Generator.x: Introduction (original) (raw)
Generator.x: Introduction
Generator.x is a curatorial platform exploring the use of generative strategies and software processes in digital art, architecture and design. It focuses on a new generation of artists and designers who embrace code as a way of producing new forms of creative expression.
Computational strategies are having an impact in many creative fields. Generator.x was set up to examine the following topics in particular:
- Generative aesthetics: How can generative strategies successfully be applied to aesthetic problems? Whether the aim is provide a design solution or simply to explore the dynamic qualities of a given system, the process requires translating intuitive creative choices into rules and machine-readable code. What are the criteria for an interesting solution, what parameters and boundary conditions can be manipulated to produce satisfying results?
- Designing processes: A computational approach to design changes static objects into dynamic processes. What implications does this have for design and architecture, whether used for analysis, aesthetic expression or information visualization?
- Performative software: Musicians and visual performers are using generative systems to create custom software instruments for live performance, as well as to produce direct synaesthetic mappings between sound and image. How can a software instrument approach the complexity and expressive range of a physical instrument that has been perfected over centuries?
- Software by creatives for creatives: Artists and designers are increasingly creating their own software to meet special needs not covered by commercial packages, sharing their results as Open Source.
Generator.x history
Generator.x was founded by Marius Watz in 2005 to produce a conference and touring exhibition, supported Atelier Nord, The National Museum of Art, Architecture and Design and Rikskonsertene. The Generator.x blog went online in May 2005.
Since its inception the project has grown to include a concert series, lectures and other events. In 2008 Generator.x will collaborate with Club Transmediale and [DAM] Berlin to produce Generator.x 2.0: Beyond the Screen, a workshop and exhibition about generative systems and digital fabrication.