American Dream Cycle (Payload)
Attending the Generative Art International Conference, GA2009, at the Politecnico di Milano University, Milan, Italy in December of 2009, I presented in real time, computer code using genetic algorithms which produced images and text that became the basis for a live art performance.
Description & Methods
I used as my source daily quotes from Rush Limbaugh's talk radio show, passing this text to Altavista Image Search. Using a Darwinian model, images are downloaded creating the initial population, their fitness is measured, some die off, others go on to reproduce. The presented images were a selection of multiple generations, and the composite text was read out loud as a collaboration between myself and Rush Limbaugh.
Conclusions
Through simple change, great complexity can develop. What does it mean to be an artist living in a beautiful universe with no maker? This is a contradiction with the tradition of artists making art and design with a specific goal in mind. Evolutionary processes turn this tradition upside down. I had a moment of clarity when I realized that using a genetic algorithm all possible solutions exist in a concepetual matrix of potential combinations. I then began to understand that designs are not created, but discovered. Rules of fitness are an act of aesthetics. Evolutionary art is a revolutionary act.
The computer code used in this performance has since developed into Load Cruft (Limbaugh).