In terms of visual memory, images float within our mind; juxtaposing, overlapping, replacing one another. VIA: Variable Image Abstractor™ is a real-time generative art system (not AI) that externalizes these visions into a time based visual experience. Originally developed in the early 2000s with FutureBASIC for Mac OS, since 2018 VIA is written in the Processing programming language.
In searching for new ways to present several images simultaneously, I began thinking about automating a structured, yet random process of image transformation. I developed VIA, a stream-of-consciousness type of image engine. VIA displays an image, then systematically replaces parts of the image with parts of other images read from an image library. The reading process is random, and designed in a way that repetition is unlikely.
Depending on the source imagery, VIA can produce fragments of reality, total abstraction, or a mix of the two. Sometimes Impressionistic, other times Cubist or Expressionistic, the end result is imagery constructing and deconstructing itself, to create an ever evolving composition that can run indefinitely.
Over time, along with using diverse data sets to create image variations, several VIA code variations have been developed to alter the image output. For instance, one variation displays the image output in solid random colors, and another variation abstracts parts of a single image rather than multiple images. In addition, VIA is becoming a tool in image creation for static Digital Collages shown HERE.
VIA: Art Garden ©2024
Using two source images, flowers and an abstract painting (2:06 min. excerpt)
VIA: Squeeze ©2024
Using a single source image from a 1988 acrylic painting (2:02 min. excerpt)
Using a single image from a 1988 acrylic painting (2:23 min. excerpt)
Using photographic source imagery of friends’ mid-century glass collection (1:44 min. excerpt)
VIA: Legacy ©2019
Using source imagery of human consumption and waste (in black & white) and of nature (in color). (7:13 min excerpt)
“Artifact” Installation (2019): Macbook Pro running VIA, and mixed media painting on paper.
VIA: DotGEO ©2018
Using source imagery from an abstract painting by my late mother, Dorothy Burnham, VIA takes image sections of the painting, and remixes it’s shapes and forms to create new ever-changing abstractions. (2:38 min. excerpt)
Samples of FutureBASIC versions of VIA
VIA: Grow ©2005-2006 (6:31 min. excerpt)
VIA: Peace Space ©2004-2006 (6:12 min. excerpt)
