Paul Brown Retrospective 1966 - 2022

Paul Brown pursues his work in the traditions of Constructivism, De Stijl, Art Concret and Conceptual & Systems Art. He discovered digital systems as an artistic medium at the Cybernetic Serendipity exhibition at the ICA in London in 1968. His main focus has been developing “bottom-up” AI or A-Life systems earning him an international reputation as a pioneer of this art genre. The earliest work in this show dates from 1966 when he was 19 and the latest is from 2022 when he was 75. His main output has been the design of A-Life agents who use cellular automata and tiling symmetry to navigate very large permutative datasets and create dynamic, real-time, computational & generative artworks. An early ambition was to make AI/A-life systems that were capable of independent creative activity but now recognises that this has not yet been achieved. However, he remains confident that robust, self-replicating and evolving creative AIs will appear soon and are likely to become humanities’ evolutionary successors.

The exhition of prints from Paul's long career will be on show at BCS Moorgate, London until the end of May 2023. The exhibition will then move to Phoenix in Leicester, where Paul will be give an in-person talk about his work. we also hope to exhibit a selection of screen-based work in Leicester.

Documentation

• Exhibition Notes (PDF)

Signed Poster and Booklet

A signed exhibition poster and exhibition printed booklet will be made available for purchase in the summer. The booklet will also be available as a free-to-download PDF.

Exhibition Showreel

A showreel of videos of five artworks by Paul Brown: Builder Eater (1979), Sandlines (1999), 4^16 (2006), Dragon (2012) and Four Dragons (2012). Each artwork is shown for approximately four minutes. The original artworks are generative and will be of higher quality that these videos.

Exhibition Photographs