Le Traité des Amateurs (2022), is an automated-art-system capable of generating new works of electronic literature from any existing text. In its starting state, the system arranges 32 words of text as 2 couplets, each with 2 lines, and each line consisting of 8 words. One of the couplets appears at the top, and the other at the end, of a potential octave of lines.
Once the work initiates, the movement of the words is determined by specific internal rules; some words move up or down in linear steps, some diagonally, while some seem to ‘jump’ over other words. Occasionally, some words appear to replace others by occupying their space. The artwork continues to generate saccadic-like movements of words as it jumps between states of chaos and harmonious patterns of language. This visual and literary tension between the original couplets of 32 words is determined by two adversarial AI agents playing a game of chess with each other.

Karen ann Donnachie and Andy Simionato have worked exclusively together in the expanded fields of computational art and design since 1990. Recently their work received the Tokyo TDC Award for two consecutive years, the Cornish Family Prize for Art and Design Publishing, and the Robert Coover Award for Electronic Literature.

Independent Artist (Karen ann) RMIT University (Andy Simionato)

karenanndonnachie@gmail.com