Editing Generative art (section)

== History ==

The use of the word "generative" in the discussion of art has developed over time. The use of "[[Artificial DNA]]" defines a generative approach to art focused on the construction of a system able to generate unpredictable events, all with a recognizable common character. The use of [[autonomous robot|autonomous systems]], required by some contemporary definitions, focuses a generative approach where the controls are strongly reduced. This approach is also named "emergent". [[Margaret Boden]] and Ernest Edmonds have noted the use of the term "generative art" in the broad context of automated [[computer graphics]] in the 1960s, beginning with artwork exhibited by [[Georg Nees]] and [[Frieder Nake]] in 1965:<ref name="Boden">{{cite journal |author1=Boden, Margaret |author2=Edmonds, Ernest |author1-link=Margaret Boden |url=https://www.researchgate.net/publication/233128802 |title=What is Generative Art? |journal=Digital Creativity |date=2009 |volume=20 |issue=1/2 |pages=21–46|doi=10.1080/14626260902867915 |s2cid=28266287 }}</ref> A. Michael Noll did his initial computer art, combining randomness with order, in 1962,<ref>"Patterns by 7090," Bell Telephone Laboratories Technical Memorandum, TM-62-1234-14, August 28, 1962, by A. Michael Noll.</ref> and exhibited it along with works by Bell Julesz in 1965.<ref>"The Howard Wise Gallery Show (1965): A 50th-Anniversary Memoir," LEONARDO, Vol. 49, No. 3 (June 2016), pp. 232-239.</ref>

 {{blockquote | The  terms  "generative art"  and  "computer  art"  have been  used  in  tandem,  and  more  or  less interchangeably, since the very earliest days.<ref name="Boden" />}}

The first such exhibition showed the work of Nees in February 1965, which some claim was titled "Generative Computergrafik".<ref name="Boden" /> While Nees does not himself remember, this was the title of his doctoral thesis published a few years later.<ref name=Nake12>{{cite web |last=Nake |first=Frieder |title=Georg Nees: Generative Computergrafik |url=http://dada.compart-bremen.de/node/3280 |publisher=University of Bremen |access-date=19 August 2012 |archive-date=15 March 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110315195552/http://dada.compart-bremen.de/node/3280 |url-status=dead }}</ref> The correct title of the first exhibition and catalog was "computer-grafik".<ref>Ness, Georg; Bense, Max: ''computer-grafik''; Edition Rot 19; Stuttgart, 1965.</ref> "Generative art" and related terms was in common use by several other early computer artists around this time, including [[Manfred Mohr]]<ref name="Boden" /> and [[Ken Knowlton]]. [[Vera Molnár]] (born 1924) is a French media artist of Hungarian origin. Molnar is widely considered to be a pioneer of generative art, and is also one of the first women to use computers in her art practice. 

The term "Generative Art" with the meaning of dynamic artwork-systems able to generate multiple artwork-events was clearly used the first time for the "Generative Art" conference in Milan in 1998. The term has also been used to describe geometric [[abstract art]] where simple elements are repeated, transformed, or varied to generate more complex forms. Thus defined, generative art was practiced by the Argentinian artists [[Eduardo Mac Entyre]] and Miguel Ángel Vidal in the late 1960s. In 1972 the Romanian-born [[Paul Neagu]] created the Generative Art Group in Britain. It was populated exclusively by Neagu using aliases such as "Hunsy Belmood" and "Edward Larsocchi". In 1972 Neagu gave a lecture titled 'Generative Art Forms' at the [[Queen's University, Belfast]] Festival.<ref>Osborne, Harold, ed. ''The Oxford Companion to Twentieth-Century Art'', Oxford; New York: Oxford University Press</ref><ref>Walker, J. A. ''Glossary of art, architecture, and design since 1945 (3rd ed.)'', London; Boston: Library Association Publishing; G.K. Hall.</ref>

In 1970 the [[School of the Art Institute of Chicago]] created a department called  ''[[Generative Systems: Art, Science and Technology|Generative Systems]]''. As described by [[Sonia Landy Sheridan]] the focus was on art practices using the then new technologies for the capture, inter-machine transfer, printing and transmission of images, as well as the exploration of the aspect of time in the transformation of image information. Also noteworthy is [[John Dunn (software developer)|John Dunn]],<ref>{{cite web |title=Memories from Sonia Sheridan |url=http://geneticmusic.com/JohnDunn/SoniaSheridan.htm |publisher=Geneticmusic.com |access-date=17 June 2021}}</ref>  first a student and then a collaborator of Sheridan.<ref>Sheridan, Sonia Landy. ''Generative Systems versus Copy Art: A Clarification of Terms and Ideas'', Leonardo, 16(2), 1983.</ref>

In 1988 Clauser<ref>Clauser, H. R. ''Towards a Dynamic, Generative Computer Art'', Leonardo, 21(2), 1988.</ref> identified the aspect of systemic autonomy as a critical element in generative art:

 {{blockquote | It should be evident from the above description of the evolution of generative art that process (or structuring) and change (or transformation) are among its most definitive features, and that these features and the very term 'generative' imply dynamic development and motion.

