Untitled [Squares Arranged according to the Laws of Chance] by Hans Arp

This piece’s use of chance demonstrates an early example of an artist relinquishing control to challenge traditional art production techniques. Arp supposedly allowed random processes to determine the placement of the squares on the canvas. This act and the similar work of Duchamp marked a departure from traditional artistic control, serving as an early example of the element of randomness as a creative force. Arp’s work challenged the notion of the artist as a sole creator and laid the foundation for later developments in generative art, where algorithms and computational systems generate artworks. This piece remains foundational conceptually to not only Dadaism but to Surrealism and generative art.