Synthetic Aesthetic
The generative process of art making stretches our creative potential.
The visual elasticity of generative video has given rise to a new visual sensibility I call synthetic aesthetics. Artists are stretching the traditional boundaries that divide the various art forms. By blending elements of theater, film, visual art, dance, animation, music, philosophy, the spoken word, science, and technology they have challenged themselves and viewer alike. Allowing their imaginations to float freely, uninhibited by the natural limitations of various real-world medium, generative artists have begun to document the unlimited potential of the digital age.
Sky Report by Sean Capone ( a still from the video)
Sky Report, artist Sean Capone’s ambient video, slowly reveals a phantasmagoric world of wonder where sparkling stars become scribbling sketches and primordial ooze blossoms with delicate flowers that dissolve into disco-baroque wallpaper. His uncanny illusions are delightful and disorienting. As Capone says, “the ‘space of the screen’ is no longer just a surface to be viewed, but an environment to be entered and experienced.”
The Long Walk by Simon Russell
Simulating the phenomenon of synesthesia in The Long Walk, Simon Russell merges your sense of sight and sound, he creates an experience of perception that borders on the transcendental. Influenced by the synesthetic theories of the early 20th century painter Wassily Kandinsky, Russell’s immersive revelation exemplifies the ability of generative art to disrupt ordinary reality.
Human Connectome II by James Pricer
James Pricer’s Human Connectome II draws on fMRI data from the mapping of brain synapses. His abstracted pictures reveal the sweeping paths of consciousness beginning with a single line that quickly multiplies, overlaps, and spawns disconnected ideas. The patterns we detect and the meanings we assigned them generate an internal response that syncs with the image. We are actually seeing human thought in action via the visualized data.
