Amazing Examples of Computer Generated Art

More than two decades ago I was introduced to a concept called hypertext which enabled a person to read a series of pages in non-sequential order. It was a Mac world thing at that time. Then, I discovered the Internet, and it's infinite array of possibilities. You can start at any page, and keep clicking and moving and never come back to that same page again, forever. (This is why you need to bookmark pages sometimes.)

I find Twitter especially fascinating because at any given moment you have oodles of suggestions regarding places to go, things to explore on the web. Using tools like TinyURL or Bit.Ly you can compact long addresses into very brief scripts so as to stay under the 140 character limit of a Tweet.

Because of size of the community, there are all kinds of people on Twitter, with all kinds of interests from art to zoos, writing to programming, marketing and making money to real estate sales. So, when you open the page there are these people perpetually sharing quotes, thoughts and usually links to somewhere else. This is how I stumbled up the following link to Smashing Magazine.

If you follow the link you will find 45 amazing examples of code generated, algorithmic abstract artworks and CG artworks. The title of the piece at the top of this page by Mark Knol is Generative War which the legend says was created with actionscript. A fast Internet connection is helpful because of the quantities of images on that page, but however long your download it will be worth the wait.

If I ever come back in another life, or can clone myself in this one, I'd love to explore more fully the possibilities of computer generated art. (I am still in love with laying pigment on surfaces for now.)

As for the possibilities of hyperlinking, back when I created my first website I built a hyperlinked virtual Labyrinth. Fascinated with drawing mazes and labyrinths from my youth, it seemed to me that each web page was like a room in an enormous, infinite castle. The links are doors which bring you to other rooms. Like the hidden connections from corner to corner in the board game Clue, the rooms do not always reside adjacent to one another spatially, if you know what I mean.

Anyways, here's a link to my first web page, and the door to my Labyrinth.