Evolutionary art moves to Edinburgh International Science Festival

Celebrated artist William Latham is presenting Mutator 1 + 2 - his first major exhibition in the UK in over 20 years - at the Edinburgh International Science Festival from 4 April – 22 May.

Professor Latham’s work forms part of How the Light Gets In - an ensemble exhibition of artists working with light.

– Professor of Computer Art within the at Goldsmiths - was one of the first UK artists in the 1980s to create computer art, and he rapidly gained an international reputation as a pioneer in the field.

His work blends organic imagery and computer animation, using software modeled upon the processes of evolution. Starting with a simple shape, Professor Latham introduces random ‘mutations’ of a form in order to generate increasingly complex three-dimensional creations that resemble fantastical, futuristic organisms.

Mutator 1 + 2 is his first major exhibition in the UK in over 20 years, opening at the Phoenix Gallery, Brighton in late 2013. It includes early hand-drawn work, huge organic wall hangings, computer-generated Cibachrome prints, video art and his most recent computer interactive evolutionary projections.

"An evolution driven by aesthetics"

Trained as an artist, William Latham moved into the world of computing through his work at IBM, and during this time collaborated with mathematician Stephen Todd to develop a methodology for mutating and evolving forms.

Their Mutator code allows people to ‘breed’ designs in the same way as Latham generates art, pulling us into the virtual world of artificial life. The manipulation of the natural world by humans is a theme which runs through much of Latham’s work - he likens himself to a gardener who breeds organic art by exploiting and amplifying mutations in order to create new, hybrid forms, a process he describes as “an evolution driven by aesthetics”.

After working in the computer games industry for 13 years, Latham returned to research and academia as Professor of Computer Art at Goldsmiths, where he works with .

He is currently also collaborating with Professor Mike Sternberg at Imperial College on software to explore the world of protein folding and scientific visualisation.

His interactive video projections in Mutator 1 + 2 draw upon his most recent work undertaken at Goldsmiths, and they allow viewers to participate in the process of artistic evolution in a direct and intuitive way. 

"Exploring the beauty, form and function of light" 

Mutator 1 + 2 is presented as part of How the Light Gets In, an exhibition co-curated by Edinburgh International Science Festival, Summerhall and ASCUS Art & Science, which brings together a selection of works by international artists intrigued by light in all its forms and facets with those aiming to shine a light on the workings of our brain, mind and consciousness.

Celebrating the UN International Year of Light and the Science Festival's Brainwaves strand, the exhibitions explore the beauty, form and function of light and its role as a metaphor for knowledge and enlightenment.

Further details about Mutator 1 + 2 and How the Light Gets In can be found on the Edinburgh International Science Festival website.

For more information about William Latham, visit www.williamlatham1.com