EXPERIMENTAL ART

The assumption at the heart of the Flowpoints project is that a detailed study of an algorithm like LK can suggest novel artistic ideas. The systematic exploration, modification, and visualization of an algorithm will generate new artistic forms. The aim of the project is to extract formal variations out of the algorithm. The next two sections unpack this idea in more detail. The current section outlines a broad philosophical conception of experimental form, while Section 3 describes the LK algorithm as a source of artistic ideas.

The paradigm of experimental art proposed here is based on certain ideas devised by French art historian Henri Focillon.^[4] Focillon’s paradigm assumes that the fundamental aim of artistic work is the invention of new formal possibilities. An example is the use of geometric procedures in ornamental or decorative art. The apparently cold and dry world of geometric transformations affords an endless multiplication and variation of diverse shapes. The application of rigorous formal norms does not standardize or impoverish the material. Rather, mathematical rules enable the proliferation of multifarious forms by generating ever new variations. There are many ways of devising visual motifs and combining them through repetition, counterpoint, symmetry, etc. This production of variation shows the “immense activity of forms” in art.^{[4 : Focillon, 38.]} The work of the artist is to sustain this formal proliferation.

Focillon’s concept of form is thus essentially dynamic. A work of art might appear static or fixed, especially if it is a physical object like a sculpture or a print, but it is always “born of change” and it “leads on to other changes”.^{[4 : Focillon, 41.]} This element of change can be shown by looking at the sketches, rough drafts, failed attempts, corrections, trials, and other documents that reveal of the genealogy of the work.

This is why Focillon insists on reconstructing the genealogy of the creative process. The historian’s main concern pertains to this living process, which consists in the experimental invention of new possibilities. The aim of an experimental practice is not to find the best means of achieving a predefined end, but rather to understand the nature of the end through exploring the means. A work of art is the product of a sequence of experiments and often also the springboard for new experiments. Every finished work can be seen as a “score of experiments, be they recent or forthcoming”.^{[4 : Focillon, 41.]}