Gaëtan Robillard ESAD TALM, School of Art and Design
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The Generative Workshop (re)Cycling Processes in Digital Art Education Gaëtan Robillard ESAD TALM, School of Art and Design Report. The New European Bauhaus Award
The Generative Workshop
(re)Cycling Processes in Digital Art Education
Report
Designing computer artifacts is both art and science […]. The challenge to designers and design
researchers is to find a way to connect the knowledge production for design with the knowledge
production inherent in the practice of designing.
It seems likely that we do not yet sufficiently understand the nature, motivations, and interaction design
needed in place-based communities in order to establish sustainable and dense webs of communication.
Thomas Binder et al. (eds.), (Re)Searching the Digital Bauhaus, Springer, London, 2009, p. 9; p. 106.
The project presented here starts in the context of an academic research on algorithmic aesthetics
and its implications in art and society1. It evolves on the grounds of education, art and software
design.
In a world that is now composed with algorithms, coupled with the promise of a computational
intelligence, it is appropriate to ask which place we reserve for the construction of the subject
(in the words of the psychologist Jean Piaget). In this project, art which is conceived with
algorithms, and in particular the digital image, is investigated in educational context. This
involves high school students (Lycée Colbert, Paris), university students (IMAC Engineering
faculty of University of Gustave Eiffel), art school students (School of Art and Design ESAD
TALM-Tours), and more specifically university students involved in teachers training programs
(Institut National Supérieur du Professorat et de l'Éducation, Paris).
Designed by Gaëtan Robillard, artist and researcher, the Generative Workshop aims to develop
a sustainable and inclusive vision in digital art education. Its main objective is therefore to
gather a broad audience around a constructive and novel approach in this field.
The project involves two distinct outcomes.
1) Generic Images: a cycle of participatory workshops, lectures and software development (p. 2)
2) Logical Drawings: A series of exhibitions (p. 3)
Below the two outcomes will be outlined. Social impact and novelty are then discussed. The
second outcome is clearly a result of the first one. Participant’s experiences, visual production,
and survey results are reformulated in the installation of the exhibition.
The report also comprehends a list of all support and funding (p. 5), a timeline of events
between 2017 and 2020 as well as a list of links (p. 6). CV of Gaëtan Robillard is
attached at the end of the document (p. 7).
1 Gaëtan Robillard, Tracing algorithms: from early computer art to the shaping of artificial intelligence, Phd in progress
since 2017, University Paris 8, School of art and design ESAD TALM-Tours.
1Series of posters, part of the final presentation of the Generic Images
workshop with a high school class, at Gaîté Lyrique, 2018.
Generic Images, From Digital Art to Education
Generic Images is a software designed together with an open workshop for algorithmic practice
in the context of art education. It acts as a graphic generator that produces meaning from a
participatory process, fostering an increased interaction between individuals, algorithms and
artistic language. How do individuals, algorithms and artistic language interact? How to
structure a cognitive space which weaves these relations?
One of the working hypotheses proposed here is that in order to produce an environment
specific to artistic development and teaching of generative aesthetics – it is necessary to think of
an environment that is human, software and hardware. Moreover, this environment relies on
three key notions:
1. Index: an index of visual elements drawn by hand or generated by algorithmic
procedures – graphic shapes, hand drawings, or transformations of these drawings. The
index can be related to the notion of repertoire found in generative aesthetics (Max
Bense, 1965; Frieder Nake, 2005).
2. Generate: new visual arrangements resulting from the distribution of elements
contained in the index. Most of these spatial operations use random calculation. The
generativity of the software is similar to the distribution of probabilities in the field of
generative aesthetics.
3. Learn 2: learning through verbalization and the determination of a syntax of visual
operations, in between natural and formal language – a language allowing to describe
algorithmic operations (instruction, assembly, loop …), but also – saving visual results.
Generic Images (software and workshops) was set in two important steps. The first step involved
the design and development of the Generic Images software, which responds to a scenario of
generative images showing human-machine interactions. The development is made as tutored
project in the university, by a team of four engineering students. The second step involved a high
2 The notion of learning intersects here at least two things. Integrated as a function in the software – at a semiotic
level, it problematizes the translation of an artistic gesture into a formal language – an algorithmic one. On another
note, the notion of learning confronts machine learning methods often present in our contemporary technological
world (genetic algorithms, artificial intelligence, deep learning).
2school art class in a workshop about hand drawing, algorithms and pen plotting. Involving the
university students, this step worked as a user case for Generic Images software.
The high school students were both users testing the software developed by the engineering
students and content creators. It is important to note that designing at the university and testing
at the high school were simultaneous and with a lot of cumulative critical feedback. In the end,
poster were produced and given to participants. To reinforce the critical framework, high school
pupils were asked to contribute to a survey documenting their thinking about algorithmic art. It
was later used to design the artwork Logical Drawings. And as shown in the Timeline below,
Generic Images further led to new workshops in art schools where it was successfully tested.
