A lot has happened lately. I went to a Genetic Algorithm workshop, had some talks with scientists, read a lot about Genetic Algorithms and there are some festivals interested to exposition the sculpture.
Time for me to reconsider the first sketches of the Generative Sculpture and see where it could go. But what exactly is the goal of my sculpture? Is it going to be a research into design where the code will generate several solutions for its shape, color and movement.
Or do I want to give the audience an insight in what happens in when we use genetic and generative algorithms in a design process.
At first I had the idea to make one sculpture which continuously would evolve and grow. But soon I realized that the audience wouldn't see what is happening. The sculpture wouldn't been seen as a generative one and the process that it's undergoing.
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| Two sculptures and computational interaction |
What will happen when I make two sculptures? How will it work, what will the audience see?
The drawing here shows a setup without audience interaction. The two sculptures are evolving and mutating their own way, when one grows stronger the other one tries to mutate to beat the other one.
I like the setup of two sculptures standing opposite of each other. But I wonder or the connection between the two will be seen.
What if I add the option for the audience to choose between the two. Will this give the audience an insight in what is happening? When I make it this way the audience can choose which one of the sculptures is the 'fittest' or esthetically best, most beautiful solution.
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| Two sculptures and human interaction |
The workflow of this idea would be more or less the same except that a human decides which is best.
The two sculptures are mutating, audience decides which 'phenotype' is the best. That sculpture will be the survivor, the other one dies.
The genotype of the survivor copies itself to the sculpture who died.
Now both sculptures are the same again and start mutating again until the audience decides which one is best.
To give an insight in the family tree of this genotype a third column has to be build with an iPad or other touchscreen device.
On this screen the audience can see the genome and they see where mutations happend and/or are happening as well as it's recent history of mutations.
I think that with this setup the audience will see the work his intension and understand to some degree what is happening within evolution and the use of genetic algorithms in design.
genetic organisms