Vol 1 - Issue 1

Art and Science

List of Articles

Perceptions, and the interplay of visual perceptions in particular, are fundamental to Margaret Duras’ novel Le Ravissement de Lol V. Stein.1 The author skillfully guides the reader to follow Lol’s own gaze as she desperately tracks both her former lover and the woman whose gaze had enraptured him, diverting him away from Lol. Tracking these characters, the reader in turn "loses track", and merges with the act of reading itself. We consider the analogous situation in quantum mechanics, in which the observer becomes part of the observed system. Starting from this postulate
enunciated by Niels Bohr, we revisit the function and operation of visual perception from a phenomenological point of view, with reference to the notions of superposition of states, complementarity, entanglement, symmetry and symmetry breaking, as they are defined in quantum mechanics. This reading of the novel is thus at the critical junction of literature, human sciences and natural sciences.

The aim of this study is to generate artistic images, such as digital mosaics, as an optimisation problem without the introduction of any a priori knowledge or constraint other than an input image. The usual practice to produce digital mosaic images heavily relies on Centroidal Voronoi diagrams. We demonstrate here that it can be modelled as an optimisation problem solved using a cooperative co-evolution strategy based on the Parisian evolution approach, the Fly algorithm. An individual is called a fly. Its aim of the algorithm is to optimise the position of infinitely small 3-D points (the flies). The Fly algorithm has been initially used in real-time stereo vision for robotics. It has also demonstrated promising results in image reconstruction for tomography. In this new application, a much more complex representation has been study. A y is a tile. It has its own position, size, colour, and rotation angle. Our method takes advantage of graphics processing units (GPUs) to generate the images using the modern OpenGL Shading Language (GLSL) and Open Computing Language (OpenCL) to compute the difference between the input image and simulated image. Different types of tiles are implemented, some with transparency, to generate different visual effects, such as digital mosaic and spray paint. An online study with 41 participants has been conducted to compare some of our results with those generated using an open source software for image manipulation. It demonstrates that our method leads to more visually appealing images.

This artistic project originated as an experiment undertaken to analyse the mental imagery the brain
uses for the expression of emotions on a formal, conceptual and iconographic level.
In the interest of understanding the nature of creativity in human beings as a tool that favours innovation and the ability
to rediscover ourselves, it is considered essential to dive into its waters, in order to generate new approaches, and to
pave new paths, transcending what has been experienced in the world of visual arts until now. After two prior
experiments, we decided to approach this knowledge applying new premises. As in previous projects, we
contemplated the Artificial Intelligence screen, more specifically, pondering Evolutionary Algorithms (EAs) because
these deal with a technique that is linked more directly to biological processes1 than traditional computing techniques,
to draw out everything possible on the subject.
In this area we have adopted as constructive cornerstones towards a new form of creation:
– Connected art.
– Shared authorship.
– The community of artists.
– Interaction with the work.

This paper provides technical and conceptual information on a swarm art project called Sleep Paintings.
The project consists of a series of colour images generated by an ant-based clustering algorithm operating with sleep
data sets extracted from electroencephalogram (EEG) signals. The algorithm was originally proposed for clustering and
classification and is described by a simple set of equations that model the local behavior of artificial ants (data samples)
in a way that, when travelling on a heterogeneous 2-dimensional lattice of vectors, they form clusters of similar data
samples, while changing the vectors of the environmental lattice. The 2-dimensional colored abstract sketches of human
sleep described in the paper result from the visualization of the lattice.

The artistic project Emergilience intend to explore the conditions for shape emergence due to self-organised
phenomena. To do that, we start from computer models modeling biological studied behaviors such as for instance,
Predator-Prey interactions to watch the system being self-organized in a process of temporal evolution and finally
stabilized by acquiring new properties. The use of modeling processes makes possible the exploration of a range of
individual and local behaviors rules leading to the emergence of collective and global phenomena reporting on more or
less stable relational states. Afterwards, internal disturbances are generated which allow to test how is the resilience
capacity of the system. The visualization is made by the means of 2D computer graphics animations considered as
preparatory sketches for a more accomplished work in the form of digital "dynamic painting-systems", robotic sculptures,
light projections or performances.

The Art Beings series was initiated in 2002 on the simple principle of considering populations to be artificial as an organic material in a digital work.
Throughout the series, we have created evolutionary ecosystems, based on the use of genetic algorithms. These evolving populations of virtual entities, which can be pixels (2D), vertices (3D), frames of animation (4D), and so on.
This work of Research-Creation aims at exploring new ways of creation, mixing the principles of artificial life with those of digital creation. The latest in the series are the Fractal Beings, which are created from a genetic exploration of the world of fractals.