Project Website: www.darwinsgaze.com

One of the earliest one person AI art shows, toured the world 2008-2011.

A conceptual piece that evolves a related family of abstract portrait painters. Portraits are created by Darwinian evolution using the AI programming technique called Genetic Programming. Using the painting of Darwin by John Collier as the creative spark (the evolutionary resemblance test they survive by), portraits slowly evolve over a month of constant computer time in this art programming experiment to cajole a computer to become creative on its own (see paper). The mathematical genes were not specifically created for the portrait painting task, but were our genes any different — surely not originally created for writing computer programs or making art.

Can you bring the ghost (creativity) out of the machine (the computer) using the ghost of Darwin (his namesake techniques and portrait).

Touring exhibition: 2008-2011.

• MIT MuseumCambridge University’s King Art Centre
• Tenderpixel Gallery, London
• Darwin Fesitval, University of Toronto
• National Portrait Gallery, London (Invited Talk)
• Computational Aesthetics Art Show (exhibit), Vancouver

Programming, concepts and art: Steve DiPaola