It is the experience of different groups with Generic Images software – from its design to its use,
that engender a sustainable model for artistic and digital environments. Focused on the aesthetic
continuity of the line, the model adapts to different types of place-based activities ranging from
art to design, and from software literacy to abstraction. It brings together different generations
(high school students, university students, researchers, and artists) with different backgrounds
and curriculums in a critical process, questioning human activity in the era of automation of
cognitive work. Therefore the experience acquired through Generic Image is highly inclusive,
sustainable and aesthetic.
Logical Drawings, From Education to Digital Art
The participatory work outlined in Generic Images led to a database of drawings, processes and
texts, resulting from the survey with high school pupils. Gaëtan Robillard’s installation, Logical
Drawings, stems from this material to construct a space bringing together generative machine
learning and student’s thinking on algorithmic art.
Gaëtan Robillard, Logical Drawings (detail), plexiglass with laser
engraving, 5” LCD screens, raspberry computers with program,
coloured paper, 2018.
3If it is obvious to digitize an image, what is it to conceive a generative program that would
explore a given element of representation? What if a line was caught in the learning process, by
being drawn until it becomes its own? As we understood in Generic Images, the artistic challenge
in designing generative software does not rest only on the software domain. To apprehend
forms and produce meaning, it is necessary to conceive the material space in which the software
is situated.
Logical Drawings involves the design of that space, together with a drawing algorithm based on
machine learning. Used as primary material, responses the high school students gave to the
survey in Generic Images offer a discursive counterpoint to the presentation of the generated
images. Answers to questions such as – do you think an algorithm can do art for you? – raised
awareness of the place of the human and his relation to the machine through a process of artistic
creation. Referring to freewill, intention, nature or technology, answers showed great diversity.
As a result, Logical Drawing software is embedded in light weight and low consumption nano-
computers. Plexiglass holders that carry screen and computer can be displayed suspended in the
middle of an exhibition space, or hung on the wall. The installation is variable in size. Sometimes,
solid bright color backgrounds are used to differentiate each of the programs, each one of them
using a dedicated repertoire of predetermined drawings to train with. For each holder, the
machine learning algorithm is slightly differentiated, according to a nomenclature M1, M2, M3 …
until M6. For each of them, a series of parameters are varied such as the definition of the
subdivision of a line into segments, or the minimum distance between two points so that a line is
actually drawn on the screen.
As a whole, the installation presents us with a multitude of drawings that change over time. The
initial drawings describe single lines, patterns, or figures of transmission. As an environment, it
offers a transaction of meaning between software, image and language. The space invites the
public to a free walk between each component. The verbal responses of the students in
formation counterpoint the algorithmic image. The divergent opinions represented by these
texts sometime oppose to the logic of the program. We hope that this juxtaposition forms both
the aesthetic and the critical character of the installation which enhances public awareness on
learning and creating in the digital era. It is not only about offering a digital experience, but also
about producing discursiveness in the space itself. Thus we want to introduce a tension between
creativity and automated learning.
4Social Impact and Novelty
We have seen that the Generative Workshop leads to questions on the relationship between
manual and intellectual gesture, but also between thinking and algorithms. We believe that
today the wakening to the importance of such questions is necessary and that it goes beyond the
framework of artistic education. The heteromation analyzed by Hamid Ekbia and Bonnie Nardi in
2017 3, which divides the work between humans and machines by means of algorithms, poses an
economic, social and political problem. Just as artificial intelligence can be perceived as an
“epistemological revolution” 4, the importance of illuminating relationships between human
cognition and machine calculation must be considered. Focusing on the artistic creation to
reflect the social activity of an era, also allows a critical experience in a complex maze of
individuals and algorithms.
The Generative Workshop project explores different dimensions of generative aesthetics. We
presented and defended the way Generic Images software has been designed, placing human
capacity for action and inclusiveness at the heart of the process. We also wanted to step back
from an existing model for the transmission of art and algorithmic thought. We believe that it is
necessary to form a triangular relation between intuitive gesture, generative algorithm and
material realization. This model then requires a creation and transmission environment. It is
seen as a global chain where each part must be linked to the other two through an experience.
For more information, Generic Images and Logical Drawings are discussed in detail in a paper
published as conference proceeding (see Timeline, Robillard and Lioret, 2018).
Support, funding
Dicréam CNC, Paris
Région Île-de-France
INSPE, Paris
Gaîté Lyrique, Paris
Lycée Colbert, Paris
Laboratoire des Intuitions, School of Art and Design ESAD TALM Tours
IMAC, Engineering faculty of University of Gustave Eiffel
La Centrif’, University of Gustave Eiffel
3 Hamid R. Ekbia and Bonnie A. Nardi, Heteromation, and Other Stories of Computing and Capitalism, MIT Press,
Cambridge: MA, 2017.
