Peter Beyls is a Belgian artist and composer who has been working with a computer since the seventies. He explores computer programming as a medium for artistic expression and develops generative systems in music, the visual arts and hybrid formats. He studied music and computer science at EMS, Stockholm, the Royal Music Conservatory, Brussels and the University College London. Beyls was awarded a PhD in Computer Science from the University of Plymouth (UK), for his research on evolutionary computing applied to real-time interactive music systems. He published extensively on various aspects of digital media, including computer assisted composition, real-time systems design, interface design, personal expert systems and in general, the application of Artificial Intelligence for artistic purposes.

Beyls pioneered the use of cellular automata in the field of computer music while at the VUB AI-Lab. His work was widely exhibited and performed at conferences like Siggraph, ICMC, Imagina, ISCM, Generative Arts and ISEA. Beyls was guest lecturer at a.o. the University of Quebec, California Institute of the Arts, Queens University Kingston and the Osaka Arts University. He currently teaches theory and history of Media Art at The School of Arts, University College Ghent, coordinates research at the KASK Interaction Lab and lectures on Sound Art and Generative Systems at LUCA Brussels.

“I have always thought of computer media as active partners in the creative process, a methodology I have referred to as “conceptual navigation”. Software is written in order to explore my (often ambiguous) intentions. Once an idea is formalised in a programme, its imaginative potential can be evaluated by the feedback the programme gives. Since a program reflects the objectives of the artist, programming is considered a method of artistic introspection. Software is thus instrumental as a functional, materialist means allowing the active manipulation of otherwise purely conceptual constructs.

Over the years, my work has primarily centred on (1) generative systems, including plotter drawings created from genetic algorithms (nested LISP functions viewed as DNA), (2) human-machine interactive music systems using machine-learning and (3) interactive audiovisual installations, many of them using computer-vision.

I am also fascinated by the problem of translating digital/virtual artefacts back into the tangible analog world as to make them available for humans to be experienced. This raises questions of how digital art (1) is connected to the sensual parameters of human physicality and (2) how it can be referenced/understood from the whole of human culture and the massive depth of its history.”

born 1950 in Kortrijk, Belgium

SOLO EXHIBITIONS
2014
Simple Thoughts, IMAL Center for Digital Cutures and Technology, Brussels, Belgium
2011
A selection of early algorithmic work, Mediaruimte, Brussels, Belgium

GROUP EXHIBITIONS
2022
ARTWARE 8, Lima, Peru
2019
Coming Full Circle, Verbeke Foundation Belgium
Sound Vibes, Galerie Charlot, Paris
2017
FishBowl, Verbeke Foundation Belgium
2016
Rainforest by Peter Beyls and Andre Perrotta, HCI2016 Art Show, San Jose, CA
Societé, Brussels, Belgium, Group-exhibition exploring the semantics of numbers
2015
De Stille Dimensie, KU Leuven, Belgium
A Look At The Future, Phil Niblock, Peter Beyls and Valery Vermeulen, Gallery De Buck, Ghent
2014
Generative Art Exhibition, Zwarte Zaal, The School of Arts, University College Ghent, Belgium
2011
LONELY AT THE TOP: Graphology Chapter 3, M HKA Antwerp, Belgium
inFORM Exhibition, Galerie Kunst-zicht Ghent, Belgium
2010
Een verlangen naar abstractie, Felix De Boeck Museum, Drogenbos, Belgium
2008
Imaging by Numbers: A Historical View of the Computer Print, The Mary and Leigh Block Museum of Art, Northwestern University, Chicago, Illinois, US

