Generative art / music

“Generative art refers to art that has been generated, composed, or constructed in an algorithmic manner through the use of systems defined by computer software algorithms, or similar mathematical or mechanical or randomised autonomous processes.”  This is what you will find as a definition of generative art by Wikipedia. 

Basicly generative media is about constant coding and decoding, it’s also about translation and interpretation, anchoring and drift.  If you allow yourself to see through the medium you will found an underlying structure, an inert recipient of ideas. In my search for some examples of generative art I limited myself to the music scene.  Basic forms of generative music have been existed for quite some time.  Wind chimes are a nice example.  Men have only compositional control in the choice of the notes or pitches, but the actual music or sound is generated by parameters within an ecology, like wind. 

An early example of a generative system based on randomness can be found in the “Musikalisches Würfelspiel” (Musical Dice Game – 1757) by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart.  The idea was to compose a 16-measure “waltz” by using dice to decide which measures to select.  In this piece the measures are numbered from 1 to 176 and these numbers then are arranged in two charts, each consisting of 11 rows and 8 columns.  If the first measure needed to be selected, a player would roll two dice, subtract 1 from the total, and look up the corresponding row in the first column of the first chart to determine the appropriate measure number.  Subsequent rolls of the dice decide which measure to select from each successive column to complete the melody.  Composing by using this system could produce a number of possible waltzes so large that any waltz you generate with the dice and actually play is almost certainly a waltz never heard before. 

Terry Riley’s  In C (1964) is a more recent generative music piece.  Its form was an innovation during that time.  The music is written in C, as the title implies, and consists of 53 separate modules.  Each module contains roughly one measure apiece, but a different musical pattern.  During the performance of the piece one sets the beat onto the piano to keep tempo.  The other musicians, in any number and on any instrument, perform the modules while following some loose guidelines.  The different musical modules interlock in various ways as time goes on.

Enjoy the music!

Barbara