4 Robert Maggiori, « Humanité », Voyage au cœur de l’IA : Comment l'Intelligence Artificielle va changer nos vies [Journey
to the heart of AI: How Artificial Intelligence will change our lives], Libération Hors-Série, 2018.
5Timeline
December 2017. Lecture
Gaëtan Robillard, « L’art à l’ère du numérique [Art in the Digital Era] », Académie de Créteil, Maison des
Arts
February 2018. Lecture and presentation with students
Gaëtan Robillard, « Generic Images (Index, Generate, Learn) », Nous ne sommes pas le nombre que nous
croyons être, Fondation Daniel et Nina Carasso, with Chaire arts & sciences, Cité des Arts, Paris
April 2018. Workshop
Gaëtan Robillard, Generic Images, Gaîté Lyrique and Lycée Colbert, Paris
March – April 2018. Master class
Gaëtan Robillard, Generic Images, INSPE (Institut National du Professorat et de l’Education) Paris,
Sorbonne university
May 2018. Exhibition and presentation with students
Gaëtan Robillard, « Generic Images », Ateliers partagés (Shared workshops), Gaîté Lyrique
March / May 2018. Workshop
Gaëtan Robillard, Generic Images, ESA Dunkerque
October 2018. Workshop
Gaëtan Robillard, Generic Images, ESAD TALM-Tours
*December 2018. Publication
Gaëtan Robillard, Alain Lioret, « Generic Images (index, generate, learn): A Heteromatic Environment? »,
Generative Art Conference, Argenia, Verona, Italy, 2018
October 2018 – January 2019. Exhibition and workshop
Gaëtan Robillard, Logical Drawings (solo show), INSPE, Paris
October – December 2019. Exhibition
Gaëtan Robillard, « Logical Drawings », Back Forward n° 2, Espace Croisé Art Center, Roubaix
March 2020. Exhibition
Gaëtan Robillard, « Logical Drawings », The Wave in the Matrix (solo show), Ronzier Art Center,
Valenciennes
Links
Generic Images main website
https://tabouret-studio.github.io/Images-Generiques/
Generic Images software, source code
https://github.com/tabouret-studio/Images-Generiques
Generic Images software, documentation
https://tabouret-studio.gitbook.io/images-generiques/
6Gaëtan Robillard – artist, researcher, visiting professor
| Born in 1982 at Plœmeur
| 15 rue du Général de Gaulle | gaetanrobillard.studio@gmail.com
| 94350 Villiers-sur-Marne | +33 (0)6.95.91.14.59
Studies
2017-2021 Practice based Phd in aesthetics, art sciences and technology, University of Paris 8
“Tracing Algorithms: From Early Computer Art to the Shaping of Artificial Intelligence”
2019 Research grant, hosted by Compart, University of Bremen,
supported by German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD)
2013 Postgraduation, Fresnoy – National studio of contemporary arts, Tourcoing
2011 Postgraduation, École Nationale des Beaux-Arts de Lyon
2007 DNSEP with congratulations, École Supérieure des Beaux-Arts de Nantes
MASTER in digital technology, cultural design and mediation, ESTHUA University of Angers
Solo EXHIBITIONS selection
2020 The Wave in the Matrix: Field n° 3, Centre d’arts Ronzier, Université Polytechnique
Hauts-de-France, Valenciennes
2019 The Wave in the Matrix: Field n° 2, Espace Croisé, Roubaix
The Wave in the Matrix: Field n° 1, Université Bretagne Ouest, Brest
2018 Logical Drawings, INSPE-Université Sorbonne, Paris
2015 Undoing the Tide, Centre d’art An Lanntair, Stornoway (UK)
2013 Searching for the Wave, Espace Culture Université de Lille 1
2010 The Outlaws, Galerie Sycomore, Paris
Group EXHIBITIONS / screenings selection
2019 (Re)Model The World, Pearl Art Museum, Shanghai
The New Human Agenda, Akbank Sanat, Istanbul
2018 Counting the Waves, Hessel Museum, New-York
Images génériques, Gaîté Lyrique, Paris
Artistes et Robots : Journée académique, Grand Palais, Paris
à l’épreuve de l’eau, Fondation François Schneider, Wattwiller
2017 Le Rêve des formes, Palais de Tokyo, Paris
How to Picture Living Systems n° 2, Konrad Lorenz Institute, Vienna
2014 Mapp’ing, E-Fest, Tunis
L’instant de voir, Champs Libres, Rennes
2013 Strange Music Festival, Centro Cultural, São Paulo
Panorama 15, Le Fresnoy, Tourcoing
Festival International d’Art Video, Casablanca
2012 Panorama 14, Le Fresnoy, Tourcoing
2011 To Hug a Snake, programme Résonance, Biennale de Lyon
