Era study, not the artwork
Generative Art Timeline · by Peter Bauman
The Living Timeline
Live playlist
Tuning in
All 1,147 moments in chronological order. Orange corners have their own live scene. Choose one to put it on stage.
Ways in
One Timeline, six ways to see it.
The same 1,147 moments, rearranged by each view. Choose a way in and watch them move.
- 01 · Explore chronologicallyTime Browse the images on a light table, or move through the chapters on the time axis. Enter Chronology
- 02 · Explore connectionsIdeas Follow shared subjects across twenty-three regions of ideas and discover connections between eras. Enter Ideas
- 03Threads40 movements woven through the chapters.
- 04People1,282 people, placed by the moments they share.
- 05MachinesThe instruments of each era, from the loom to the chain.
- 06TourA self-running broadcast for the sofa or the gallery wall.
Live from the data
The chance door
Leave it to chance.
In 1757 Johann Philipp Kirnberger published a way to compose music with rolls of dice. Roll here and the Timeline deals you one of its 1,147 moments.
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The Timeline, counted
Every number is computed from the Timeline’s own data as this page loads.
Read the history
Start with a question.
01
A History of Generative Art
Follow the history of generative art from patterns, chance and early machines to computer art, creative coding, AI and on-chain systems.
↗02What Is Generative Art?
Understand generative art through autonomous systems, chance, code and material processes, with examples from Philip Galanter to Vera Molnár and Tyler Hobbs.
↗03AI Art Timeline: From AARON to Learned Image Models
Explore AI art history through early AI research, Harold Cohen’s AARON, artificial life, GANs, DeepDream and diffusion models.
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