• create
  • evolve
  • code
  • interact
  • adapt
  • dance
  • responsive dreams
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Paolo Curtoni

Art, Waves, Language, Code




BIO

Paolo Curtoni was born in Bologna, Italy, and now lives and works in Barcelona. His artistic path has been shaped by a nomadic background and a strong interest in cross-cultural influences. Since discovering computers in the 1980s, he has used programming languages as his main tool for creative expression, alongside a deep fascination with human language.

Over time, he has taken part in exhibitions, contributed to scientific publications, and developed original approaches that connect code, language, and artistic practice. His experience across technology and the arts informs his work on interdisciplinary projects, especially those that explore the relationship between research, creativity, and computational processes.

His visual and sound pieces have been shown at venues such as Palo Alto (Barcelona), the Musée d’Art Moderne de Paris, BYOD in Tokyo, and Sónar in Barcelona, and have been published on platforms including ALBA.art, Objkt, and FxHash.

What is Responsive Art to Paolo Curtoni?

In my artistic practice I use code as a tool and as a language at the same time. I work on the unstable balance between structure and unpredictability, aiming to paradoxically bring a formal system to generate unexpected results, often surprising even those who created it. I use visual and algorithmic elements as symbols that form a language, with an almost linguistic approach that recalls generative grammar.

In recent years, with my work I have found myself going beyond the boundaries of the digital, integrating physical objects and natural processes into generative systems. Maintaining the aspiration of creating moments of revelation: those moments in which a system — digital or hybrid — begins to show something unexpected, something that appears independent, almost alive.

In this creative process, responsiveness adds a further level of unpredictability, qualitatively different from the use of pseudo-random numbers. Thanks to responsiveness, unpredictable external contextual elements are also inoculated into the work: the size of the browser window, the physical conditions of the exhibition space, the actions of the visitor... These elements are integrated into the generative system, giving the environment and the spectator the power and the duty to directly influence the work. Responsive art, then, embraces a dynamic of adaptation and participation, where the work is shaped and harmonized in its context.



/ TGAM's NOTES

Paolo weaves code and language into poetic systems, shaped by a nomadic life and a love for cross-cultural dialogues.