Generative Aesthetics

I've recently become a little bit obsessed with Brian Eno and Peter Chilvers' iPhone app Trope. This beautiful little piece of generative software demonstrates a concept that Eno especially had admitted to have been fascinated by for a long time... the idea that complexity can arise from simplistic systems. In this case, potentially infinite harmonic patterns can be triggered by the most basic programming; as basic as a single touch on the screen.

Its appeal lies not only in its capacity to stroke the ego of the non-musician but also in the mesmerising, almost hypnotic formations, both sonic and visual, that come to life after activation. Many people have used generative software in the past to explore the possibilities of digital evolution in art but very few have every produced anything that is genuinely aesthetically pleasing.

And so, as a back nod to my previous post, I'd like to begin looking at aesthetic fulfilment as part Darwinian means to an end but also as an end in itself. An area of our lives that probably governs our decisions in more ways that we could be possibly ever be aware; and becomes centrally important as an enriching and life-affirming principle when we concede that free-will is at best illusory... and almost certainly totally redundant.

In the case of Trope, and other generative programmes, we are watching evolution take place before our eyes and ears in the digital realm and we feel instantly attuned to its progress, if unaware of the intricacies of the processes running in the background; and thus unable to predict what will happen next. In this way, we feel passive, even dumb; but we feel comfortable.

I would like to propose that such windows into the live arena of natural selection are beneficial for us as we begin to surrender our beliefs in the mystic and replace them with full conviction in the biological. We may be unable to see the wholeness of the picture but we can remain absolutely unconvinced in the involvement of an intelligent designer.

It is good for us to interact with chaotic generation and engage with it, even if we don't yet have the tools to decipher every branch of the real-time coding that underpins it. With new technology like Trope, and its sister application Air, and we are given the chance to develop a new aesthetic appreciation of the art of bits... as they swarm and cluster, as they mutate, as they replicate, as they form new configurations within deterministic and indifferent environments.

As Brian Eno said, speculating on the future of generative music:

"The works I have made with this system symbolise, to me, the beginning of a new era of music. Until a hundred years ago, every musical event was unique: music was ephemeral and unrepeatable, and even classical scoring couldn't guarantee precise duplication. Then came the gramophone record, which captured particular performances, and made it possible to hear them identically, over and over again.

But now, there are three alternatives: live music, recorded music, and generative music. Generative music enjoys some of the benefits of both its ancestors. Like live music, it is always different. Like recorded music, it is free of time-and-place limitations — you can hear it when and where you want.

I really think it is possible that our grandchildren will look at us in wonder and say: 'You mean you used to listen to exactly the same thing over and over again?' "