This series delves into a glitch style technique called pixel sorting, which is generally known to be used as a post-processing method in photography. Pixel sorting is a procedure that isolates segments of pixels and sorts their positions based on any number of criteria (i.e. luminosity, hue, saturation). 

Assorted Positivity is a generative approach to making pixel sorting art without any photographic base. The algorithm uses several types of noise to generate an initial design, each one unique to the token and specifically conducive to pixel-sorting. The sorting displaces pixels in various directions based on their grayscale value; and hues determine how the sorting ends. Sometimes the sorting lends itself to a sort of drip look and other times it presents itself as depth and shading.

This project was initially influenced by my desire to sort past the ubiquitous negativity online and focus on the positivity, generosity, and genuine thoughtfulness that I have witnessed around this genart space--with collectors, artists, and people who simply appreciate the community.

Integrated into each piece is an uplifting adjective that is visible, yet blended into the art. At a glance, the viewer may not notice the steganographic message that is conveyed by an international visual method of telegraphing words. Each word is one that I imagine being used to describe people in the community, their actions, artists, and/or their work.

Every output brings me joy, and is a reminder to treat others with kindness and positivity.

Watch as the pixels sort themselves out. 

Rendering is best viewed in Chrome on a desktop with a high end GPU.

A portion of the proceeds will go toward the international Make-A-Wish Foundation in the hopes of bringing some joy to critically ill children around the globe.

Assorted Positivity

Disobedience to the rule, precarious balance of eccentric forms, crystallization of a fertile tension between virtual and material reality. 
Here: none of that, whatever it means. 

_D-D-Dots_ is an attempt to abandon all intellectualization and to learn to play again. As Schiller argued, "Man is human only when he plays", because that is when creative imagination is completely unleashed.

In this perspective, our focus shifted from the final result to the acts that generate it. Disregarding any specific purpose, we lost ourselves in stacking, assembling, colouring simple shapes, and then again destroying and rebuilding, just like we used to do in childhood. Fun and discovery in the process were the purpose. 

While playing, the idea of network with its nodes and connections became stronger and stronger, but only in its broadest sense. It could evoke the image of branched-chain amino acids as well as the prototype of a boardgame, or even the complex structure of an entire city, whose elements converse and exchange flows of any kind. The continuous oscillation between abstract and figurative corresponds to the continuous oscillation of meaning, just as it happens in the playful dimension.

We keep interpreting these images differently every time we look at them. In any case, once "work" is done its author disappears, or at least no longer matters. So, what do _you_ see there, instead?

D-D-Dots

An interactive experience inspired by the classic breakout game. Destroy all the orbiting barriers and reach the core, while creating your own unique melody. Controls: Click to start. Left and right arrow keys or Mouse/trackpad to control the baton. P to pause. Look out for power-ups!

celestial cyclones

Aragnation questions preconceived notions of what AI art can be. Does AI art have to be powered by giant neural networks? Do the aesthetics have to be that of photos or paintings or collages of pieces thereof?

Aragnation uses tiny AI models and constructs abstract imagery in the vocabulary of abstract blobs and organic textures rather than pixels. It is playful with colors. It has a hint of a watercolor and art paper aesthetic. 

The training data includes photographs taken by one of the artists, Abhishek.  The generated pieces thus capture, in broad strokes, Abhishek’s photography – nature, landscapes and urban settings.

In a refreshing contrast to the gravity of the role AI technology is playing in content creation and creative expression, Aragnation brings a light and joyful touch to generative AI art. 

No GPUs were harmed in the making of Aragnation. All AI models are entirely different architectures than those commonly used, and have been designed and trained from scratch by the artists.

Aragnation

Augury is a festive collection ranging from vast sorbet-colored landscapes to dense pattern iterations.
 
Augury remixes frames from LoVid’s red, green, and blue (RGB) luminous moving image work. For over two decades, LoVid has been making audiovisual works using custom-built handmade analog video (and audio) synthesizers. In addition to moving-image media, LoVid’s outputs capture stills (frames) from generative video and incorporate these into digital collages, textile designs, wearable works, prints, and more. An essential part of LoVid’s process involves translating signals and experiences from one medium into another. This conversion/interoperability appears critical for living in an interdisciplinary, intermedia, intersectional mixed-reality world.

With Augury, LoVid continues exploring on-chain processes that are inspired by the mechanism and aesthetic of analog synthesis.This collection builds upon LoVid’s first analog video synthesizer-inspired collection: Tide Predictor. Each output in Augury grabs frames from the Tide Predictor algorithm (using a unique new hash) and arranges them on the screen based on a set of instructions, possibilities, and limitations.  The generative compositions in Augury are therefore both procedurally related to and visually reminiscent of quilting, tapestry pattern designs, and tactile weaving. They use visual elements that LoVid often employs in static works: mirroring and repetitive looping, abrupt changes in intensity and detail, overlapping recycled patterns, and a colliding playful mix of lines and signals buzzing in different directions. 

The rules applied in Augury are primarily set around placing variable levels of density on the borders, the edges of the work, creating a sense of dynamic movement and discovery. Focusing the viewer’s gaze outside the center encourages shifts in perspectives, literally and symbolically. Augury is inspired both by the ideas and aesthetics in the Pattern and Decoration (P&D) movement and Glitch art. 

P&D emerged in the 1970s as a response and challenge to a predominantly white male aesthetic that dominated the artworld and historically marginalized art forms and practices of women and people of color. P&D took a feminist approach by shifting the conversation around crafts and decorative arts, placing them on an equal canonic level with western-style paintings. Augury expands this conversation to generative art and challenges hierarchies and relationships to status, economy, and desire. 

Glitch art refers to artifacts that were created by machine error, intentionally or by chance. Glitch as an art form originally emerged as a response to and celebration of loss in signals “fleeting artifacts that momentarily offer a glimpse into the inner workings and complexities of storage, display, and communication technology” (Iman Moradi, 2009). In Augury, LoVid incorporates a color palette, textures, and shapes inspired by both digital glitches and inherently unstable analog outputs. Aesthetically and viscerally, Augury finds beauty in discarded marginal dysfunctionality. 

This collection’s title, Augury, refers to the practice of interpreting omens/predicting the future based on the behavior of birds. Complex systems and environmental signals inspire and require attention. LoVid’s Augury harnesses and embraces this chaos, the turbulent flow of data, to bring you a sweet and colorful feast for the eyes, food for thought and beyond!

Art Blocks Presents

Augury #60

LoVid

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