Generative Art Timeline · Chapter 2: Modern Era (1850–1949)
1925
Surrealists Experiment with Rules-Based Chance
Based on parlor games, the group began creating “exquisite corpses,” which involved collaborative and random creations based on a set of rules. This technique was a precursor to rules-based systems producing random results.
Text by Peter Bauman. Generative Art Timeline, Le Random, fact-checked September 2026.
Sources
Movements
Chance Art, Surrealism, Video Game Art
Filed under
- Ideas
- Chance Art, collaboration, exquisite corpse, games, randomness, rules, Surrealism, Video Game Art
- Technologies
- rule-based systems
Echoes across time
- 1971 · Kenneth Martin, Chance and Order V, 1971-2
- 1975 · Brian Eno Releases Discreet Music
- 1985 · Perlin Noise Invented
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- Timeline Ch 2—Modern Era with Kate Vass — listen with transcript on Le Random (20 Jul 2023, 58 min). Chapter 2’s episode. Apple Podcasts · Spotify