Faces and Walls, FID Festival international de cinéma, Marseille
2010 Panorama de la jeune création, Biennale de Bourges
Imaginez maintenant, Centre Pompidou de Metz
COMMISsionS
2018 Institut National Supérieur du Professorat et de l’Education de l’académie de Paris. Wall drawing:
ӏ > Cellular Automata
2017 Editions Canopé. Illustration design :
ӏ > Culture numérique, éducation aux médias et à l’information
ӏ > Innover dans l’école par le design, co-editor La Cité du design de Saint-Étienne
ӏ Tabouret Studio (founder). Digital animation, motion design and 3D:
ӏ > La Poste, COAL art et écologie, independant filmakers2016 Rectorat de l’Académie de Lille. Finalist, artwork for the new institutional building:
ӏ > Digital artwork on the theme of school evolution in regards to technology
2015 IRI Centre Pompidou. Mons 2015 European Capital of Culture : When Technology Meets Culture:
ӏ > Digital scenography and data visualization Ligne de temps
2013 Tabouret Studio. Digital animation
| > Design biennial Saint-Etienne
| > Architecture biennial Venice
| Cité du Design de Saint-Étienne. Research and design for space and services (Orange, La Poste)
GRANTS / AWARDs / residencies
2021 Residency, MediaFutures, European Union – Horizon 2020
Residency, The Intelligent Museum, ZKM | Karlsruhe and the Deutsches Museum
2019 Residency, AIRLab (in science laboratory), Communauté d’Universités
et Établissement Lille-Nord-de-France
2018 Residency, Gaîté Lyrique, Paris
2017 Grant for digital art developpement, DICREAM CNC
2013 Award winner, trophée Gailly, Institut National de la Recherche Agronomique, Versailles
Residency, Cité Internationale des Arts de Paris
2010 Help for first solo show, Centre National des Arts Plastiques
2008 Grant for creation, Ville de Paris
Price, help for creation, Région du Haut-Rhin
2007 Price, innovative use, 3D3, Le Cube, Issy-les-Moulinaux
PUBLICATIONS selection
2021 Gaëtan Robillard, « Max Bense en visionnaire : de l’entropie à la dialectique des images programmées »,
Images Re-vues [En ligne], Hors-série.
2020 Gaëtan Robillard, Alain Lioret, « Entangled? Frieder Nake’s Probabilities Versus Quantum Computing
Artistic Research », XXI Generative Art, Domus Argenia, Milano.
Gaëtan Robillard, « La vague dans la matrice : inscrire le calcul dans la matière ». Images,
sciences et technologies, Esä, Tourcoing.
2019 Gaëtan Robillard, Alain Lioret, « A Vision without a Sight: From Max Bense’s Theory to the Dialectic
of Programmed Images ». XXI Generative Art, Domus Argenia, Rome.
2018 Gaëtan Robillard, « Véra Molnar Machine Visuelle : Extrait d’un entretien filmé ». Générer des dessins :
le dessein « des machines à dessiner », Editions Canopé, Paris.
LECTURES / ARTIST TALKS selection
2020 « Art+IA : une introduction au deep learning en art », Le Fresnoy, Tourcoing.
« Quand rechercher c’est faire des vagues : vers l’exposition d’une démarche de recherche-création »,
Recherche-création à la Cité Descartes, Université Gustave Eiffel.
2019 « La Vague dans la matrice : un dialogue art-science », FOOR, Université de Lille, Villeneuve d’Ascq.
« La Vague dans la matrice », Journée Visu 2019, Télécom ParisTech.
2018 « Motif, langage, environnement : le modèle de Meinhardt vu à travers une recherche visuelle et
« Images génériques : une expérimentation logicielle », Nous ne sommes pas le nombre que nous
croyons être : Dynamograma VII, Cité Internationale des Arts, Paris.
2017 « L’art à l’ère du numérique », Journée de formation aux enseignants de l’Académie de Créteil.
2016 « Forme et Formule », Forumidable : Ecritures de création et Pratiques de Recherche, ENSCI et
Palais de Tokyo, Paris.
« Création numérique et pédagogie », Festival EXIT, Maison des arts de Créteil.
Teaching
2014-2021 Visiting professor, visual art and aestehetics,Université Gustave Eiffel Engineering Faculty,
Champs-sur-Marne
2017-2020 Invited artist, école Supérieure d’Art et de Design TALM Tours, école Supérieure d’Art Tourcoing
et Dunkerque
2017-2019 Jury member, Fresnoy – National studio of contemporary arts, TourcoingYou can also read
