Working with
chance operation

Here is a selection of artists who have incorporated random operations into their work, often exploring the unpredictability and randomness in their creative process. We begin with 20th century artists:

John Cage: A composer known for his use of random operations in music. His piece "4'33"" is a famous example, in which the performer does not play his instrument for the duration of the piece, and the ambient sounds become the music.

Marcel Duchamp: An influential artist who used chance in works such as "3 Standard Stoppages," where he dropped strings and then preserved their random shapes.

Ellsworth Kelly: An abstract painter who used random operations to determine the placement and arrangement of colors and shapes in his works.

Jackson Pollock: Known for his drip paintings, Pollock embraced the randomness of paint falling onto the canvas.

Jean Arp: A Dada artist who created collages by dropping pieces of paper onto a larger sheet and then pasting them where they fell.

Merce Cunningham: A choreographer who used chance operations in dance, often by rolling dice or using other random methods to determine the sequence of movements.

Yoko Ono: An avant-garde artist who created instruction-based works that involved chance and audience participation.

Alison Knowles: A Fluxus artist known for incorporating random operations into her performances and installations.

These artists have explored and expanded the boundaries of their mediums by embracing the unpredictability of chance.

We continue with contemporary artists who work intensively with chance operations:

Olafur Eliasson: Known for installations that often incorporate natural elements and unpredictable environmental conditions, allowing chance to play a role in the viewer's experience.

Gerhard Richter: A painter who uses chance in his abstract works, particularly in his squeegee paintings, where he drags layers of paint across the canvas, allowing the final image to emerge unpredictably.

Tara Donovan: An installation artist who uses everyday materials to create works in which the final form is often influenced by the inherent properties and behaviors of the materials, resulting in unpredictable outcomes.

Rirkrit Tiravanija: An artist known for his interactive installations in which audience participation introduces elements of chance and unpredictability.

Christian Marclay: An artist and composer who often incorporates chance into his work, such as using found sounds and images to create collages and performances.

Gabriel Orozco: An artist who incorporates chance into his sculptures, photographs, and installations, often using everyday objects and their random arrangements to create new meanings.

Anicka Yi: Known for her experimental use of materials and biological processes, allowing natural decay and growth to shape her work.

Ryoji Ikeda: A visual and sound artist who uses mathematical patterns and random processes to create immersive audiovisual installations.