This workshop explores generative art and aims at participants who are already familiar with a programming language and interested in exploring their artistic potential. We will examine cellular automata as a framework for generating visual systems, drawing inspiration from well-known models such as Conway's Game of Life.
The workshop combines short explanatory sections, live coding demos, and guided participant exercises. Participants will implement rule-based simulations, experiment with parameter spaces, and transform iterative processes into visually compelling outputs. Throughout the workshop, we will discuss emergence, complexity and the role of controlled randomness in creative coding.
To provide context, the workshop will also introduce key moments in the history and theory of media art. We will briefly connect computational art practices to early generative pioneers, reflecting on how rule-based systems have shaped artistic discourse. This historical and theoretical framework will give participants a deeper understanding of generative art as a cultural and conceptual practice rather than just a technique.
Attendees will leave with practical strategies for structuring generative systems and visualising performance, as well as inspiration to integrate artistic experimentation into their technical work.
- Introduction & Framing: What is generative art? From computation to aesthetics. Set workshop goals, tools, and the final outcome the participants will build.
- Historical & Theoretical Context: Early generative art, rule-based systems, and a brief look at generative systems in media art discourse.
- Cellular Automata Foundations: Grid systems, neighbourhood definitions, rule design, and state transitions. I will demo the first working cellular automaton and show how small rule changes alter behaviour.
- Building the Core Simulation: Participants and I implement the simulation step by step. We create the update loop, define rules, and verify the output at each stage.
- From Simulation to Aesthetics: Mapping states to visual language, introducing colour systems and spatial composition, and demonstrating how iteration becomes an artistic method.
- Guided Creative Lab: Participants develop their own variation on the system. They work independently or in pairs while I circulate, answer questions, and show optional extensions.
- Share-out and Reflection: Participants briefly present results, followed by a closing discussion on artistic intention vs algorithmic autonomy and resources for further study.