JOHN MCCORMACK +
NEW THURSDAY CLUB EVENTS @ GOLDSMITHS
JOHN MCCORMACK, Co-director, Centre for Electronic Media Arts, Monash University (Australia) :: Thursday September 7th, 2006 at 6-8pm in the Lecture Theatre, Ben Pimlott Building, Goldsmiths, University of London, New Corss, SE14 6NW :: FREE, ALL ARE WELCOME.
SIMULATION, SYSTEMS, ARTIFICE: In this talk I will give an overview of how I have used generative processes as a creative system. My aim is to enable new modes of creative expression with computation that are unique to the medium. Most existing software tools borrow their operational metaphor from existing creative practices: for example Photoshop uses the metaphor of a photographer’s darkroom; 3D animation systems borrow from theatre, film and conventional cell animation. In a tool with an oeuvre as diverse as the modern digital computer, one would hope that computation itself as a medium might have things to offer that are not based on metaphors borrowed from other media. I will illustrate some possibilities using the software systems I have developed over the last 15 years and the creative works that I have produced with them. These works include: Turbulence: an interactive museum of unnatural history (1994); Eden an evolutionary ecosystem (2000-2005) and the Morphogenesis series of evolved forms (2002-2006). Examination of these works will be placed in a philosophical framework and historical context. I will also discuss some possibilities for future development of generative software based on these ideas. Continue reading