, predictable, algorithmic system generate a convincing.... accident?

It occurred to me that a novelist does something somewhat similar. They invent fake characters and give them fake problems trying their very best to make those fake problems as convincing as possible - in order to connect on the deepest possible level to their reader. It is, of course, not quite the same, as language is inherently human, subjective, and full of all those messy human characteristics in the way that code is decidedly not.

Perhaps it could be said that the goal of an algorithmic artist (or maybe just me???) is to add those human, subjective, messy elements back into the art in order to make it humanly relatable?

I have heard a refrain several times in the last few years that (in my understanding) goes something like this: "Algorithmic art is inherently digital. Making algorithmic art that mimics real life things is not native to the medium. Real algorithmic art will not mimic real life things. I hope that eventually people will learn to appreciate algorithmic art that does not mimic real life things."

On the one hand, that is indeed a very interesting and valuable goal - it is certainly not my aim to say that that is not also an interesting goal. However, I don't agree that such art would be inherently more interesting or more "real" or "correct" or "better" algorithmic art than art that mimics real life things.

Should not art aim to connect with the viewer - the human, messy, imperfect viewer? I would argue that when an algorithmic artist either aims to mimic real-life materials or generally pursues messiness in any shape or form, they are after a connection with the human. Further, they are after connecting the digital, algorithmic, mathematical, precise world to the human. Building a bridge, so to speak.

I've heard a formula for a relatable novel in writing classes before: "Something known, something new." It seems to me to be a valid rule to apply to art as well. My humble thoughts for the day.

ON MAKING A SYSTEM TO MAKE A THING

May 23, 2024

Some generative artists find joy in the irony of engineering a complicated system to make a computer do the thing that they could have done by hand or with software or in any number of easier ways.

Yes, I can draw a thing with pencil... but I might go to great lengths to engineer a complicated system to make the computer draw the thing with pencil. (Either a virtual one or a plotter.) I could write something with my own handwriting... but instead I might go to great lengths to encode my handwriting so that the computer can now plot my handwriting. I could make a refracted-light piece of work in a 3d software program, but instead I might choose to write my own functions that trace rays of lights. Why?

The point is not laziness or pure automation. In fact, engineering a thing that makes the thing is almost always much more difficult than doing the thing yourself with your own hands. Sometimes it may seem as if we are aiming for difficulty for difficulty's sake.

The point is in that act of making the system that makes the thing.

In making the system that make the thing, we are given the possibility to try to understand the deeper truths that govern the processes of making things. We can discover the essence of the texture that a pencil line is made of. If done well, that process for generating a line with a pencil texture has literally been abstracted and generalized in a mathematical sense. Our code encodes a mathematical description of what it means to look like a pencil line and to draw a pencil line.

Furthermore, the point is not that the system can run autonomously, like a black box. The point is in understanding the inner workings of the system - inner workings that are engineered by the artist - who did so in the careful pursuit of crafting such a system. That deep understanding of their system is vital - which is why they will get upset if someones says their work is AI, or why it is a flex among peers to say they have taken out a dependency or library, or why it is taboo to outsource the coding. (The gen-art equivalent of "I only use brushes made with hairs that I pulled from the horse that I raised myself on homegrown organic grass" actually does hold a lot of water.)

The point is in understanding of the system. The artist is the one who has understood something through that act of creation.

