Page 25 - Studio-International-January-1974

then the line as a whole will be more 'controlled'. employ. Certainly no such claim will be made type of distributions of the digits are both
How does the programme 'decide' on new for the programme I am about to describe. critical factors in determining the complexity of
factors for each new sub-phase ? The ranges This programme is one of a series in which the drawing. Under studio conditions I have
permissible for each factor are precisely the principal strategy is devised in relation to an varied these factors myself, but for a recent
determined in relation to what the range was `environment' which the programme sets up for exhibition I wrote an executive programme
last time, indicating another level of feedback. itself. An example would be one in which the which took over that task : and under its control
Within that range, the machine makes a random programme first designs, and then runs, a the machine produced almost three hundred
choice. maze: the resultant drawing being simply the drawings during the four weeks it was in the
There seems to be so much popular path generated by the machine in performing museum. These varied from a few squiggly
misunderstanding about the nature of the second part. In the present programme, the lines to quite complex drawings, from a single
randomness that a word might be said on the environment is a rectangular grid of small cells, large image to anything up to twelve small ones
subject before going further. Contrary to into which are distributed sets of digits (Fig xi.) on a page; and they required no human
popular belief, there is no way of asking the The strategy adopted in the second part
from there seeking to
machine to draw 'at random', and if you try to involves starting at a
specify what you mean by drawing 'at random' draw a line to a '2', then to a '3' and so on. The
you will quickly see that what you have in mind digits are considered as a continuous set, '1o'
is a highly organized and consistent behavioural being followed by `I', so that but for three
pattern, in which some decisions are things the programme would continue
unimportant provided they are within a indefinitely. The first is that no digit may be
specified range of possibilities. This is used as a destination more than once, and since
characteristic of directed human behaviour : if a digit is also cancelled if a line goes through its
you plan to rent a car, you will probably be cell, the number of destinations steadily
concerned that it should be safe, that its size and reduces, and the programme terminates. The
power will be appropriate to your needs. You second is that a destination will not be selected
probably won't care too much what colour it is, if getting to it involves crossing an existing line,
and in being prepared to take whatever comes so that finding a destination becomes more
you are making a `random choice' of colour: difficult as the drawing proceeds. And the third
although you probably know it isn't likely to be is that there are certain 'preferences' operating
iridescent pink, matte black, or chromium in choosing between those destinations
plated. The same might be said — though with recognized by the machine as viable. As a
much narrower limits — of the painter who tells consequence of these constraints, the machine
his assistant to 'paint it red'; or indeed will eventually find itself unable to continue to
the painter who uses dirty brushes to mix the next digit, and it will then back up to the
his paint. They are all examples of making previous digit on its part and attempt to go on
a random choice within specified (or again from there. The drawing will be complete
assumed) limits. In fact the computer when the back-up procedure has taken it all the
generates random numbers between zero way back to the original
and one, which must then be scaled up to Now it is possible, by manipulating the
limits specified by the user's programme. factors controlling the machine's `preferences' —
You might consider that, in human terms, I will say more about those in a moment — and
these limits will be narrow where precise by appropriately setting various other factors, to
definition is required, wide where it is not. produce a very wide range of characteristics
For the computer, the existence of limiting in the drawings produced. For example, the
ranges rather than specified values will result in number of cells in the grid and the number and
the possibility of an infinite number of family-
related images being produced rather than a
single image made over and over again. There
might be some difficulty in demonstrating the
case to be otherwise for the artist.
While it would seem obvious that any
complex purposeful behaviour must make use
of feedback systems, there is no suggestion
that such systems alone can account adequately
for the behaviour. Moreover the ability to
satisfy some given purpose, as the 'freehand'
line generator does in homing on its destination,
accounts for only slightly more. The formulation
of the purpose is something else: and we would
expect to find in human art-making behaviour
not only a whole spectrum of purpose-fulfilling
activities, but also a spectrum of purpose-
formulating activities. If I am to pursue my
enquiry, I must now try to demonstrate the
possibility of such a structure occurring in
machine behaviour, although the strategies
employed within the structure may or may not
correspond to the strategies the artist might Figures 11, 12
IS