Generative art is a new kind of medium where man and machine meet. Generative art is a strand of contemporary new media art that involves the use of new technologies in the creative process. Most frequently, artists use artificial intelligence and computer programmes for their works. These programmes dictate the final appearance of the artwork.
Generative art is defined as art that has been created partly or entirely by an autonomous computing system, such as AI engine. Those systems may create a painting, a visualization, a piece of music or literature. The main characteristic of generative art is that those programmes embody the artist – sometimes completely, sometimes partially.
Generative art has its roots in the experiments of the avant-garde of the first half of the 20th century. The experiences of chaos and unfettered expression of Surrealism or Dadaism were important points for the development of generative art, but it was not until the 1950s that the first serious attempts were made to create art using analogue machines. Interestingly, the first attempts were made by artists and designers – scientists did not tackle the subject until a decade later, but they had a much more substantial and powerful arsenal of computing machines at their disposal.
The popularization of the subject came in the 1970s, when the concept of generative art was referred to abstract geometric art, in which simple elements overlapped, multiplied and created increasingly complex patterns.
Today, generative art is a thriving new medium. Artists working in this medium include Vickie Vainionpää or Rafael Lozano-Hemmer.
Today, generative art is a great challenge and a fascinating branch of contemporary artists' work. Generative art forces the artist to reflect on their relationship with art, and takes the viewer out of the comfort of cognition, requiring him or her to confront his or her own beliefs about how art is made. At Artbidy, we want to support innovators and visionaries, so we invite all artists working in this medium to collaborate with us.
