The Generative Art Museum (TGAM): Hello Eliza! Thank you very much for joining us today. How are you?

Eliza Struthers-Jobin (ESJ): Good! Excited to be back to work after some holidays.

TGAM: Let’s make some proper introductions? Who is Eliza?

ESJ: I'm a multidisciplinary digital artist. I like to work on projects that are experimental, meditative, and rhythmic. I didn't really decide on these themes; they're just what I've noticed as throughlines in my work - which has been pretty interesting to observe since I started off my professional life working as a video editor. Rhythm is pretty important in that world too. The meditative aspect came with my interest in embodiment practices. While I don't teach it, I do have a few certifications in Yoga under my belt. I really love any kind of practice or experience that encourages some kind of softening, and introspection, and I think that bleeds into my practice. The experimental nature of my work is what led me to coding in the first place. Everything changes so fast, there are always new tricks and tools to try. It can be a lot sometimes, but it's what keeps me coming back. You can't get bored in this space.

TGAM: Can you tell us about your journey into generative art?

ESJ: I started in film and video. I loved it, but over time, I found myself less and less inspired by the linear timeline editors have to work on. After moving to Paris to pursue my master's, I was encouraged by a friend to check out Processing, and to this day, I'm not sure why they thought I'd be into it. They must have known something about me I hadn't figured out yet! I had never considered myself that into computers… In high school, I dabbled in making Geocities and Angelfire sites, but we still used tables for layouts back then; CSS3 didn't exist yet! It was a different time.

In 2011, that friend offered me a peek at Processing, and I was immediately curious. It was framed as this bridge for artists who had no experience creating with a computer. It promised to empower us with the ability to create our own tools and share our work easily with others. Best of all, we had interactivity and randomness to play with, right out of the box. It was pretty incredible. I actually ended up switching my master's thesis subject and ended up writing about generative art and the weird/uncomfortable brain switch you kind of need to make when learning to create with a mechanical language.

I interviewed a whole bunch of the early Processing-based generative artists for that thesis, and it's how I ended up getting involved in the community. It's why I found myself at a Processing Paris event in 2012, learning to code for the first time, and I didn't really look back after that. I was hooked.

TGAM: What inspired you to pursue generative art as your chosen medium? Are there any specific artists or movements that have influenced your work?

ESJ: One of the core aspects I fell in love with when I started experimenting with generative art was the idea that you could create a frame for an idea you have (this would be the algorithm(s) you code) and never be able to predict what happens within that frame (when you run your code). To me, that was everything. I did a lot of documentary work when I was still in the film/video industry, and I have always loved the idea that you are creating a container for people to kind of tell their story. Here, it felt very similar in that I would create certain rules that served as the outline for whatever creative idea I wanted to explore, and when I ran the code, the creative idea I'd had would reveal itself. The surprises and bugs-that-turn-into-features aspect of the creative process is something I find extremely special and satisfying. It turns work into a dialogue between you and the computer, you and the programming language you're using.

I can't speak to any specific movements that have influenced me, or artists whose style I try to emulate or echo. But I do love certain aspects of programming, like shaders, for example, and the 3D space. Learning to code on the GPU and understand space beyond the Cartesian X, Y universe has influenced how I think about my work a lot.

TGAM: How did you meet NFT’s?

ESJ: I'd heard inklings about NFTs for a while, without ever really paying much attention, but then during lockdown, I witnessed the mad rush to the space firsthand. It was pretty intense. Suddenly all my friends and peers were minting, posting receipts, and declaring this new space to be "what we'd all been waiting for." I was excited about it but also a bit reticent. There was a lot of concern about the ecological impact, and all the wallets, platforms, and different coins were overwhelming. The speed at which everyone just went for it also made me a bit wary, so I kind of dug my heels in and waited for the dust to settle. I didn't actually mint until fxHash() asked me to do a group show during Paris Art Basel in 2022! It was a great experience; Ozzie held my hand through the whole thing (lol). I'm really happy I waited. Best introduction to the space.

TGAM: How NFT’s changed your vision of digital art (in case it did)?

ESJ: I think a lot of things don't make sense as NFTs, but generative art in particular really does. When you click "mint," you are running the code, getting the unique reveal of that code, which as I mentioned earlier, is what made me fall in love with coding in the first place. It just makes sense. I think "digital art" is a tree with many branches, and so many of them reach far beyond the browser, and far beyond NFTs… so I can't say that NFTs have changed how I think about the space as a whole. I tend to think of NFTs as a tool that works really well for web-based artworks.

TGAM: Many people perceive generative art as being inaccessible or difficult to understand. How do you approach communicating your artwork to a wider audience? What strategies or techniques do you employ to make your creations more relatable and engaging?

