My approach to the creation of "art", as a process, is a bit different
than the usual practitioner of such enterprises. I tend to use the
computer as a method to visualize otherwise "impossible" views into
synthetic environments. In other words, just as the forms, structures,
and surfaces found in nature can be aesthetically enrapturing,
I feel that equally, if not greater "enrapturement" can be discovered
in the exploration of virtual domains which spawn their own contents.
These virtual domains are programmed into the computer as procedural
processes, often utilizing algorithms which mimic many of the processes
witnessed in the "real" versions of nature. The results of such
renderings are output to a variety of media, including digitally
applied archival-quality acrylic paint to canvas, and have been
shown in a variety of shows and galleries.

Virtually all structures which occur in nature, and throughout the
universe, ranging from the branching structures of trees, arrangement
of pebbles on a beach, shapes of clouds, to the distribution patterns
of stars in a galaxy, are forms which can be defined as a series of
formulae and procedures that represent the features of those structures.

What is more important, however, is that once these procedures have
been defined, and established as procedural rules, those rules can be
"broken". In a "virtual domain" created with a computer, forms, structures,
and interactive forces combine to create two- and three- dimensional environments
in which these forms can interact and evolve. All of the sample images
in this collection are the result of this type of "virtual environment"
construction, rather than being "drawn" in a traditional sense.

As a research tool, "virtual environments" provide a very powerful way
to examine complex natural events and structures, but as an art medium,
this type of process represents an almost infinite realm of exploration and
expression. In this way, the computer serves as a form of "virtual camera"
to view various forms of alternative natural domains occupying the virtual
universe, which could not possibly be seen any other way.

Recently, I published a paper entitled "Virtual Reality as an Art Medium",
an edited version of which is included in this posting. This later became
part of a presentation held at the Franklin Institute, celebrating the
50 year anniversary of the Eniac computer (considered to be the first
"real" electronic computer ever created). This was an interesting
presentation, in that I actually delivered my speech "virtually"
to an auditorium via CUSeeMe digital video link, while the images
were presented as full screen resolution web pages on a video projection
system.


Charles Ostman
Science Editor / Author - Mondo 2000
mondosci@aol.com/editorial@mondo2000.com
http://www.nanothinc.com/FractalWorld http://www.nanothinc.com/FractalWorld/nworld1.html