Swarm Systems in Art and Architecture: State of the Art

This book presents the recent computational developments inspired by swarms in art known as swarm art and discusses applying swarm intelligence concepts in architecture. Non-human art is a great leap in the evolution of contemporary art, removing the requirement of an artist's production from the creative process. Furthermore, it is a critical declaration in opposition to the anthropomorphic vision which is so destructive for all other life forms and the planet's ecology. When accepted and integrated into human culture, non-human art done by artificial systems or machines boosts creativity and stimulates innovative fusions.

We analyze 120 swarm systems with unique and diverse conceptual contexts, agent design, and audience engagement that can be utilized as inspiration for future projects or to design new swarm algorithms by artists, architects, or computer scientists.

Mahsoo Salimi is a Ph.D. candidate and researcher at the School of Interactive Art and Technology (SIAT) at Simon Fraser University (SFU). Her thesis is bridging machine learning, control theory and swarm robotics to create dynamic and visceral relationships between human, robots, and AI. Her scholarly work appears in the International Conference on Swarm Intelligence (ICSI 2021), International Symposium on Machine Learning and Art, Art Machines 2 (2021), and International Symposium on Electronic Art (ISEA).