Generate Degenerate
Generate and Degenerate are a diptych of generative poetry co-created with GPT-3. The code was written by GPT-3 in response to the artist’s command “write generative poetry in p5js code”. The set of words following the words “generate” and “degenerate” were also collected using GPT-3. By using GPT-3 to create the code and to generate words, the pieces merge the old and new iterations of generative poetry — the first, according to ELO, a “poetic project that uses code, algorithm, or other indeterminate means to generate poetic texts”, and the more recent use of natural language processing models like GPT-3 to generate text. By letting GPT-3 create the code, this work draws out the machine’s nostalgic and decidedly un-self-reflexive understanding of generative poetry.
Created for FEMGEN, curated and organized by VerticalCrypto Art and Right Click Save, in partnership with Artblocks.