Trevor Batten:
Some Notes on the Works in the BASIC SYSTEMS
Series:
I. The Concept:
After a period of producing static
images using a plotter coupled
to a PDP-15 computer, the Amiga
offered the opportunity to develop
real-time moving images.
The earlier work had been concerned
with translation and the
ontological implications of language
and so the idea of taking the
basic graphic commands of Amiga
Basic as primitive concepts to
explore the new universe of moving
images seemed completely logical.
The commands define worlds: A world
of dots, a world of lines,
a world of arcs and circles and
so on....
The first task is to explore these
silent worlds in terms of aesthetic
categories such as chaos/order,
rough/smooth, expectation/surprise etc..
Initially (in the BASIC SYSTEMS
series) random data are used to
control simple image generating
processes.
The images are therefore experiments
with structured randomness where
the graphic primitives provide
the basis for the structuring. The
use of random data implies that
the source of the data is not important
and opens the possibility for
later experiments with data generating
processes. Perhaps the images
can be analyzed, and become themselves
a source of data.
Eventually it may be possible to
define primitive procedures and to
integrate them in a basic system
capable of bootstrapping itself to
further complexity through dialogues
between the worlds. Even if this
fails, the process should be capable
of bootstrapping the artist.
In the meantime (hopefully) anything
may be possible...
II. The Works:
"CIRCLE" 1987
Random (and other) variation in the begin and
end angles of a circle segment
generate abstract forms. (To
bring up menu: right click on Java image when Applet is running)
"FILL" 1987
.
The "paint" function of AmigaBasic was used to randomly fill either
the inside or the outside of a
circle segment with colour.
(To bring up menu: right click on Java image when Applet is running)
.
A set of linked mathematical functions
based on a number of flies
chasing after each other generate
a set of moving points which can
be connected by textured or coloured lines.
(To bring up menu: right click on Java image when Applet is running)
.
A hidden grid is made partly visible
by randomly generated connecting
lines and textured Bezier Curves
arc around the chosen points.
(To bring up menu: right click on Java image when Applet is running)
The history of a one dimensional
cell automat is shown mirrored in
two-dimensions. The transformation
rule is modified every cycle.
(To bring up menu: right click on Java image when Applet is running)
"WEAVE" 1989
.
Essentially a cell automat except
for the fact that there is no
internal memory and the automat
directly processes the video image.
The situation is also made slightly
more complicated by representing
the processed information by rotated
line segments (and in other ways).
(To bring up menu: right click on Java image when Applet is running)
.
The same cell automat is again
used for image processing. This time
the read and write scans have
become independent, sometimes even
horizontally reading and diagonally
writing -so the space becomes
folded. (To bring up menu: right click on Java image when Applet is running)