I never understood the randomness argument against art. Wasn't there a lot of randomness in Pollock's use of paint on his canvases?
Also, one can extend this thinking to argue that gardens (or mazes) cannot be a piece of art since plants grow by themselves, and it is (to some point) unpredictable. Even in studio photography, there are myriads of random effects - the only way to make a computer image perfectly deterministically is to set RGB to each single pixel manually.
> the only way to make a computer image perfectly deterministically is to set RGB to each single pixel manually.
You don’t need to do it manually. A quick and dirty example is to have each pixel’s colour depend on its position on the canvas. Instant gradient, perfectly deterministic, yet you can still be surprised by the colours.
function setup() {
createCanvas(256, 256);
noLoop()
noStroke()
}
function draw() {
for (i = 0; i < 256; i++) {
for (j = 0; j < 256; j++) {
fill(i, j, i)
rect(i, j, 1, 1)
}
}
}
Play with the fill. Make it, e.g. `fill(i, j, 180)` or `fill(i, j, sin(j) * 200)`. Perfectly deterministic and automatic, yet the result can still be unexpected.
Also, one can extend this thinking to argue that gardens (or mazes) cannot be a piece of art since plants grow by themselves, and it is (to some point) unpredictable. Even in studio photography, there are myriads of random effects - the only way to make a computer image perfectly deterministically is to set RGB to each single pixel manually.