PRESENTATIONS
2022
ARTWARE 8 Conference, Lima, November 2022
2019
GA2019 – XXII GENERATIVE ART CONFERENCE, Rome, 19, 20 and 21 December 2019
Computer Arts Society at BCS London, 17 December 2019
W’re Out Phishin’ – Tools for things and ideas, KASK, Zwarte Zaal Gent, 27. Nov. – 12. Dec. 2019
Seeing Together: A Synopsis, 21. September – 06. October, 2019
21ST INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE ON HUMAN-COMPUTER INTERACTION, Walt Disney World Swan and Dolphin Resort, Orlando, Florida, USA, 26-31 July 2019
Chinese HCI 2019, Crickets, audiovisual installation, Xiamen, China, 27. – 30. June 2019
Listen to Me – Sounds like Silence, Looks like Tinnitus, Peter Beyls and Philippe Druez: Artificial Bird Project, Zebrastraat Gent
2018
NIME2018, Motivated Learning in Human Machine Improvisation, Virginia Tech, Blacksburg, VA, 3.- 7. June 2018
Panel Art Brussels: Post Internet Art, Ways Beyond the Post-Internet’ 20. April 2018
Celebrating 50 years of the Computer Arts Society, 21. May – 13. June 2018, LCB LightBox Leicester, UK
NICC Jubilee A4 Works, NICC, Bouwmeesterstraat 3, Antwerp, Belgium, 2. – 18. February 2018
2017
Symbiotic Interaction with/in Artificial Ecosystems, Generative Arts Conference 2017, Ravenna, IT, 12 – 16. December 2017
Improvisational Interfaces
Improvisational Creativity Workshop, Monash University, Prato, IT, 19. – 21. July 2017
Human – Machine Interaction: Learning to Create in a Common Effort, ISEA 2017, Manizales, Columbia, 11. – 18. June 2017
Improvisation as Speculative Computing, New York University, Steinhardt School of Culture, Education, and Human Development, 1. May 2017
2016
Açores [Systemic Island], Generative Arts Conference 2016, Florence, IT, December 2016
Colors of the Web, Wenzhou Design Biennial, Wenzhou, China, December 2016
Living Gestures, CMMR2016, Bridging People and Sound, São Paulo, Brazil, July 2016
Art as Speculative Computing, ATEC Lecture, UT Dallas, TX, 28. April 2016
Thoughts on Interaction, Creative Colab’ 16, 5. February 2016, Creative Industries Center of UPTEC, Porto
2015
Talk to me, 2013 – 2015, Live performance, Generative Arts Conference 2015, Venice, IT
Artist talk at LISA, LISA, Leaders in Software and Art, New York, 6. June 2015
Hybrid Approaches to Aesthetic Computing, HarvestWorks Vorlesung an der New York University, NYC, 9. June 2015
Bienal de Cerveira, Vila Nova de Cerveira, Portugal, July 2015
WindChime, audiovisuelle Installation für NIME2015, Baton Rouge, LA, June 2015
2014
Cognitive Issues in Coding for Art, International Conference on Science, Technology and Art Relations, ORT Braude College of Engineering, Tel Aviv, Israel
Towards Intimate Artistic Negotiation with Machines, NYUAD New York Universtiy Abu Dhabi
WindChime, a web-driven audio-visual installation, ISEA 2014, 20th Inernational Symposium on Electronic Art, Dubai, UAE
WindChime, a web-driven audio-visual installation, New York City Electronic Music Festival, Abrons Art Center, Lower East Side, Manhattan, NYC
Creative Companionship with Machines, Black and White Festival, Universidade Católica Portuguesa Porto, Portugal
Sharing Aesthetic Decision Making with Machines, CITAR, Universidade Católica Portuguesa Porto, Portugal
2013
From artificial intelligence to artificial life: the evolution of generative thinking in the arts, SVA: School of Visual Arts, New York City
The Delegation of Aesthetic Decision Making to Machines, British Computer Society, London, UK
Evolution and Emergence in an Audio-Visual Ecosystem, Lucca, Italia
2012
Towards a Philosophy of Aesthetic Survival, Onsterfelijkheid: Colloquium Update_4, Zebrastraat Gent, Belgium
Interaction in Hybrid Spaces, ISEA2012 Albuquerque: Machine Wilderness, University of New Mexico, Albuquerque, New Mexico, US
Drawing By Machine, Perdu lecture, Amsterdam, Netherlands
2011
Found Systems As Glitch Culture, 14th Gernerative Arts Conference, Rome, Italia
Selected Audiovisuals, University of New Mexico, Music Department, Albuquerque, New Mexiko, US
Music As Complex Emergent Behaviour, Santa Fe Complex, Santa Fe, New Mexiko, US
Sharing Aesthetic Decision Making with Machines, University of New Mexico, College of Fine Arts, ARTS Lab, Albuquerque, New Mexiko, US
Human-Machine Interaction In Mutual Understanding, Symposium on EEG (and biofeedback) for the Arts, IMAL, Brussels, Belgium
2010
Next-door project on Cultural Identity, Lecture: Self-organisation in the Arts and Sciences, ITU (Instanbul Technical University), Istanbul, Turkey
Perspectives of Media Art in Belgium, SIVA – Shanghai Institute of Visual Art, Shanghai, China
International Computer Music Conference 2010, New York City
KASK symposium on Sound/Image, Kunstplatform Zebrastraat, Gent, Belgium

ALGORITHMIC INTROSPECTIONS (with Jean-Pierre Hébert), DAM Berlin, 29. November- 21.December 2019
COMPUTER GRAFIK 1984, DAM Berlin, 19 January – 17 March 2018
MIND THE SYSTEM, DAM Berlin, 19 February – 2 April 2016
AESTHETICA, DAM Berlin, 29 May – 1 August 2015
BIT BY BIT, DAM Frankfurt, 18 May – 13 July 2013