Tracing autonomy & artistic significance: an alternative framework for analysing & comparing generative art

Abstract

As result of the current generative art boom, many generative works are flooding the art and media sphere. However, meaningful analysis, comparison, and discussion of generative art have so far been complicated by two factors: 1) the commonly used definition of generative art is broadly defined, resulting in a large variety of works sharing the same heading, and 2) existing methods for classifying and comparing generative art only facilitate a descriptive analysis of the generative systems within an artwork, but neglect the role & contribution of those systems to the work as a whole. In this paper we propose an alternative framework for analysing generative art, to aid the understanding of what generative art includes, where ‘the generative’ aspect(s) in a work take(s) place, how the generative relates to other aspects in that work, and how this differs from the generative elements and aspects in other works. Two concepts are introduced:

autonomous ability (AA) and artistic significance (AS), including a larger framework to analyse artworks along these concepts. The framework asks 1) what elements (generative and non-generative)

the work consists of, 2) what the role of these elements is within the artwork, 3) how autonomous these elements are, and 4) how artistically significant the contribution of the element’s role is in relation

to the artwork as a whole. We apply the framework to a selection of four generative artworks to test its working, present the corresponding results, and reflect upon the framework.