For the past 12 years the Politecnico id Milano University has hosted the Generative Art International Conference. Organized by professors Celestino Soddu and Enrica Colabella, this is a small and friendly conference that allows for a great deal of informal interaction along with the presentation of papers and performances.
Participants come from all over the world and run the gamut representing diverse generative art interests including fine art, scientific research, innovative engineering, literary critical theory, intuitive studio practice, mathematics, education, music, industrial design, computer interface research, art theory and history, and more.
Last December's installment was no less diverse. For example, both Arne Eigenfeldt and Brigid Burke presented generative music systems for live performance. They also performed using those systems as part of the evening program. Eigenfeldt's Kinetic Engine uses a computational multi-agent approach where Burke's "An Enchanted Aisle" takes a more intuitive approach to improvisation. Daniel Bisig and Tatsuo Unemi reported on their continuing work applying performer-aware swarm simulation for realtime use on stage in dance performance.
Structure Synth is an open-source cross-platform system created by Mikael Hvidtfeldt Christensen. It uses a context free design grammar approach for generating complex, and usually surprising, 3D forms. Romain Clair presented work he has done with Nicolas Slimane using generative technologies to allow disabled people to create music and visual art.
Perhaps because it is hosted by an architecture department the Conference typically includes a number of architecture papers. Ebru Ulu presented her work using shape grammar models to generate Islamic geometric patterns. In a related but more metaphorical sense Mounjia Abdeltif explored fractal and symmetry aspects of Algerian heritage architecture. And Mirjana Devetakovic presented Fun3D, a software platform that allows the use of cellular automata in architectural design.
The above are just a few examples of the forty-plus research presentations from the 2009 conference. The conference also included poster sessions and nightly performances exercising generative techniques. All of the papers and performance documentation from this and the 11 preceding years are available for free access at generativeart.com.
