Educational Artists

Curators text for this room coming soon…….

  • John Horton Conway (26 December 1937 – 11 April 2020) was an English mathematician. He was active in the theory of knot theory, number theory, and coding theory. He also made contributions to many branches of recreational mathematics, most notably the invention of the cellular automaton called the Game of Life.Conway invented the Game of Life, one of the early examples of a cellular automaton. His initial experiments in that field were done with pen and paper, long before personal computers existed. Since Conway's game was popularized by Martin Gardner in Scientific American in 1970, it has spawned hundreds of computer programs, web sites, and articles.The game helped to launch a new branch of mathematics, the field of cellular automata. The Game of Life is known to be Turing complete.

    约翰-霍顿-康威（1937 年 12 月 26 日-2020 年 4 月 11 日）是英国数学家，研究主要集中在结论、数论和编码理论等领域。他还对娱乐数学的许多分支做出了贡献，其中最为著名的是发明 “生命游戏 ”。康威发明的 “生命游戏 ”是细胞自动机的早期范例之一，由于当时个人电脑还没有出现，康威在这一领域的最初实验是用纸笔完成的。自 1970 年马丁-加德纳（Martin Gardner）在《科学美国人》（Scientific American）上推广康威生命游戏以来，该游戏已催生了数百个计算机程序、网站和文章，值得注意的是生命游戏是一种图灵完备的设计。

  • Benoit Mandelbrot was a Polish-born French-American mathematician and polymath with broad interests in the practical sciences, especially regarding what he labeled as "the art of roughness" of physical phenomena and "the uncontrolled element in life".Because of his access to IBM's computers, Mandelbrot was one of the first to use computer graphics to create and display fractal geometric images, leading to his discovery of the Mandelbrot set in 1980. He showed how visual complexity can be created from simple rules.

    The intricate visuals of the Mandelbrot set, derived from simple mathematical rules, have deeply influenced interactive and film works, such as Mandelbrot.site, Mandelbrot Zoom Sequence, and Inside Math's Famous Fractal: The Mandelbrot Set. These works bring abstract mathematical concepts to life through digital interaction and visual media, allowing audiences to experience the mystery and beauty Mandelbrot uncovered.

    伯努瓦·曼德尔布罗（Benoit Mandelbrot）是一位波兰裔法美籍数学家和博学者，对多种实用科学领域有着广泛的兴趣，尤其关注他称之为自然现象的“粗糙之美”和“生活中的不确定元素”。曼德尔布罗使用IBM的计算机，并成为首批计算机图形技术创建和分形几何图像展示的科学家之一，这促成了他于1980年发现了曼德尔布罗集合。他展示了如何通过简单规则生成复杂的视觉效果。

    曼德尔布罗集合的复杂视觉效果源自简单的数学规则，并对之后的互动作品和影像创作产生了深远的影响，如Mandelbrot.site、Mandelbrot Zoom Sequence和Inside Math's Famous Fractal: The Mandelbrot Set。这些作品使用数字互动和影像媒介，将抽象的数学概念生动地呈现出来，让观众得以体验曼德尔布罗集合之后的神秘感与美学性。

  • Harold Cohen (1928-2016) was a British artist whose innovations at the forefront of technology changed the face of computer art. Working at the intersection of art and artificial intelligence since the late 1960s, Harold Cohen was the creator of AARON, one of the earliest AI computer programs designed to produce paintings and drawings autonomously. His work was exhibited extensively throughout his life at major institutions including Tate London, Institute of Contemporary Arts, Whitechapel Gallery, LACMA and SFMOMA.

    Having graduated from Slade School of Fine Art, Cohen’s first solo exhibition was held at Ashmolean Museum, Oxford in 1951 and by the mid-1960s he was recognized as one of Britain’s best regarded painters. In 1966, he was selected to represent Great Britain at the Venice Biennale. Two years later at the height of his career as a painter, he decided to relocate to the United States as a visiting lecturer at the University of California in San Diego. He learned the programming language FORTRAN and in 1971 was invited to spend two years at the Stanford University’s Artificial Intelligence Laboratory (SAIL) where he developed his ideas about machine-generated art which would eventually lead to the development of AARON, the AA drawing program that he continued to work on for the rest of his life.

