Koi

“Koi” is the result of taking something simple like a static ellipse to a dynamic frame using only copies, rotations and the chance that comes with generating these from a new starting point when clicking.

Technical, aesthetic and conceptual development

Upon meeting the authors proposed by the chair, I decided to focus on the work of women and thus came to the works of Vera Molnár. In an interview she talks about “monotony, symmetry, surprise” to describe her work (brings the idea of ​​a book by Charles Baudelaire) which I really liked because they are not concepts that one thinks can coexist.

Personally, I enjoy simple and symmetrical aesthetics and I never thought I could add an element of “shock” to it, much less through programming. It really seems incredible to me that from a figure, in this case an ellipse, and some functions that allow its copying and rotation, something dynamic, interactive and with infinite variables is generated, so that’s what I decided to do in my work, within a loop that constantly visualizes the multiple possible changes. I added the detail of the grayscale color change because I wanted to include color in some way.

In addition to this author, when watching the 2021 “aesthetics of generative art” class, the work of Ben F. Laposky stood out to me. The sensation of movement from something abstract and generated through a tool used to interpret electrical signals caught my attention and at the same time, certain works remind me of the images that were produced using spirographs and I thought it was a good nod to the “game” that is making art. I like to think that it is version 2.0 of a drawing made in childhood.

In relation to the texts seen in class, I take advantage of what Paul Válery expressed about the ubiquity that he related to music and the power to make each work a totally personal experience with the possibilities of interaction that works made with creative programming allow. Now not only can the works be adapted to the moment that the spectators want, but they can also dialogue with them. We can make a connection here with what was written by José Luis Brea in “Redefinition of artistic practices”: “the transformation of new societies places immaterial work, the production of meaning and affectivity in the foreground”. In this case it is about making the other participate in that significance of the work. According to Brea, this action of “tertiarization” as he defines it, will be the main mode of consumption. In 2008 he was able to visualize practically perfectly what art would be through Internet access and social networks. He says “the power of the image, of ‘visual culture’ in this regard, is almost absolute” so you can think of these interactive works as a conjunction of both ideas.

It also talks about the multiple scenarios that can exist thanks to existing technologies, which give rise to “events”, rather than something ephemeral. Which brings us back to Molnár, who has said about static art, so to speak: “To detect this extraordinary moment, when art happens, we do not have enough time and we force ourselves to perceive it in its entirety, to make millions of variations.” visual”.

“Koi” seeks to be a convergence of everything previously expressed. The simplicity of a figure that through its copy and movement in space generates a work with multiple variations, an event more than an instant.

Literature

BREA, José Luis. (2008). “El tercer umbral”. Murcia: Cendeac.

VÁLERY, Paul. (1928). “La conquista de la ubicuidad”.