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International Conference on Evolutionary Programming

EP 1997: Evolutionary Programming VI pp 1–12Cite as

Complexity formalisms, order and disorder in the structure of art

  • Evolutionary Methods for Modeling and Training
  • Conference paper
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Part of the book series: Lecture Notes in Computer Science ((LNCS,volume 1213))

Abstract

Order and disorder appear to be opposite extremes in a spectrum of structural types, yet they both contain little that is intuitively complex. Intuitions about complexity can be used as a basis for developing a formal theory that is both sufficiently precise to define an algorithmic framework for creating visual and aural art, and is sufficiently open to serve as an interpretative basis for describing how complexity can dominate the range of observed artistic expression. A formal theory of complexity is presented in this paper that is derived from graph theory and that fits well with several basic intuitions about complexity. Experiments in the automatic production of aural and visual artworks are described that utilize this theory to select, within an evolutionary model, among a population of rules systems for those that occupy a specific contour of complexity. The rule-like nature of the language of expression is surmised to be constrained by an abstract complexity limitation similar to this one.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Computing Research Laboratory, New Mexico State University, Box 3CRL, 88003, Las Cruces, NM

    Mark W. Davis

Authors
  1. Mark W. Davis
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Editor information

Peter J. Angeline Robert G. Reynolds John R. McDonnell Russ Eberhart

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© 1997 Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg

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Davis, M.W. (1997). Complexity formalisms, order and disorder in the structure of art. In: Angeline, P.J., Reynolds, R.G., McDonnell, J.R., Eberhart, R. (eds) Evolutionary Programming VI. EP 1997. Lecture Notes in Computer Science, vol 1213. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/BFb0014796

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BFb0014796

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  • Publisher Name: Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-540-62788-3

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-540-68518-0

  • eBook Packages: Springer Book Archive

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