CCS Members

Andrew Martin - Practice based research in Electronic Arts practice

My research topic is “Nature & System: the Application of Natural Systems to Dynamically Interactive Audio-Visual Environments”.
The methodology is practice based, where my own electronic arts practice and its outcomes are discussed, analysed and evaluated, feeding back information and direction to my electronic arts practice.

The focus of the practical work is to develop interactive audiovisual art works that explore computer simulated natural systems. Computer simulations of Natural systems has also allowed inquiry by artists and composers to experiment with natural behaviours, structures and forms in the realisation of works of art, not only to provide content or subject, but in the generation or creation of the work itself. My interest in the simulation of natural systems in my elctronic arts practice, as Gary Flake has put it, is not “What is X?” but “What will X do?” [Flake, 1998].

The natural system behaviours, structures and forms are produced by the simulation of physical and chemical processes, and are understood as displaying properties of autopoiesic systems (pattern of organisation), dissipative structures, and cognitive process in it's broadest sense.

Published works that have resulted from my current research are:
“Interactive Sound Synthesis with Reaction-Diffusion System Instability” [Martin, 2004], a report on an investigation into the potential application of system instability to sound synthesis parameters where system variables are effected by audience or user interaction;
“A Simulated Natural System for Electronic Art” [Martin, 2005], a report  on an investigation for a system controlled by audience behaviour that produces simultaneous audio and visual output;
"Digital Behaviors and Generative Music" [Burraston, Martin, 2007], an article on the online journal Leonardo Electronic Almanac that discusses an experimental approach to composition that explores essentially natural systems such as reaction-diffusion systems and the computational simulation method of Cellular Automata.

The research topic and themes of investigation are informed by previous research study for a Masters degree in Electronic Arts (Computer Music), entitled "Reaction Diffusion Systems for Algorithmic composition" (Australia Centre for the Arts and Technology, ANU 1996). A practice based PhD, rather than 'topic' based or theoretical research, has allowed me to  investigate the broader implications of this earlier work: why that research was of interest to my arts practice; the significance of related yet unexplored areas of study, and the meaning of the subject in the context of contemporary art practice.

[Flake, 1998] Flake, G.W., The Computational Beauty of Nature. Computer Explorations of Fractals, Chaos, Complex Systems, and Adaption. The Mit Press, 1998.

[Martin, 1996] A. Martin, “Reaction-Diffusion Systems for Algorithmic Composition”. Organised Sound 1(3) pp 195-201 (1996).

[Martin, 2004] A. Martin, “Interactive Sound Synthesis with Reaction-Diffusion System Instability”, in Interaction: Systems, Practice and Theory Proceedings, University of Technology, Sydney (2004).

[Martin, 2005] A. Martin, “A Simulated Natural System for Electronic Art”, in HCI International, ed. G. Salvendy, Lawrence Erlbaum Assoc Inc., Las Vegas, Nevada USA. CD ROM (2005).

[Burraston, Martin, 2007] Dave Burraston and Andrew Martin"Digital Behaviors and Generative Music", in Leonardo Electronic Almanac , special issue “Wild Nature and the Digital Life”. Sue Thomas & Dene Grigar, editors. Vol. 15, Issue 1/2 (Jan 2007).