Negotiating Gestalt: Artistic Expression by Coalition Formation Between Agents

We present a system using semi-autonomous agents to help artists express ideas. Agents control their representation on a canvas via interactions in agent space. They are given rules, which include the ability to form, join, leave and dissolve coalitions. While individually, agents constitute only small parts of the composition, together they form more and more complex parts until the full picture emerges. The artist can take direct control of an agent or coalition if the result is unsatisfactory. We have implemented the Surreal engine that realises these ideas and we present a case study of its usage in producing Mondriaan-like paintings.