RATHER UN-UNIQUE REFLECTIONS

March 21, 2024

• Generative art is the art of systems: I like approaching a topic from the lens of a system. Rather than making one image about some idea, or even a series of individual images about an idea, I can create a system - and the very act of creating that system sheds light on an idea in a way individual images never can. In that way, it is an ideal medium for contemplating the systems that operate in the world.
• Generative art mirrors nature: Both contain a set of logical and dependable rules with some randomness sprinkled in.
• Generative art is an art of precision: It naturally operates without the randomness of nature and allows the artist to be intentional about adding randomness (and desired imprecision) back in.
• Generative art is an art of controlling randomness:  Generative artists shape and push and pull randomness like clay.
• Generative art is an exploration of control vs. chaos:  It is about that balance between intention and randomness, control and chaos, the artist's ideas vs. the whim of the prng.
• Generative art is the art of mathematics and logic:  Generative art allows artists to give visual representation to the beauty inherent in mathematics and logic.
• Generative art is the craft of automation: an artistic exploration of automation itself; We do not simply use automation, and the point is not to automate our work - we SHAPE and CRAFT automation - with much work.
• Generative art allows for an exploration of an infinite space of visual outputs:  I love the infinite nature of our algorithms - that you could continue generating outputs forever and still never have seen the next one, and still be surprised.
• Generative art is the art of abstraction of process:  Generative art takes abstraction beyond abstract visual representation (although it certainly can do that as well) into abstraction of process. We abstract away the creation of the art into a system rather than touching it ourselves. I love the wikipedia definition of abstraction here: "Abstraction involves induction of ideas or the synthesis of particular facts into one general theory about something." We create "general theories about how to make a particular type of art." In so doing, each "theory" produces an infinite number of varied results, all subscribing to that theory. This can be likened to Plato's Allegory of the Cave, where the generative system is the reality, and the artistic outputs are the shadows cast on the wall. Just as the shadows represent deeper truths about the objects casting them, generative art outputs reflect the underlying principles and logic of the systems that produce them.
• Generative art is the art of the computer age:  It utilizes one of the most fundamental tools of our age (computer programming) for artistic purposes.

GEN-ART VS. AI

March 17, 2024

Working thesis (and hot take?): AI is the automation of traditional craft in art. Gen-Art is the craft of automation.

IS IT ART?

August 21, 2023

Published on Right Click Save [here].

If I carefully design a series with great intention and months of work but leave some decisions to the computer, is it art?

If I am a code-based algorithmic generative artist but input some images into my work, is it art?

If I utilize AI images generated via prompting, is it art?

If I make something that pretends to be digital art, but I scan in physical work to be part of it, is it art?

If I sell it as NFTs, on the blockchain, for cryptocurrency, can it be art?

If I sell it too cheaply and in too many editions, can it be art?

What if I print it out? Is it still digital art?

What if no one ever prints it out and it is confined to screens forever? Is it real art?

What if someone displays it on a screen and doesn't even hide the cords? Is it art?

If it's all a JPEG-generating system, is it art?

What's the art: the JPEGs or the code?

Who is the artist? Me or the computer?

If something unexpected emerges by luck of the random number generator, is it art?

If nothing unexpected emerges by luck of the random number generator, is it art?

If the artist can't actually figure out what the flip art is, is their art art?

Can art have "real" cultural value if the audience is crypto culture?

Can I be a "real" artist if I am crypto-native? (I was born in this space, didn't you know?)

Does my art become better art if a lot of people talk about it?

What if I utilize textures in digital work because I like the look of old and textured things? Is it art?

What if I add borders to digital work? Is it art?

What if I think I'm a generative artist but then I use node-based software rather than code to make my art? Is it art?

What if I were to make a code-based, randomized, emergent, beautiful system within a 3D software program and then call it generative art? Is it art?

If the series has stats attached to it that publicly advertise its floor and secondary volume, can it be art?

What's better art: art that uses p5.js or art that doesn't?

What if the curation board rejects my work? Is it art?

What if (omg, heaven forbid) I do an open edition? Is it art or is it so far from art that it has, in fact, contaminated all my other used-to-be-art as well?

What if the floor is low? Is it art?

What if nobody flips it into generational wealth? Have I failed at making art?

What if flippers flip the flip out of it? Is it well-loved and valuable art, or a shitcoin with pictures?

What if I choose to pre-curate outputs rather than let randomness do its thing? Is it art?

What if collectors choose their own outputs from the infinite sea of possibilities my algorithm produces? Now who is the artist?

What if the people buy high and sell low and now have a sour taste against it in their mouths? Is it art?

What if someone I thought likes my art sells it? Is it art?

