Wild Growth
野蛮生长
《野蛮生长》
交互影像装置，算法肖像系列
2014
《野蛮生长》是刘唱算法肖像系列中的早期作品，由一组交互影像装置与相应的实体物件构成。它探讨的是具象与抽象之间的边界——那些熟悉的形态如何被拆解、重构，最终演化为陌生的视觉语言。
每一件装置都附有一个摄像头，它如同作品的“眼睛”，持续读取着周围的环境与过往的身影。走进空间的观众，不只是观看者，也必然被这只“眼睛”捕获，成为一幅永远在变化的数字绘画的共创者。你留下的痕迹，被算法吸纳、转化，然后以它自己的方式重新生长——不是被驯服的生长，而是野性的、不可预测的蔓延，如同无人照料的藤蔓，在角落里悄然攀附、缠绕、蔓延。
这部作品也向艺术史上的大师致敬。它重新审视经典绘画的构图与色彩逻辑，将其转译为一种新的抽象语言——滴落的颜料、飞溅的笔触、绽放的色块，在数字画布上重构出一种属于算法的表现主义。肖像画在这里只是一个起点，真正的目的地是那些无法言说的内在视域与潜在情感：那些在具象与抽象之间闪烁的存在。
艺术家自述：“野蛮生长，是不被驯服的生长。整个过程如同植物的生长——在数字世界里，它是野生的、自由的、不可控的。算法如同一片无人修剪的丛林，在它自己生成的轨迹里肆意蔓延、自我繁衍。观众的出现不是让它改变的指令，而是它生长的养分。”
媒体评论
VICE杂志在报道中将刘唱称为“我们这个时代的Jackson Pollock” 。正如Pollock以行动绘画颠覆了传统绘画的创作方式，刘唱用算法重新定义了绘画的生成逻辑——滴溅的颜料被转化为数字笔触，画家的身体动作被替换为算法的运算轨迹，而观众本身，也成为画布上流动的一部分。这不仅是媒介的转换，更是对绘画本体的一次数字重写。
《野蛮生长》通过实时视频捕捉环境的色彩与动态，将自然、人物、图像转化为快速生成的肖像——从滴落、飞溅、笔触中绽放而出 。刘唱解释道：“整个过程如同植物的生长，这是数字世界里的野蛮生长。”
展览记录：
- ITP冬季展，纽约大学，2014
- FILE电子语言艺术节，圣保罗，巴西，2015
- “野蛮生长”刘唱个展，费城，美国
媒体报道：
- Creator Projects
- VICE: Is Chang Liu Our Generation's Jackson Pollock? (2014)
Wild Growth
Interactive Video Installations, Computational Portraiture Series
2014
Wild Growth is an early work in Liu Chang's computational portraiture series, comprising a collection of interactive video installations and complementary objects. It explores the boundary between representation and abstraction—how familiar forms can be deconstructed, reconfigured, and ultimately transformed into an unfamiliar visual language.
Each installation is equipped with a camera that acts as its "eye," continuously reading the surrounding environment and passersby. Visitors to the space are not merely observers; they are inevitably caught by this eye and become co-creators of an ever-changing digital painting. The traces they leave behind are absorbed by the algorithm and transformed, then allowed to grow anew in their own way—not a驯服 growth, but a wild, unpredictable蔓延, like untended vines quietly climbing,缠绕, and spreading in forgotten corners.
The work also pays homage to the masters of art history. It reexamines the compositional and color logic of classical painting, translating them into a new abstract language—dripping paint, splattered brushstrokes, blooming colors—reconstructed on the digital canvas as a form of algorithmic expressionism. Portraiture here is merely a point of departure; the true destination lies in those unspoken inner visions and latent emotions—those flickering existences hovering between representation and abstraction.
Artist Statement: "Wild growth is growth that refuses to be驯服. The whole process is similar to plant growth—in the digital world, it is wild, free, uncontrollable. The algorithm is like an untended jungle, spreading and reproducing along paths of its own making. The viewer's presence is not a command for it to change, but nourishment for it to grow."
Press
VICE magazine described Liu Chang as "our generation's Jackson Pollock" . Just as Pollock revolutionized painting with his action-based approach, Liu uses algorithms to redefine the logic of artistic generation—dripping paint transformed into digital brushstrokes, the artist's physical gestures replaced by computational trajectories, and the viewer themselves becoming part of the flowing canvas. This is not merely a shift in medium, but a digital rewriting of painting itself.
Wild Growth captures colors and movements from the environment through live video feed—positioned toward natural landscapes, pictures, or human subjects—and transforms them into rapidly generated portraits that blossom from drips, splatters, and brushstrokes. As Liu explains: "The whole process is similar to plant growth. It's wild growth in the digital world."
Exhibitions:
- ITP Winter Show, New York University, 2014
- FILE Festival, São Paulo, Brazil, 2015
- "Wild Growth" Liu Chang Solo Show, Philadelphia, USA
Press:
- Creator Projects
- VICE: Is Chang Liu Our Generation's Jackson Pollock? (2014)