Information

Floris de Jonge makes generative art in Nodebox and draws this with pen plotters. Generative art is the name for digital art that is created by running a computer program with a controlled degree of chance of which the artist determines the parameters. This means that with running a program, a process is set in motion that results in the – to a certain extend – autonomous production of works of art, curated by the artist.

Nodebox is a node-based visual language for generative art based on Python. Each artwork generated with this software is unique because it is created as a result of a numerical value that serves as input (a so-called ‘random seed’). By changing variables in the program, a large variety of work can be generated.

Subsequently, the result can be drawn with a pen plotter. A pen plotter is a kind of robotic arm to which a normal pen or marker or other drawing utensil can be attached. This machine is controlled by software that determines whether the pen should be raised, lowered, or moved. In this way, the plotter can be programmed to make prints (plots). Because a pen plot is created with a real pen on real paper the physical properties of the material contribute to the appearance of the artwork.