(the result) is not a creation by the artist but rather the product of the generative process - a self-precipitating structure. }}

In 1989 Celestino Soddu defined the Generative Design approach to Architecture and Town Design in his book ''Citta' Aleatorie''.<ref>Soddu, C.  Citta' Aleatorie, Masson Publisher 1989 "[http://www.artscience-ebookshop.com/cittaaleatorie_book.htm]"</ref>

In 1989 Franke referred to "generative mathematics" as "the study of mathematical operations suitable for generating artistic images."<ref>Franke, H. W.''Mathematics As an Artistic-Generative Principle'', Leonardo, Supplemental Issue, 1989.</ref>

From the mid-1990s [[Brian Eno]] popularized the terms [[generative music]] and generative systems, making a connection with earlier [[experimental music]] by [[Terry Riley]], [[Steve Reich]] and [[Philip Glass]].<ref>Eno, B. ''[http://www.inmotionmagazine.com/eno1.html Generative Music]'', In Motion Magazine</ref>

From the end of the 20th century, communities of generative artists, designers, musicians and theoreticians began to meet, forming cross-disciplinary perspectives.
The first meeting about generative Art was in 1998, at the inaugural International Generative Art conference at Politecnico di Milano University, Italy.<ref>Soddu, C. and Colabella, E. ed.s "[http://www.artscience-ebookshop.com/ga98_book.htm Generative Art]", Dedalo</ref> 
In Australia, the Iterate conference on generative systems in the electronic arts followed in 1999.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.csse.monash.edu.au/~iterate/FI/index.html|title = First Iteration Home Page}}</ref>
On-line discussion has centered around the eu-gene mailing list,<ref>{{cite web |url=http://generative.net/mailman/listinfo/eu-gene |title=Eu-gene Info Page |access-date=2012-08-22 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120727083144/http://generative.net/mailman/listinfo/eu-gene |archive-date=2012-07-27 }}</ref> which began late 1999, and has hosted much of the debate which has defined the field.<ref name="Galanter2003">Philip Galanter [http://philipgalanter.com/downloads/ga2003_what_is_genart.pdf ''What is Generative Art? Complexity theory as a context for art theory''], 2003 International Conference on Generative Art</ref>{{rp|1}}  These activities have more recently been joined by the [https://web.archive.org/web/20170110174746/http://www.generatorx.no/generatorx-introduction/ Generator.x] conference in Berlin starting in 2005.
In 2012 the new journal GASATHJ, Generative Art Science and Technology Hard Journal was founded by Celestino Soddu and Enrica Colabella<ref>[http://www.gasathj.com GASATHJ]</ref> jointing several generative artists and scientists in the editorial board.

Some have argued that as a result of this engagement across disciplinary boundaries, the community has converged on a shared meaning of the term.  As Boden and Edmonds<ref name="Boden" /> put it in 2011:

{{blockquote | Today, the term "Generative Art" is still current within the relevant artistic community. Since 1998 a series of conferences have been held in Milan with that title (Generativeart.com), and Brian Eno has been influential in promoting and using generative art methods (Eno, 1996). Both in music and in visual art, the use of the term has now converged on work that has been produced by the activation of a set of rules and where the artist lets a computer system take over at least some of the decision-making (although, of course, the artist determines the rules).}}

In the call of the Generative Art conferences in Milan (annually starting from 1998), the definition of Generative Art by Celestino Soddu:

{{blockquote | Generative Art is the idea realized as genetic code of artificial events, as construction of dynamic complex systems able to generate endless variations. Each Generative Project is a concept-software that works producing unique and non-repeatable events, like music or 3D Objects, as possible and manifold expressions of the generating idea strongly recognizable as a vision belonging to an artist / designer / musician / architect /mathematician.<ref>[http://www.generativeart.com Generative Art]</ref>}}

Discussion on the eu-gene mailing list was framed by the following definition by [[Adrian Ward (artist)|Adrian Ward]] from 1999:

{{blockquote | Generative art is a term given to work which stems from concentrating on the processes involved in producing an artwork, usually (although not strictly) automated by the use of a machine or computer, or by using mathematic or pragmatic instructions to define the rules by which such artworks are executed.<ref>[https://web.archive.org/web/20000901084825/http://www.generative.net/mailman/listinfo/eu-gene eu-gene mailing list welcome page]</ref>}}

A similar definition is provided by Philip Galanter:<ref name="Galanter2003" />
{{blockquote | Generative art refers to any art practice where the artist creates a process, such as a set of natural language rules, a computer program, a machine, or other procedural invention, which is then set into motion with some degree of autonomy contributing to or resulting in a completed work of art.}}

[[File:Astronaut Riding a Horse Picasso and Juan Gris (FLUX 1.1 Pro).webp|thumb|An image generated by [[Flux (text-to-image model)|Flux]] using the prompt <code>an astronaut riding a horse, by [[Picasso]] and [[Juan Gris]]</code>. Generative image models are adept at imitating the visual style of particular artists in their training set, prompting a backlash from some artists who object to having imitations of their style generated on a massive scale without their permission.]]
Around the 2020s, generative AI models learned to imitate the distinct style of particular authors. For example, a generative image model such as [[Stable Diffusion]] is able to model the stylistic characteristics of an artist like [[Pablo Picasso]] (including his particular brush strokes, use of colour, perspective, and so on), and a user can engineer a prompt such as "an astronaut riding a horse, by Picasso" to cause the model to generate a novel image applying the artist's style to an arbitrary subject. Generative image models have received significant backlash from artists who object to their style being imitated without their permission, arguing that this harms their ability to profit from their own work.<ref name=crs>{{cite web
|title=Generative Artificial Intelligence and Copyright Law
|date=24 February 2023
|last=Zirpoli|first=Christopher T.
|publisher=Congressional Research Service
|url=https://crsreports.congress.gov/product/pdf/LSB/LSB10922
}}</ref>