Introduction

The Algorithmic Art Studio is an interactive art installation demonstrating how generative code can produce physical pen drawings. Participants interact with various custom generative algorithms by tweaking the program's parameters. The experience is tactile, and hardware featuring knobs, dials, and sliders is blindly mapped to different characteristics of the visual output.

Generative art typically uses a pseudo-random number generator to create infinite output images. "The Algorithmic Art Studio" does this, too, while also providing an additional parametric control layer via user input. The resulting experience balances the strengths of unlimited artwork generation and the participant's personal aesthetic choices.

Upon satisfaction, the participant can have their artwork drawn on paper with a pen plotter. Their creation is brought to life with a custom workflow developed for this installation. The buzz of servos and the robotic precision of the pen plotter is attention-grabbing, and participants may watch as the artwork is rendered to paper.

The Algorithmic Art Studio aims to encourage participants to explore the connections between creative coding and pen plotting. Furthermore, it demonstrates novel ways to create artwork and will hopefully inspire further advances at the intersection of art and technology.