DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.14236/ewic/eva2014.5
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Free subjective choices and selections form an inevitable part of the practice of algorithmic based
design and art works. Notably, this aspect of decisions made by practitioners has featured in
generative art and design literature, yet, has remained obscure and has not been critically
discussed. In this paper I will examine artists' and designers' selections through three case studies
representing different typologies of decision processes. The philosophical aspect of these
decisions will be elaborated following Wittgenstein's paradox and the critical argument made by
philosophers Jacques Bouveresse and Charles Taylor in that no rule, no matter how explicit and
unambivalent can ever really determine its own application. The actual implementation of rule
systems, therefore, is a practice in itself, one that entails finely tuned interpretations, as well as
arbitrary and intuitive choices.
Finally, I will argue that this relates to what Heidegger later observed to be the original meaning of
creative making, referring to the Greek word 'Poiesis', where the thoughtful aspect of the work and
the poetic one are united in a non-separated praxis. Similar to the practice made by oulipo poets
who use rule systems to enhance the creative engine of their work, I will argue that these decisions
can potentially transform the practice of generative art and design to that of Poiesis in its original
meaning: the free play and improvised confrontations with ever renewed unfolding situations, that
eventually can lead to liberation from the rules themselves.
Generative art. Selection. Poiesis. Creativity.
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1. INTRODUCTION
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2.1 The typology of rule selection: the
Serpentine Gallery 2002, London, Toyo Ito
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Figure 1: Explorations of Several Algorithmic Iterations:
Cecil Balmond with Toyo Ito, The Serpentine Gallery
Pavilion, 2002, London. Image Source: Arup AGU
Figure 2: Cecil Balmond with Toyo Ito, The Serpentine
Gallery, London, 2002. Image: ARUP AGU
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2.2 The typology of intuitive-arbitrary
selection: Frieder Nake's Random Polygon,
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