While watching Casey Reas’s video on chance operation, I found the idea of using chance operation to infuse randomness into an otherwise ridged practice of programing remarkable. Nature is the mother of randomness, so I found the idea of combining randomness and programing to create art compelling.
Casey’s quote, attributing machines as instruments of state control, resonated with me; this perspective was not something I had considered before. The utilization of randomness in creating art emerges as a reaction to the historical backdrop of the second World War. This transformation of machines from tools of control to instruments fostering unique, unpredictable artistic expressions intrigued me deeply. Thus, creating art using randomness is making something of an entirely different nature.
The concept of creating something of an entirely different nature through randomness in art challenges conventional notions. Chance operations in music redefine the boundaries of creativity, offering a departure from the controlled and predictable, emphasizing the individuality of each performance, both for the composer and the listener.
The notion of a book filled with a million random digits struck me as amusing, reflecting the technical constraints of the era it originated from. In those times, it was a necessity to have such a compilation for various applications. However, the landscape of randomness has evolved with the advent of modern mathematics, particularly through the development of pseudorandom functions. This progress has rendered the need for a physical book of a million random digits obsolete.
Amidst the evolution of generating randomness, there are also inventive methods that capture one’s imagination. Personally, I find Cloudflare’s lavalamp wall to be a fascinating and creative approach. The utilization of the unpredictable movements of liquid in lavalamps to generate random data adds a touch of artistry to the otherwise technical realm of randomness. The video highlighted how randomness could be harnessed to create art, but it’s equally fascinating to observe how art, in turn, contributes to the realm of randomness.