인공생명과 예술

Abstract

Artificial Life(ALife) is the studies of all possible living things(life and lifelike) that are produced mainly by techniques in computer science. As is well known, life is complex system, and its behavior processes emerge synthetically from interaction of its low level parts. Like life, the behavior of ALife is the synthetic processes. ALife includes three or four prime techniques: Cellular Automata, Lindenmayer System, and Genetic Algorithms, or Neural Network. Artificial Life Art bases on the idea of ALife and its techniques. We analyze phenomena of ALife Art in general as M. Whitelaw has aptly pointed out, and classify three groups from the forms of phenomena: a) works of ALife Art that are bred in computing machine, b) works of ALife Art that interact with its environment, c) works of ALife Art that behave as an individual entity in their world. Group a) includes Karl Sims's 『Panspermia』(1990). To our knowledge, Sims is the notable artist and computer graphic designer in early ALife Art. According to Sims, 『Panspermia』 are the virtual living things that are assumed as sperms from the universe. These virtual sperms are bred in computer abstract spaces. Group b) includes Robb Lovell and John Mitchells' 『EIDEA』(1994), Christa Sommerer and Laurent Mignonneaus' 『A-Volve』(1994) and 『Verbarium』 (1999). Overall, these works bred in computer are interaction with their environment, for examples, real weather conditions, users in internet spaces, and visitors in gallery. Group c) includes Kenneth Rinaldos 『Autopoiesis』(2000). Rinaldo influenced from Rodney Brooks, Humberto Maturana and Francisco Varela has worked with lifelike-robots since 1990s. His 『Autopoiesis』 is also robotic art, its 6 large robot arms as an individual living entity interact with itself and visitors. The interaction of works-visitors as one of the participant art phenomena has been appreciated in the post-modern culture. The interactivity of digital art is also the important aesthetic property. The behaviors of ALife maintain some relations with its environments. These relations can be understood as an autonomous interactions of work-environment of ALife Art. The autonomy of interactivity are new meaningful themes of digital aesthetics and discourses about human-machine relation in our technoculture era.