Casi Cuadrado

This work, inspired by Vera Molnar’s piece, explores beauty in chaos through an algorithmic process. Through the iteration of a simple figure and the introduction of a random variable, the work seeks to generate a visual composition that generates itself, moving away from the traditional notion of the “artist’s hand.” It is conceived as a system that produces its own results, where the role of the creator is focused only on the creation of the rules and the environment, rather than on the manual execution of each piece.

Technical, aesthetic and conceptual development

From a technical point of view, the work is a piece of generative art. It uses a programming environment to define a set of rules (an algorithm) that govern the position and movement of figures. The code, instead of being a representation of a pre-existing idea, becomes the work itself, or, as Brea would say, the “practice” that produces circulatory effects of meaning. Aesthetically, it is characterized by repetition and variation. The main figure, a simple geometric shape (incomplete square), is duplicated and moves in space with a set speed, generating a dynamic pattern that constantly changes.

The theoretical connection of the work is nourished by two texts by José Luis Brea. In “Redefinition of artistic practices (S. 21)”, Brea states that “there are no longer ‘artists’, as such. There are only producers, people who produce.” This work is inspired by this idea, since the code not only produces the image, but also produces the “people” that interact with the system. Just as intellectual work produces the subject, the algorithm produces the aesthetic experience. On the other hand, the piece deals with the concept of “computer art” which, according to Brea in her “Brief (and messy) anti-glossary…”, “has died” because it has failed to contribute real findings to the tradition of self-criticism. My work seeks to distance itself from this conception, not to “resurrect” computer art, but to propose an approach where programming art focuses on the creation of living systems, or “operators” that destabilize the balance, instead of merely producing synthetic images.

The main artistic reference is, without a doubt, Vera Molnar, mainly the work “74,066/13.30.37, 1974” which I take as a reference and the generative art movement, of which she is a pioneer. His work, which used computers to explore randomness and abstraction, is the conceptual and visual basis of this piece. Molnar showed that machines are not just tools, but can be creative partners in exploring new forms of expression.

Literature

-BREA, José Luis. (2008). “Redefinición de las prácticas artísticas (s. 21)” en El tercer umbral. Estatuto de las prácticas artísticas en la era del capitalismo cultural. Murcia: CENDEAC, pp. 106-113. -BREA, José Luis. (2002). “Breve (y desordenado) antiglosario –o diccionario de tópicos- sobre el arte electrónico” en La era postmedia. Acción comunicativa, prácticas (post)artísticas y dispositivos neomediales. Salamanca: CASA Editorial, pp. 4-8. -https://ropac.net/artists/231-vera-molnar/works/12819-vera-molnar-molndrian-74-066-13.30.37-1974/