Defining Spaces of Potential Art: The significance of representation in computer-aided creativity: Description & Creativity Conference, online proceedings, King's College, Cambridge, U.K., 3-5 July 2005

One way of looking at the creative process is as a search in a space of possible answers. One way of simulating such a process is through evolutionary algorithms, i.e., simulated evolution by random variation and selection. The search space is defined by the chosen genetic representation, a kind of formal description, and the ways of navigating the space are defined by the choice of genetic operators (e.g., mutations). In creative systems, such as computer-aided music composition tools, these choices determine the efficiency of the system, in terms of the diversity of the results, the degree of novelty and the coherence within the material. Based on various implementations developed during five years of research, and experiences from real-life artistic applications, I will explain and discuss these mechanisms, from a perspective of the creative artist.