Abstract

Session: Code and Generative Art

The creation of expressive styles for digital art is one of the primary goals in non-photorealistic rendering (NPR). In this paper, we introduce a swarm-based multi-agent system that is capable of producing expressive imagery through the use of multiple bitmap images. At birth, agents in our system are assigned a digital image that represents their aesthetic ideal. As agents move throughout a digital canvas they try to realize their ideal by modifying the pixels in the digital canvas to be closer to the pixels in their aesthetic ideal. When agents with different aesthetic ideals occupy the same canvas, a new image is created through the convergence of their conflicting aesthetic goals. By varying the inputs and parameters of our multi-agent system we were able to emulate a variety of painterly styles including Impressionism, Futurism, Cubism and Montage. The ease of implementation and variety of results created through minor changes in variables and inputs makes a compelling argument for more research using multi-agent systems for NPR.

• Justin Love, University of Victoria, Canada. limbicmedia.ca
• Philippe Pasquier, FR/CA. After studying computer science, artificial intelligence and cognitive sciences in Europe, Canada and Australia, Philippe Pasquier joined Simon Fraser University’s School of Interactive Arts and Technology in January 2008 as an assistant professor. Philippe Pasquier is both a scientist specialized in artificial intelligence and a multi-disciplinary artist. As a scientist, his work has focused on the development of models and tools for endowing machines with autonomous, intelligent or creative behavior. Contributions vary from theoretical research in individual and societal agent theories to applied research in computational creativity. As an artist, he has been acting as a performer, sound designer, composer, producer, jury, committee member and teacher in many different contexts. He is serving or has served as a member or administrator of several artistic collectives (Robonom, Phylm, MIJI), art centers (Avatar, Bus Gallery) and artistic organizations (P: Media art, Machines, Vancouver New Music) in Europe, Canada and Australia. His work has been shown internationally and funded and supported by more than 20 scientific and or cultural institutions including the National Sciences and Engineering Research Council, the Canadia Council for the Arts, the French Ministère de la Culture et de la Communication, the Australian Research Council and the Australian Council for the Arts.   philippepasquier.com/home    metacreation.net    sfu.ca/siat.html
• Brian Wyvill
• George Tzanetakis
• Steve Gibson is a Canadian media artist, curator, and theorist. He completed his Ph.D. at SUNY Buffalo, USA, where he studied music composition with Louis Andriessen. He also completed postdoctoral research in media and technology with Arthur Kroker at Concordia University in Montréal. He currently serves as Reader in Interactive Media Design at Northumbria University, Newcastle, UK. He was curator for the Media Art event Interactive Futures from 2002-07. Simultaneously deeply involved with technology and deeply suspicious of its effects, Gibson’s work celebrates both the liberation and paranoia of techno-fetishism. Influenced by a diverse body of art and popular movements his work fuses electronica, immersive art, game art, montage and post-minimalism. He works in a range of media, from live electronic music to virtual reality installation. Steve Gibson’s installations and compositions have been performed in such venues as: Ars Electronica; the Whitney Museum of American Art; Banff Centre for the Arts; Digital Art Weeks; the European Media Arts Festival; ISEA; Interface3, Hamburg; the San Francisco Art Institute; 4 & 6CyberConf. His work has been published internationally by St. Martin’s Press (US), The MIT Press, New World Perspectives (Canada), Turnaround Productions (UK), Future Publications (UK), Urra Apogeo (Italy), and Passagen Verlag (Austria). He recently co-edited a volume entitled Transdisciplinary Digital Art which was published by Springer (Germany)   in Spring 2008. “Wacoff” Tablet Demo     telebody.ws  grandtheftbicycle.com  

Full text (PDF) p. 1587-1593