ESJ: I think the perceived inaccessibility is more about the screen/computer required to view the artwork. People don't always want another screen to contend with, which is why many NFTs are 2D and easier to imagine as prints. And in fact, many artists offer prints of the minted NFT as a bonus gift when you buy it for this exact reason.

The time we are in right now reminds me a lot of the early internet period where newspaper outlets were putting scans of entire newspapers online, thinking that this is the way people on a desktop computer wanted to consume information. Nowadays, this seems like a ridiculous idea, but it took time to get here. It took experimentation and iteration. I think the same will prove to be true for generative art, and how we consume it in the years to come. Computer-based artworks are only on the early cusp of being understood, as are NFTs.

TGAM: One key aspect of your practice is animation and interaction. Can you explain why you made that choice?

ESJ: Most, if not all, of my works are animated because I want things to feel alive somehow. A gentle rotation, a sensation of breathing… something that makes what's happening on the screen feel both familiar and otherworldly at the same time.

The interactive element is something people don't associate with generative art as much anymore, but when I first studied the art form in 2011, it was at the crux. You needed the interactivity to access the randomness. Historically, people were executing the rules of the artwork, and they could interpret the rules in a myriad of ways. If you've ever said something to someone, only to realize they've completely misunderstood you, you can see how this might play out. Computers changed things, of course. We have access to noise now, which means you can program randomness directly into your project. So I guess it's a wink to the past… I also just really like to poke and prod at things, so I like to give other people the option to do that with my work.

TGAM: As an artist very related to education and teaching, what does it mean to share and teach all the insides of your practice?

ESJ: I love teaching! It's always great fun to see people's eyes light up when they realize the power they have at their fingertips. I do shorter workshops mostly. I always try to teach fundamental ideas over specific techniques because I find that more empowering. The goal is always for students to walk away from our time together feeling like if they had an idea, they could figure out how to make it a reality. I enjoy it a lot, especially when I manage to convert the skeptics - generally, people sign up for my workshops because they are interested in the subjects, but once or twice a year, I teach at a university in Paris where inevitably someone will end up in my class because their first choice of workshop wasn't available. Usually, they're very wary - coding seems scary, and everyone thinks they're bad at math… - but by the end of our time together, they're usually excited to come back the following year. For me, these are the biggest wins.

TGAM: How do you balance making art and teaching how to make art? Does it have the same importance or you prefer one to another?

ESJ: I've found that my strength really lies in being able to jump between many baskets. Web-based art, physical installations, work for live performance, collaborations… What I teach is kind of informed by all the other baskets; I just teach what I do. I can't say that I love one thing over the other. When I saturate with one thing, I am always grateful to have the many other things to turn to. It keeps me inspired and curious and far from any sense of monotony.

TGAM: Granulations is the project you’re presenting at Responsive Dreams 2024, an animated piece with audio embedded in. Can you explain a bit more about the process behind it and the details about the generative audio?

ESJ: Granulations is half audio and half visual. While it can run without audio, or be listened to without the visual aspect, in either case, the piece would be incomplete. Each iteration of the piece generates its own unique generative melody that is amplified by new notes that get generated and added to the piece when visual elements interact and collide with each other. Two unique systems creating a third unique system.

The project was really fun to build, even if audio is really tricky. It can be very hard to find the right balance between musicality and randomness! I'd say it's right up there with colors and palettes. There are so many combinations possible, but very few are actually pleasing. I spent a lot of time working on the melody component, making sure I had a combination of notes that would always complement each other no matter what order they were played in. I leaned on some articles I'd read where Brian Eno describes some of his techniques - for example, you start with a melody and gently offset the notes and reorder them over time. I sprinkled in some randomness for the offset weights as well, which added a nice and subtle touch.

The final layer was programming the collision sounds. I gave my best try at a granular pedal. I have one at home that I'm pretty obsessed with, and I was curious to see if I could create a similar sound in the browser. It's not quite my Microcosm, but I'm pretty happy with it. Each iteration of the piece also has different weights placed on how sensitive the collision detection is, so these sounds can vary from piece to piece.

Eliza Struthers-Jobin is part of TGAM's Responsive Dreams Festival 2024, the first generative art exhibition in Barcelona dedicated entirely to showcasing art created by code.

"Granulations" will be released September 5th June at fx(hash). Holders of TGAM's brochures are elegible to mint preferentially.

The Generative Art Museum (TGAM) is a non-profit organization based in Barcelona dedicated to explore, promote, and advance the understanding and appreciation of generative art as a unique form of artistic expression.