What if someone says they like my art but never buys it? Is it art?

What if the artist doesn't hang out and interact with collectors? Is it art?

If the artist spends more time hanging out and interacting with collectors than making art, are they an artist?

What if I haven't touched grass in the last two years? Am I still qualified to make art?

If the artist has a big name and a lot of followers and creates something not-quite-awesome, is it art?

What if even my top collector sells some of my art? Is it art?

What if the whales never ever buy my art? Is it art?

What if no one knows what the flip they are doing around here, but they try? Is it art?

What if I choose to reference some memes? Can it be serious art?

What if the number of editions is far greater than the algorithm is designed to handle? Can it be art?

What if I intentionally design some rarities into my system? Am I inauthentic?

What if I choose not to add any traits because I think it is a good idea for collectors to pick what they like based on its appearance rather than its rarity (but then nobody really knows which are the "best ones")? Is it art?

What if the rarest things in my series are not the most beautiful? Is it art?

What if the most common things in my series are not the most beautiful? Is it art?

What if I drop it with yet. another. new. platform? Is it art? Am I still an artist?

What if I look around at all these new open platforms — and the old ones, too, for that matter — and my first feeling is power because, I think, all of their fates depend on which one me and my gen-art friends decide we like best and choose to mint our work on? But then, what if I start to wonder whether, in fact, all the sales I've ever had only happened because of the platforms I dropped on rather than my work and my name and were I to drop on an open platform, would I sell anything at all? And if I didn't, is my art art and am I an artist? And then, what if all the artists who have had enough success to have anything to lose by testing out new platforms never try and then all the new open platforms actually fail? Will the art that was dropped on those platforms still be art? Will I be partially responsible for causing the failure of the platforms and the un-arting of the art? Would I have had a hand in causing the death of decentralization in generative art?

What if I share WIPs from other things while dropping the one thing? Is it art?

What if AI helped me write some of the code? Did I cross the line yet?

What if I make and mint too many things? Can they be art?

What if I associate with the wrong people? Can my art be art?

What if the MoMA doesn't care about my art? Is it art?

Which is better art: highly-flipped art or diamond-handed art?

What if they sell it at a big auction house because a massive fund went under? Is it art? Is it now, in fact, more special art than it was before?

What if a big auction house sells the art on primary? Is it art?

What if it's not your bags? Is it art?

Which is better art: something cheap or something expensive?

Will it make my art look like better art if I set it with a low price or a high price?

Should I attempt to optimize for high primary volume or high secondary volume (assuming, of course, that I can manage to get any volume) and which one makes my art look like better art?

What if there will never be exit liquidity for my collectors and they end up stuck with my art forever? Is it art?

What if trad-art collectors never collect it? Is it art?

What if someday they take pictures of the tea stains on my desk and the bugs in my code and sell it as NFTs? Is it art?

What if the code is on-chain, off-chain, in-chain, or on-a-chain-on-top-of-a-chain, or on-the-wrong-chain? Is it art?

What if the currency attached to the chain tanks tomorrow? Is the art still art?

What if someone in DC pulls some strings and crypto is declared illegal? Is crypto art art?

What if nobody pins the IPFS data, and it eventually disappears into the ether? Is it art?

What if the chain ceases to exist in ten years' time? Is the art still art?

What if I airdrop the art to somebody? Is it art?

What if I gift the art to somebody? Is it art?

What if I make something that someone says is too similar to the other thing? Is it art?

What if the marketplace flags my series as a scam and leaves the scam series listed? Is it art?

What if the variation in my algorithm just isn't sufficient, but it makes one thing really well? Is it art?

Hear me out. What if I make a new platform myself and then drop my work on it? Is it art?

What if the variation in my algorithm is just over the top? Is it art?

What if someone only has 20 Twitter followers? Is their work art?

What if I mint a work and never tell anyone and it just sits there, existing? Is it art?

What if I made a work and never minted it? Is it art?

What if someone pulls my work from Twitter and mints it before I do? Is it art?

