providing limited context, the artwork itself expands indefinitely
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(and the artist never sees the entire work).
in reality, to a great degree, isn't all artwork actually like this?
at first, it's quite a discomforting thought.
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Brian Eno, 1996:
"Some very basic forms of generative music have existed for a long
time, but as marginal curiosities.
Wind chimes are an example, but the only compositional control you
have over the music they produce is in the original choice of notes
that the chimes will sound.
Recently, however, out of the union of synthesisers and computers,
some much finer tools have evolved. Koan Software is probably the best
of these systems, allowing a composer to control not one but one
hundred and fifty musical and sonic parameters within which the
computer then improvises (as wind improvises the wind chimes).
The works I have made with this system symbolise to me the beginning
of a new era of music.
Until 100 years ago, every musical event was unique: music was
ephemeral and unrepeatable and even classical scoring couldn't
guarantee precise duplication. Then came the gramophone record, which
captured particular performances and made it possible to hear them
identically over and over again.
But now there are three alternatives: live music, recorded music and
generative music.
Generative music enjoys some of the benefits of both its ancestors.
Like live music it is always different. Like recorded music it is free
of time-and-place limitations - you can hear it when and where you
want.
I really think it is possible that our grandchildren will look at us
in wonder and say: 'you mean you used to listen to exactly the same
thing over and over again?' "
Using the pseudonym CSJ Bofop, 1996:
"Each of the twelve pieces on Generative Music 1 has a distinctive
character. There are, of course, the ambient works ranging from the
dark, almost mournful Densities III (complete with distant bells), to
translucent Lysis (Tungsten).
These are contrasted with pieces in dramatically different styles,
such as Komarek with its hard edged, angular melodies, reminiscent of
Schoenberg's early serial experiments, and Klee 42 whose simple
polyphony is similar to that of the early Renaissance.
But of course, the great beauty of Generative Music is that those
pieces will never sound quite that way again."
source: wikipedia.org article on Eno
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