The Trouble with Algorithmic Art
![Artwork by [user-name]](http://collisioncollective.org/sites/default/files/imagecache/thumb/artwork/MarkStock_The_Trouble_2000px.png)
simulations. The surfaces represent boundaries between fluids in a virtual space, and those fluids are constrained to obey certain rules of physics. In The Trouble with Algorithmic Art, the subject is the result of a simulation of
the collision of three spherical blobs. The surfaces are rendered as thin, colored, sheets of glass in front of a virtual light box. The image is then presented as a transparency, illuminated by a real light box.
The Trouble With Algorithmic Art describes a frustration that I sometimes feel with my chosen form of artistic expression. Because I use computational algorithms to define the detail and structure of my subjects, the resulting forms should only bear resemblance to natural shapes insofar as those natural shapes originate from the same fluid forces. For example, when I view my simulation results, I might expect to see a cloud, but not a book. But the pattern-matching capability of the human mind conveniently ignores such physical limitations---especially in the rigid medium of a still image---and mine regularly conjures an embarrassingly puerile form.