What if my computer renders the work from my algorithm while I sleep? Is it art?

What if I design an algorithm with great care and craft, but I never actually end up seeing every single one of the official mints with my own eyes because they are a lot? Are they all art? Are they all my art?

What if, by luck of the random number generator, something emerges from the algorithm that I don't really approve of or like? Is it art? Is it my art?

What if something appeared for a brief moment in my browser while I was testing and I really liked it but I never saved it and I hit refresh just a tad too fast and it is gone forever? Was it art?

What if someday browsers can't render my code anymore? Will it still be art?

What if I mint it on the financialized crypto-bro chain? Is it art?

What if I mint it on the avant-garde artsy chain? Is it art?

What if I inscribe it on the big not-for-NFTs chain? Is it art?

What if it's an NFT but I'm ashamed of the word NFT so I never call it an NFT, but really deep down it is an NFT? Is it art?

What if someone right-click-saves it? Is the JPEG art?

What if someone right-click-saves and then prints it? Is the print based on the save based on the NFT art?

What if someone screenshots it? Is it art?

What if someone right-click-saves and prints it and then takes a picture of the print? Is it art?

What if I, the artist, right-click-save a WIP output while I work? Is it art?

What if I messed up provenance because someone else minted the contract? Is it art?

What if it is on a shared contract? Is it art?

What if someone mints the contract for me but then sends it to me so now I technically own it? Is it art?

What if no curator ever curates it? Is it art?

What if a curator curates it? Has the artist sold their soul? Has the art lost its art?

What if a whole board of curators curates it? Has the art lost its art?

What if I guess the number of editions wrong and then burn some and then later regret it? Is it art?

What if the sale gets botted? Is it art?

What if the price goes to zero? Is it art?

What if I care just a little too much about the market? Am I an artist?

What if I buy a bunch of my own pieces? Is it art?

What if I throw my heart and soul into making a work only to watch the price fall after the sale down, down, down, down, and down? Is it art?

What if I was ashamed of the floor so I bought some more of my pieces from my artist account? Is it art?

What if I was ashamed of the floor so I bought some more of my pieces from an anonymous account? Is it art?

What if I choose to be represented by a gallery someday? Will I have sold my crypto soul? Will my art have lost its art?

What if no gallery ever wants to represent me? Is my art real art?

What if someday a gallery wants to represent me but I choose to remain a mere crypto artist? Is my art art?

What if my code is gorgeous and organized and efficient and short and smells like roses and no one ever sees it? Is it art?

What if someone else's code is rotten spaghetti and totally unreadable and incomprehensible even by the artist but pretty pictures somehow come out of it? Is it art?

What if I priced it too high and some ppl bought it and then I lowered the price and then those ppl got mad and now nobody knows what the flip to do? Is it art?

What if I sold myself short and caused gas hell to break lose? Is it art?

What if there are literally too many questions and things pulling on me and eventually I become so overwhelmed that I can't even make art anymore and ppl (or maybe I) say I "left Web3" and they hate me and my art for evermore? Is the art I made while I was here art?

What if an artist had to sell their work for 0.0001 XTZ per piece to get started even though they spent ten hours a day for a month making the work, and still nobody bought it? Is it art?

What if I make something beautiful but it takes me ten days and 20 headaches to come up with a one-sentence description about it? Is it art?

What if ChatGPT writes parts of my description? Is it art?

What if I mint anonymously? Is it art?

What if I make an anonymous alt account and mint with it just to feel free? Is it art?

What if I make an alt account and mint with it wanting to feel free but then it turns out that I just feel bad because nobody buys it because they don't know who the artist is and then I proceed to go through a crisis of confidence with my regular account based on the lack of sales on my alt account? And then what if I reach out as the real me to the platform to verify my "friend" who is my alt and they are like "no, sorry your friend doesn't look very legit" and so I tell them "it's actually me" and they say "ok, that's cool, but still we shouldn't verify because your alt doesn't look legit and people will know it must be someone's alt and will start wondering who it is and then your alt cover will be blown which defeats the point of having an alt altogether, does it not?" Is it art?

