Generative Art Timeline · Chapter 8: Tooling Era (2000s)
2001
Genomic Cartography: Chromosome 18, Ben Fry

Part of MoMA’s permanent collection and from Fry‘s time at the MIT Media Lab’s Aesthetics and Computation Group, Chromosome 18 was part of genomic cartography and an example of Fry’s expert use and interest in data visualization.
Text by Peter Bauman. Generative Art Timeline, Le Random, fact-checked September 2026.
Sources
People
Movements
Data Art, software art
Filed under
- Ideas
- art and science, Data Art
- Technologies
- data visualization, genomics, software art
- People
- Ben Fry
- Works
- Genomic Cartography
- Organisations
- Aesthetics + Computation Group, MIT Media Lab, MoMA
Echoes across time
- 1988 · Roman Verostko with Seminal Article Epigenetic Painting
- 2024 · Getty PST
- 1980 · David Topper and John H. Holloway, Interrelationships between the Visual Arts, Science and Technology: A Bibliography
Le Random editorials
- Golan Levin on the Potentiality of Blobs, Peter Bauman, January 10, 2024
- John Maeda on Computational Evolution, Peter Bauman, July 22, 2024
- Frieder Nake on “Machinic” Miracles, Peter Bauman, July 10, 2024
- Jen Lowe and Patricio González Vivo on Democratizing Knowledge, Peter Bauman, May 21, 2024
Le Random podcast
- Timeline Ch 8—Tooling Era (2000s) with Christiane Paul, Casey Reas, Christa Sommerer & Golan Levin — listen with transcript on Le Random (15 May 2024, 64 min). Transcript mentions Ben Fry. Chapter 8’s episode. Apple Podcasts · Spotify