Escher-style tiling of a plane, gone wrong. Each image spins hash-driven colors, shapes, and symmetries into infinity. Fly through the spiral as it morphs between beauty and madness. Keys: F = Fly through/back, D = Distort on/off, Esc = Stop, S = Save image.

Color Scheme

Palette

Base Color

Outline

Symmetry Type

Shape

Spiral

Inspirals

Ways of knowing...
Ways of seeing…

I can trace the origin of *Pre-Process* back to a Saturday afternoon in 2003 when I was sketching—first on paper, and then with code. I began by drawing circles, then connecting their center points, and then placing the circles in motion as coded animation. At that time, I was focused on *ideas* and not *images*—specifically, on dynamic systems and the ways a set of elements relate to each other within an imagined environment. I was working through questions about how to experience these systems and what might be an ideal (or interesting) way to engage with them. 

The ideas and code from this session later became the core of much of my subsequent work: including the foundation for the *Process* series of software, prints, and installations and the more recent *Process Compendium* works. *Pre-Process* pulls these origin points back into focus, develops them with what I’ve learned in the intervening years, and puts them on the blockchain to be archived. I consider the project a Rosetta Stone for my practice. It asks fundamental questions about the relationships between process and end result, including: Where is the aesthetic focus of a generative system? Is it deep within the code or within the picture the system creates?

Ultimately, *Pre-Process* emphasizes experiencing the origin of the system and then transitioning with it as it seeks, but never finds, equilibrium. The system is built around Element 1, the first that I created for the *Process* series:

*Element 1: Form 1 + Behavior 1 + Behavior 2 + Behavior 3 + Behavior 4
Form 1: Circle
Behavior 1: Move in a straight line
Behavior 2: Constrain to surface
Behavior 3: Change direction while touching another Element
Behavior 4: Move away from an overlapping Element*

*Pre-Process* is the origin of a long journey that I’m still on. It continues to ask essential questions and to encourage me to explore possibilities. Through it, I came to realize that I was ultimately more a picture-maker than a conceptual artist, or, the way I like to think about it,  I’m a “conceptual artist” with a small ‘c.’ I want the energy to be with the system (the ideas) *and* the surface (the picture) in equal measure. More directly, the work exists *between* the instructions, the performance and interpretation of the instructions, and the resulting images.

Pre-Process

_Act of Emotion_ investigates digitally-facilitated abstract expressionism: the act of painting itself as a means of expression, extended into mechanical reach.
A reflection upon the future of automation, machine consciousness, creativity, and humankind’s inevitable consequences. As we await the next leap, we cling desperately to our belief that emotive art is an exclusively human experience. 
Inspired by those that came before—pioneering expressionists and contemporaries alike—the system engages in new methods of painting, free from traditionally accepted physical boundaries and artistic expectations. Action painting for the Connected Age; the system is in perpetual concert, recited in real-time and on-demand. 

Questioned by Colin McCahon, and recontextualised here through a generative lens: 
_How to make a painting beat like, and with, a human heart._
The machine’s movements are precise by default, grounded in mathematics. Organic expression must be introduced by twisting and destabilising; a process of broadening bounds that probes the subconscious of both artist and audience. 

Confrontingly minimal abstract compositions highlight the tension between rigid mechanical precision and fluid human intuition. Striping and stippling, swooping and darting; noisy automatism contrasted with coded instinct. 
Gestural abstraction applied with simulation of brush and emulation of media. Presence discovered through colour, texture, light and space; the works emerge as physically-manifested in digital form. 

Are these painted works analogous to physical counterparts? 
Can a machine successfully emotionally connect through this practice?
Let us consider both the intent and the act that realise a painted artwork.

_“Painting is a state of being. Painting is self-discovery.”_ — Jackson Pollock

# Controls:
- **[spacebar]** Pause/resume exhibit
- **[escape]** Reset exhibit
- **[S]** Export a still image at the current render size
- **_Double Click/Tap_** to provide a human touch

# Automatic:
- Render resolution upscales with viewport dimensions. Future exhibits will enhance alongside hardware advance. 
- Playback cadence is hardware-dependent and downscales when limited by hardware. 
- "**Perpetual**" tokens continue their performance indefinitely

# Printing:

Generatively signed giclée print renditions available up to 36x48" / A0.

Act of Emotion

The starting gun goes💥, and its happening. Packs of racers, proudly sporting their team colors, are competing in the race of their lives. Some are going for it. Others can't really be bothered. But you know this is where the action is at. Absolute drama around every corner. Who will be victorious, and who will stumble. Take a better look at the group by touch/click dragging the scene.

Geometry Runners

Memories define us. Made of countless fragments, they are an ever-changing snapshot of our past. Frammenti is a digital explosion of life, inspired by our most personal treasures.

Art Blocks Curated

Inspirals

Radix

About Inspirals

Radix

Algorithmic edition of 1000

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About Inspirals

Radix

Algorithmic edition of 1000

Additional details

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Kelly Milligan

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