What if I try again to make an alt account and want to mint with it in order to feel free but decide to actually make the new alt me look like a real someone and so I invent for myself a whole alternate persona? Is it art?

What if someday someone discovers that the alt account was me and feels betrayed that I would do such a thing? Is it art?

What if the work reeks of Web3 culture? Will art-world people deem it art?

What if generative art has always been my hobby and now all of a sudden people care about generative art and are buying it for a lot of money but I'm still just little old me making stuff? Is it art?

What if I accidentally put my seed phrase on the cloud and it got hacked and now my artist wallet is compromised? Is the art I minted with that wallet still art?

What if someone has the pieces that they own of mine stolen and then they get flagged on the marketplace and now no one wants to buy them? Are those pieces art?

What if a technique exists that every generative artist has always used and then one famous artist uses it and so for evermore everyone thinks that the technique is theirs and so nobody else can ever use it again without someone saying that they are copying that famous artist, and then what if I use it? Is it art?

What if one day I get the itch to try to make my digital and generative art look like paper or paint or something else analog because I think it's incredibly fun to try to hack that and make something so "real" from code? Can it be art?

What if I've been pretty successful but then, when I think about it, it turns out that all my success can be traced back to the support of a few key people at key moments? Is my art actually any good?

What if I've been pretty successful and people call me "established," but honestly I've only been around this space for a year and have almost no more idea of what I am doing than I did a year ago? Am I really an established artist?

What if even though I've been quite successful I still manage to get jealous when all of Crypto Twitter has a fun time (except me, I don't find it fun) listing the "Ten NFTs they want waiting for them when they return in 20 years from a desert island" and no one ever lists my work? Can I still be an artist or shall I be banished for my jealousy?

What if my work reeks of careful craft and emotion? Will crypto bros consider it art?

What if I were to beautifully and carefully make a PFP project with much craft and emotion? Would it be art?

What if I wasn't here in the summer of 2021? Is my art still art?

What if I wasn't early enough? Is my art art?

What if I were to make a project with code, in the browser, with zero randomness? Is it generative art?

What if a make a project "about" this crazy, fun, and exhausting ecosystem and attempt to do as many things "wrong" as I can in one project? Is it art?

What if I gm'd twice in one day in a single Discord server? Can I still be an artist or shall I be evicted?

What if my description includes words like "cuz" cuz that's how I talk? Can it be art?

What if no influencer pumps it and no one ever calls it a "grail"? Is it art?

What if an influencer pumps it? Has the artist sold their soul, and has the art lost its art?

What if someone starts calling it a "grail"? Is it still art?

What if no one ever lists my work as underrated? Is it art?

What if I dropped on Sunday because I thought it was just another day of the week but it turns out that crypto ppl aren't around on Sunday and so nobody bought my work or actually even saw it? Is it art?

What if I acknowledge my influences and inspirations? What will people think of my art?

What if my art is a membership token for a DAO? Is it art?

What if the work was commissioned by a corporation? Is it art?

What if my art doesn't sell out? Is it art?

What if the work takes a month to sell out? Is it art?

What if my art was made by a woman? Is it art?

What if someone burns the art? Is it still art?

What if my art challenges the concept of scarcity by embracing infinite reproducibility? (ChatGPT wrote that.) Is it art?

What if I overshared on Twitter and the work that everyone used to be excited about is now a year old in their mind even though it hasn't been minted yet? Is it art?

What if I post it on Twitter, Mastodon, Bluesky, Threads, Instagram, ten Discord servers, and Facebook and only get 50 likes and one little green "gm" emoji? Is it art?

What if the artist is not very edgy and rebellious and hates drama and conflict and politics? Is their art art?

What if the art includes flow fields which everybody thinks are, like, way overdone but also everybody, especially the artist, completely loves flow fields and so the artist just wants to use flow fields anyway? Is it art?

What if the art is ultimately exposed to be nothing more than aesthetics? Is it art?