Code for: Walking nowhere in particular (2020) and A la Recherche de Vera Molnár (2019).

Table of Contents

• General info
• Code
• Requirements

General info

This repository contains the code used to create Walking nowhere in particular (2020) and A la Recherche de Vera Molnár (2020), two algorithmic artworks. The text below summarizes each file and it's function, with further comments provided throughout the code. To create your own images simply load the example notebooks, executing cells one by one, or run the scripts in your terminal.

Code

• All random walk visualizations for Walking nowhere in particular (2020) are generated using the script SWRdrawer, which implements a simple random walk; at each step the location is programmed to jump to a neighbouring site according to a predefined probability distribution and step count. The images will be saved to a directory called Images/. SRWdrawer.ipynb provides examples of how to run the script. Afterwards, you will have a collection of still images from which a video can be created by stitching the images into a gif or mp4:

• a_la_recherche_de_Vera_Molner plots a simple random walk drawing in 2 dimensions, calling an image interpolation method to fill out the image. Pioneer of algorithmic computer art Vera Molnár (aged 96 at the time of writing and still working) once said, "the machine, thought to be cold and inhuman, can help to realize what is most subjective, unattainable, and profound in a human being". Taking inspiration from this sentiment, A la Recherche de Vera Molnár is a simplistic demonstration that a few lines of code generate abstract visualizations, creating surprise, color, and suspense.

Requirements

• Python 3.7.7
• Jupyter

Please follow the online instructions to install the required libraries, depending on your operating system and machine specifications.

This code is being released with a permissive open-source license. You should feel free to use or adapt the code as long as you follow the terms of the license.