Comment on “Epigenetic Painting: Software as Genotype”

Readers’ comments @ m h gsubstantial t h d w l and pmdml contributions to issues that have been raisedin textspublishedin Leonard0 are welcomed. IReEditms meruethe right to edit and shmten letters.Lettersshould be written in Englishand sent to theMain Editorial w e e . COMMENT ON “EPIGENETIC PAINTING: SOITWARE AS GENOTYPE” Roman Verostko (IAonurdo23,No.1, 17-23, 1990)discusseshis art making in terms of the theory and creative techniques developed for his style of work created with a “personalexpert system”.Verostko’ssoftwareis designed to express his personal form of preferences and to generate totally original works of art automatically. His use of the term epigenesisemphasizes the responsibility for the placement of choices in the structure of the program. For decades art criticsand theorists have been debating the legitimacyof art made by machine; this issue is constantly reappearing in the context of computer art. Of those artistswho use computer technology in the creative process, the ‘proceduralists’,a term used by Rosebush and Kerlow for those who use expert systems, advocate a fundamentally purer appreciation and understanding of original creative possibilitiesderived from use of the computer. In reality, few artists have actuallydelivered art ‘created’ by machine intelligence. Having coded his ‘art concept’ into a computer program, Verostko is one of the few artists I know of who is actuallyletting the power of the computer create original works of art. ware art’ that executes color decisions ,selectingfrom 14 available pens, creating harmonies by overlaying color combinations for the plotted drawing.He has also invented a device that converts the pen sleeve to hold a traditional brush. The mimetic structure of the gestures in simulated spontaneitywas carefully developed to express the artist’s concepts that extend form-makingideas through the contrast of stroke control and improvisation.Verostko believes that through a dialectic process the original art concept undergoes transIt isVerostko’sprogram or his ‘softformation and the softwareevolves form-makingideas that “point the way for the artist in designing the next generation of software”. Roman Verostko is head of the Liberal A r t s departmentat the Minneapolis Collegeof Art and Design. He is interested in using the power of the computer to interact with traditional art ideas for the enrichment of art making. His current project is the illustration (second chapter) of On the I ~ w s o f Thought, by George Boole. This limitededition book, to be published by the Saint Sebastian Press of Minneapolis, Minnesota,will have an original computer-generated work bound as frontispiece, demonstrating the strength and endurance of his expert system. Patric D. Prince 160 WestJaxine Drive Altadena, CA91001 U.S.A. COMMENT ON ART THROUGH 3-D PROJECTION: THE REQUIREMENTS OF A COMPUTER-BASED SUPERMEDIUM” SPATIAL-SYNESTHETI C In commenting on Robert Mallary’s article (Ixonardo23,No.1, 3-16, 1990),I am struck by his concluding statement that “behind all this is the importance I assign to the invention of new art forms and media for expanding the aesthetic and expressive resources of art and the contribution of advancing science and technology to the invention of these new resources ”.This is the seminal issue of the article-that there is a paradigm shift, a crack between two worldviews, a distinction between the industrial technologyof the past century and an advanced sociotechnic culture where people and their machines are in mutually supportive relation. Artists and poets are usually at the edge, the boundary of the unknown, illuminating those aspectsof social change that touch the emotions and the psyche, the heart and soul of a time. Whether cybernetic technologies provide mutual support or launder us of our humanity is the challenge of the present and Robert Mallary’s pioneering work points us in this new direction. Humans have invented new technologies such as paper making or metal working with iron, gold and silver and have used their imaginations to generate the ideas and artifactsthat have endured beyond the lives of their creators. It is this extraordinary capacityof our species, to hold knowledge extrasomatically,outside our genetic code, in culture and language that can be passed between generations , that is at the heart of understanding what it means to be human. Clearly,our species is composed of tool-making animalswith...