Weekly 1

online derive


First weekly response: Take an internet dérive through at least five links. Post the five links with a couple sentences that frame the journey by explaining the links relationship to each other..



I started by searching up Olia Lialina's 'Summer' (2013) because I had remembered that the piece was linked to a variety of different artist's website. A bunch of clicks later and I found myself looking at neural network websites and generators
deep dream generator
Deep Dream Generator.

The first generator website was the Deep Dream Generator and I continued to look for other sites in the same vein. I came across the Pix2Pix demo where it takes databases of images and reconstructs those databases to make a new image based on the lines/edges that you draw.
pic-2-pic
Pix2Pix.

Going through the algorithm developers, I saw how other people were using their work and found a more scientific use in Visually Indicated Sound. They were a group of scientists that created their own database of sound by hitting things with a stick. Those things would then be compiled. A video would be presented without sound and the algorithm would generate sound based on the database. I also just like watching scientists hit things with sticks.
Visually Indicated Sound
Visually Indicated Sound.

The Recurrent Neural Network Handwriting Generation Demo was also found on the same developer's site. This one was pretty straightforward.
Recurrent Neural Networking Handwriting Generation Demo
Neural Network Handwriting Demo.

I then just googled more neural network cool sites because a lot of the tech that was developed with the technology was strictly scientific. I came across an article that talked about the Google Experiments and another page that talked specifically about AI experiments with google. They brought me to an Online Neural Doodle page that created pictures out based on works by other artists.
Online Neural Doodle
Online Neural Doodle
Online Neural Doodle.

On the AI experiment page I also found Quick Draw which was a mini game based on an AI figuring out what you were drawing quickly.
Online Neural Doodle
Quick Draw.


I wanted to find one thread on the internet and go from there. I originally wanted to do it based on web artists and where those sites would take me but I felt something lacking. I don't remember how I got to neural websites but I'm glad I did because these were a lot of fun. The thing that connects these websites together were the use of nueral networks and algorithms to create interesting pieces. These sites were more interesting to me because they were more about art but I could also have gone through a scientific route.

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