How Does Automatism Relate to Art Today? April 2015

4. 
   Hensley, C. (1999). The beauty of Noise. Available: http://www.esoterra.org/merzbow.htm. Last accessed 23rd Apr 2015.
   

With a career in computer science and an education in fine art, Latham’s work seeks to intertwine technology and artistic expression. In figure 3, we see and example of Latham’s early, rule-based drawings attempting to formulise the processes of the Form Synth. Using the method of a flow diagram, ‘Hand- drawn Form Synth’ is not strictly automatic but has undeniable similarities the to literary technique Stream of Consciousness. The work’s rule-based system means that the images are determined by the images that came before them and so on until you reach the original founding design. With obvious influence from the process of evolution, the work serves as a cross-section of thought predetermined by the last. And as the preparatory work of my next example; ‘Human Mutator 2’.

Fig 4. William Latham ‘Mutator 2’ 2013

The theme of mankind’s manipulation of the natural world regularly enters Latham’s work. It is in ‘Human Mutator 2’ that he contests the voyeur’s stereotypes of human/machine art, and has possibly taken the next step in Automatism as a concept.
The piece is entirely created by the interaction of the visitors. Presented to them are three touch screens and in front of them, three large projectors. The projected image begins as a small embryotic form and through the viewers’ use of the touch screens begins to incrementally evolve into biomorphic forms of greater complexity and detail.
One could say that Latham, perhaps inadvertently, has stumbled onto the next page in the story of digital Automatism as he has created a piece of machine art that serves as a platform for other people to express there own subconscious. To me, the piece is a comment on the hierarchy of the natural world today, and mankind’s ability to orchestrate its evolution (genetic modification comes to mind). But the aspect that makes this work automatic is the participation of the viewer, and he or she’s interaction despite not knowing what form the shape will take next. I’d imagine that at the time of the exhibition, the work functioned as a source of quick entertainment for the public and the participants probably moved on swiftly especially as they are in effect the work’s creators creating in front of an audience. But if someone properly sat down with this technology for twenty minutes, I’m sure it could provide them with an accurate representation of their own subconscious.
Another quality of the piece that adds to its conceptual intrepidness is that it incorporates the participation of up to three people. This could be seen as the visual improvisation of a group and a representation of the groups unconscious, if there if such a thing. Or if not, it could be a representation of the ambience of the room and the company in it. Latham has innovatively combined collaboration, improvisation, digitalism and Surrealism in a successful way, which to my knowledge, hasn’t been done before.
Before I conclude, I will briefly make a point away from digitalism, which I think demonstrates the human need to create art whether knowingly or not. And also, a point that is quite fun to end with.
Graffiti-less streets are a rarity in London; in fact you could probably count those of them in central London on two hands. The hastily scrawled tags and vibrant murals and everything in-between are everywhere. You would be equally farfetched to walk down a street without subconsciously eves dropping on somebody’s conversation, but it is the conversation that is occurring on the walls that is most overlooked.

As we know, graffiti buffing is a technique employed by citizens and councils all over the world. In the same way that different graffiti crews communicate via covering each other’s work, graffiti ‘buffers’ do so too, just with a bleaker ideology. One could argue though that through buffing graffiti people are unknowingly expressing themselves artistically and indeed perhaps expressing their subconscious. The clear irony being that they are creating art whilst attempting to remove it and at the same time leaving another fresh canvas for the conversation to continue on. Most buffing is about as ugly and uninteresting as life gets, and isn’t worth looking at. But examples like the one below are truly beautiful; the layering of opaque maroons and reds brings Rothko’s ‘Seagram Murals’ to mind. What makes this wall more interesting though is that more than one person probably painted it, involuntarily exhibiting a society’s subconscious.

Fig 5. Graffiti Buffing 2010