Algorithmic Art Gallery
The Algorithmic Art Gallery is a collection of art that has been created algorithmically. I am proud to say that I meet the formal definition of being an algorist. An algorist is one who creates algorithmic art. However there are restrictions placed on being able to call oneself an algorist. The creation of algorithmic art itself is insufficient.
Algorists established their identity as artists following a panel titled Art and Algorithms at the 1995 SIGGRAPH. The Algorist co-founders were Roman Verostko and Jean-Pierre Hébert. It is Hébert who is credited with coining the term and its definition which is, quite appropriately, in the form of an algorithm:
if (creation && object of art && algorithm && one's own algorithm) {
include * an algorist *
}
elseif (!creation || !object of art || !algorithm || !one's own algorithm) {
exclude * not an algorist *
}
Translating the above into English, it means that if there is a work that has been created and that work is considered to be a work of art and an algorithm was used to create the work in question and the algorithm was designed by the artist who created the work, then that artist can be considered an algorist. Otherwise if the work is not a creation or it is not considered art or it was not created using an algorithm or the algorithm was not created by the artist, then that person can not be considered to be an algorist.
The key take-away from the above algorithm/definition is that a computer artist or digital artist or new media artist (take your choice) is only an algorist if they have created the program which contains the artist's algorithm for artistic creation. In other words, if an artist uses commercial algorithmic software that does not allow the artist to create the underlying algorithm that creates the art, that person is not an algorist. A common example of this would be fractal art created using commercially available software.
The following examples of algorithmic art were created using algorithms and programs of my own design. Click on either the art's image or the artwork title to access that artwork's gallery page.
