Casey Reas 5

 MicroImage, 24in x 34in inkjet prints, 2003
Three prints derived from the MicroImage software. The MicroImage software is an exploration into emergent form. Autonomous software elements interact with their continually changing environment to create a kinetic field.

Tissue Type B-06, 11in x 14in inkjet print, 2002
One of 28 prints derived from the Tissue software. The Tissue software exposes the movements of synthetic neural systems. People interact with the software by positioning a group of points on the screen. An understanding of the total system emerges from the relations between the positional input and the visual output.

For the past four years, my principle interest in software has been in exploring the phenomena of emergence. Emergence refers to the generation of structures that are not directly defined or controlled. Instead of overtly determining the entire structure, I write simple programs which define interactions between elements. Structure emerges from the discreet movements of each element as it modifies itself in relation to its environment. The structures generated through these processes cannot be anticipated and develop through continual iterations involving alterations to the programs and exploring changes through interacting with the software. The works Tissue (2002) and MicroImage (2003) are among the result of this exploration.

In 2003, I became obsessed with the work of Sol LeWitt and exploring his works had a clear impact on my recent software. In Spring 2004, I completed the Software {Structures}(2) project for the Whitney Museum of American Art's Artport. I started with a simple question: "Is the history of conceptual art relevant to the idea of software as art?" I began to answer the question by implementing three of LeWitt's drawings in software and then making modifications. After working with the LeWitt plans, I created three new structures unique to software. These software structures are text descriptions outlining dynamic relations between elements. They develop in the vague domain of thought and then mature in the more defined structures of human language before any consideration is given to a specific machine implementation. Twenty-six pieces of software derived from these structures were written to isolate different components of software structures including interpretation, material, and process.

My work in the past year has synthesized ideas explored in Software {Structures} with my previous explorations into emergence. Each new work is called a Process and defines rules and instructions which describe a relation between Elements outside of a specific physical media. Different manifestations of this Process in diverse media such as software, print, and installation gives a more complete view of the concept. The software implementation is closest to the actual concept, but the other media provide additional perspectives. Working in software allows me to engage the live process and to change its parameters to affect they way it behaves and working in print gives me the opportunity to examine the state of the process at a precise time with extremely high fidelity.

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