LEONARDO SOLAAS: DELIRIUM BLOOMS
Part of a series of articles & interviews released digitally that were first published in the print edition of the Bright Moments Quarterly that was distributed at Bright Moments Buenos Aires in Buenos Aires, Argentina in November, 2023.
Bright Moments: Thanks for taking the time to do this interview, Leonardo. I wanted to ask you about your first foray into generative art. I know it happened quite early, and when other artists in the collection refer to you, they acknowledge your legacy and have respect for your career. How did you first approach it?
Leonardo Solaas: I learned how to program when I was very young, maybe 11 or 12. It was the era of the Commodore 64 and BASIC. But then I stepped away from computers and programming for a long time until the Internet became accessible for someone like me from the middle class in Argentina, which was in the early 2000s.
That's when I had access to experiments that some people were doing with Flash, which was what was used at that time for anything that moved on a web page. For example, one of those pioneers was Jared Tarbell, who also generously shared the open-source code for the things he created. So, looking at his .fla files, I saw how things were made and how there was code inside those files. That's how I taught myself to program again, in a very different environment and language from my previous experience.
I became immediately interested in using this tool, programming, as an expressive medium and I started experimenting. Later on, I learned that these experiments were called generative, because they were rule-based systems that created a visually different result every time.
Flash and its internal programming language, ActionScript, were tools I used for a long time. But not long after, I discovered Processing, which was in version 1.0 at that time. Along with Processing, I started to see that there was a community of people interested in this kind of thing, and that's where my adventure with generative systems began.
It's interesting that you mention the tools and accessibility to these tools because I believe that during those times, it was difficult in Argentina to access computing equipment without it being excessively expensive.
When I was in seventh grade most computers were unaffordable to me. The first computer I could buy was called the Sinclair 1000. It was a small black thing with 1 KB of memory, and you could add an extension to the back to reach 16 KB of RAM, and programs were saved on a cassette tape. (laughs) So no, computers were in fact not accessible to me until I became much older.
Speaking of how you started using these tools during the Processing phase, there are times when tools also shape the creative process. So how do the tools you use affect your creativity and how does it come together today?
That's undoubtedly a general condition of art. Someone who paints with oils, for example, has possibilities but also limitations imposed by the technique they work with. Each tool, in my case, each programming language, enables some possibilities and closes off others.
But these constraints can also be creative stimuli. Today, the constraints are becoming less significant. In the 2000s, for example, everything was much slower.
Processing power compared to what we have today, screen resolutions—everything was smaller, scarcer. So, you had to be very ingenious in how you used resources, starting with processor time, to produce interesting results that could run smoothly in real-time. But those constraints can be an interesting creative challenge. Even today, there are things I think of that can be done and others that can't.
We've been looking back at your work, and collections like The Likeness of a Flower and Botanical Ghosts seem to send a clear message that animation and movement are essential for telling those stories. When you create, when do you decide to add movement and when not to?
Generally speaking, in all the generative systems I create, there is a dynamic process through which the form emerges, whether they are figurative works, like the ones you mentioned, or abstract ones. For example, some are based on particle systems that move through space according to different rules and leave traces. So, this is something that develops and evolves over time, and I would feel it’s a shame not to show that because it reveals something about the nature and essence of that system, about how that image is constructed. So, when the environment allows it, for example, on a digital platform or when I publish an NFT, I like to show the process by which the image is built and developed.
Your background in philosophy seems to have a significant presence in your work. How do you see that relationship between these two worlds when creating?
It's a somewhat underground, somewhat secret relationship. I would say it's not explicit. I also write articles, give classes and talks, and perhaps there isn't a very visible or evident connection between the two. But for me, naturally, the connection exists. I think that connection is me.
Also, there are topics that I often discuss and write about in the field of philosophy, like the autonomy of the technological systems around us, the limits of human agency, or the inner workings of creativity and art that always come into play in my work as an artist.
What can you share with us about the collection you are presenting for Bright Moments Buenos Aires?
It's a work in progress, but it's relatively advanced. It will be a continuation of works like the ones you mentioned a few minutes ago, which are figurative and have botanical or floral motifs.
However, unlike the previous ones, which attempted an algorithmic simulation of traditional artistic techniques like cyanotypes, expressionist painting, pencil drawing, or engraving, for Bright Moments I'm freeing myself from that sort of reference and creating something that doesn't try to imitate anything. These are complete fantasies, "delirious" flowers. Hence the provisional title of the work, which is Delirium Blooms.
I'm interested in the ambiguity of the word "blooms" as it straddles the space between a noun and a verb. "Delirium flourishes" or "delirium sprouts," so to speak. So, the idea is to take those techniques I've been developing in previous works further to create something that loses all direct reference to reality and is more like a pure explosion of feeling.
Would you say that you're stepping out of your comfort zone for this project?
Well, I would say that with almost every project I do, I step out of my comfort zone. I'm always setting myself challenges that I later suffer through (laughs) because they don't work, because they're very difficult, because at some point, I really think they don't work at all. And then I cross a threshold, and they start to work. But yes, there's a crossing of a border when you free yourself from the imitation of an existing model. I don't have that reference point in this case.
Can you tell us a bit about what the art scene is like in Argentina? Perhaps in terms of your workspace, your environment, and other artists like you in Buenos Aires?
It's a small community, but we communicate a lot among ourselves. We know each other, share knowledge, meet at various events like exhibitions, workshops, etc. We form bonds of friendship. So, I would say it's a very marginal environment within the Argentine art scene, very peripheral. But it's no less interesting and intense in creative work for that reason.
Bright Moments Buenos Aires will be, and is already, a fantastic opportunity for all of us to come together and make our community stronger and more connected with the world.
