Data-driven imagery: “Conical” and “Stockspace” by Marius Watz

Marius Watz is a Norwegian artist based in NYC and Oslo who employs generative software processes for the production of abstract visual works.

His production ranges from pure software works (visit: unlekker.net) to public projections and physical fabricated objects. Most of his graphics shows vivid colors and hard-edged geometrical forms. Apart from exhibiting in important venues, Watz founded Generator.x in 2005 as a platform for a series of events related to generative art and computational design and he co-curated in 2010 the exhibition “abstrakt Abstrakt: The Systemized World” with Eno Henze at the Frankfurter Kunstverein.

He is a visiting lecturer in Interaction Design at the Oslo School of Architecture and Design, regularly lecturing and teaching workshops at schools and art institutions around the world. You can follow him on Twitter: @mariuswatz and on flickr.com/photos/watz.

Following are two works from 2009 : “Conical”, and “Stockspace”.

“Conical” is a series of of 10 unique prints released by the Portuguese electronic music label Cronica Electronica.

 

“Stockspace” is a work that falls within our interest in data-generated imagery (cf: “Monuments (The Aesthetics of Financial Tectonics) by Mathieu Bernard-Reymond“: Stockspace is, according to its author, “a set of custom software systems that create its forms out of historical stock prices and intraday trading activity. It was commisioned by Knight Capital Group, now-defunct due to their algo-trading bots disastrously glitching out and losing $440M in 30 minutes.”

Stockspace was made for the Media-Space 09 exhibition, part of the 22 Filmwinter Stuttgart festival.