Keith Tyson begins working on ArtMachine

Artwork · Top Moment

A still from Keith Tyson's video work Angelmaker Part I, one of the Artmachine Iterations realised from instructions generated by the Artmachine he began in 1991, as published on the Zabludowicz Collection's Keith Tyson page. Keith Tyson, Artmachine Iteration: Angelmaker Part I — 15 Seconds Prior to the Apocalypse (100 Views), 1996–98. Zabludowicz Collection.

Keith Tyson revolutionized the art world with ArtMachine in 1991, which he would work on for the next ten years. Born from the mind of the artist, then in his early twenties, this semi-computerized algorithm scanned the world’s information sources, generating unique “iterations”—artistic directives that Tyson translated into tangible creations. In other words, the system generated proposed artworks for Tyson to make. The ridiculousness of its plans was matched by their literal implementation, ranging from an artwork made of 366 painted breadboards to a “scubasculpture” kept on the bottom of the ocean for sixteen years. Tyson left the creative choices up to ArtMachine in one of the most important examples of material generative art since Cohen’s AARON, particularly from a mainstream, Turner Prize-winning contemporary artist.

Text by Peter Bauman. Generative Art Timeline, Le Random, fact-checked September 2026.