    The first major exhibition of his early work with computer-generated art was at LACMA in 1972 and throughout that decade his work was exhibited at Documenta 6 in Kassel, the Stedelijk Museum in Amsterdam and San Francisco Museum of Modern Art. He continued his work at UC San Diego as professor, Chairman of the Visual Arts Department and eventually in 1992, Director of the Centre for Research in Computing and the Arts.

    Following his retirement in 1994 from the university, he continued to work on AARON and produce new artwork in his studio in Encinitas, California. In 2014, Cohen received the ACM SIGGRAPH Distinguished Artist Award for Lifetime Achievement in Digital Art. Harold Cohen regarded artificial intelligence as a tool to better understand his own ways of perception and meaning and his work with algorithms and plotters inspired multiple generations of artists who use code in their practice.

  • Craig Reynolds is an unaffiliated researcher and retired software developer. He is best known for the “boids” model of flocking, and has simulated camouflage evolution in nature. His research publications have been cited 18,000 times. He worked on several feature films (including TRON (1982)) and on various shorts (The Juggler (1981), Stanley and Stella in: Breaking the Ice (1987), Ductile Flow (1990)). He developed software tools for animation production, games, and simulation-based vehicle testing. In 1998 he won The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences’ Scientific and Engineering Award for pioneering contributions to the development of three dimensional computer animation for motion picture production.

  • Karl Sims is a digital media artist and visual effects software developer. His interactive works have been exhibited worldwide at the Pompidou Center, Ars Electronica, ICC Museum, DeCordova Museum, Boston Museum of Science, and at MIT. He founded GenArts, Inc. which created special effects software tools for the motion picture industry, and he also held positions at Thinking Machines Corporation, Optomystic, and Whitney/Demos Productions. Karl studied computer graphics at the MIT Media Lab, and Life Sciences as an undergraduate at MIT. He is the recipient of various awards including two Ars Electronica Golden Nicas, a MacArthur "Genius" Grant, and an Emmy Award.

  • John Whitney (1917-1995) was a pioneering American animator and filmmaker who is considered one of the fathers of computer animation. His innovative work with analog and digital computers shaped the landscape of abstract films, motion graphics and visual effects, influencing generations of artists and filmmakers.

    Whitney's early experiments with abstract filmmaking began in the 1940s, in collaboration with his brother James. This led to award-winning films like the "Five Film Exercises." In the 1950s, he worked with notable figures like Saul Bass and Charles and Ray Eames, contributing to iconic works like the title sequence for Alfred Hitchcock's "Vertigo."

    Driven by a fascination with the intersection of art and technology, Whitney began exploring the creative potential of computers in the early 1950s. He used mechanical analog computers to create complex visual patterns and effects, leading to the establishment of his company, Motion Graphics Inc., in 1951. The term "motion graphics," now widely used, originated from the name of this pioneering company. His groundbreaking film "Catalog 1961" showcased Whitney's unique implementation of "motion control" techniques like differential drift, and his invention of the patented "slit-scan" process.

    In 1966, Whitney secured a three-year corporate research grant from IBM, gaining access to their cutting-edge digital technology. He utilized the IBM 360 mainframe and the first-of-its-kind 2250 graphics display terminal to produce "Permutations," a landmark achievement in computer animation. This film, along with later works like "Arabesque" (1975), solidified his position as a visionary artist who pushed the boundaries of visual expression through technology.

    Concurrent with the opening of the Department of Humanities at Caltech, Whitney furthered his exploration of digital art as an artist-in-residence, delving deeper into the connections between technology and creative expression in his films "Matrix I" (1971) and "Matrix III" (1972).

    Whitney's artistic philosophy, outlined in his book "Digital harmony: On the Complementarity of Music and Visual Art", published in 1980, explored the deep connections between music and visual art, advocating for a harmonious fusion of these forms. He believed in the power of technology to unlock new creative possibilities and sought to create art that resonated with the underlying mathematical principles of the universe.

    Throughout his career, Whitney received numerous accolades, including a Guggenheim Fellowship, a fellowship at the Center for Advanced Visual Studies at MIT, and a Medal of Commendation from the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. His legacy continues to inspire artists and filmmakers who explore the ever-evolving relationship between art, technology, and human expression.

    Written by John Whitney Jr.