William Latham

William Latham is Britain's best-known computer artist. Born in 1961, he was a student at Oxford University and at the Royal College of Art, his work at IBM is known throughout the world, and he has been featured in numerous newspapers and magazines (including Wired, Mondo 2000, New Scientist, Scientific American, Independent, Ashahi Shimbum, Financial Times), and TV programs (Beyond 2000, Tomorrow's World, Horizon), in addition to citations in many computer graphics textbooks, Latham's organic imagery has been exhibited in the UK, Japan, Germany, Australia, Spain, France and Hong Kong to much critical acclaim.

He is co-author of 'Evolutionary Art and Computers' with Stephen Todd (Academic Press, 1992). William Latham is well known for his blend of organic imagery and computer animation. His work deals with the themes of artificial life and man's manipulation of the natural world and was recently described in one press article as "instantly recognisable, genetically unique and sometimes disturbing". Latham's computer art has cult status within the computer graphics world.

From 1988 to 1994 he worked as an independent Research Fellow with IBM Research in the UK developing evolutionary techniques and software which have become known around the world in computer circles. His 'Mutator' code - developed with Todd - can be used for evolving designs of anything from buildings to shampoo bottles, or even for financial planning when linked to a spreadsheet package. Mutator enables designers to breed designs using the same methods as Latham uses to breed art.

His video installation 'Organic Television' was shown at The Royal Festival Hall in London in 1994. In 1995 he showed a multimedia software artwork at the ARS95 international show of Modern Art in Finland, while for the exhibition at 'Art and Electronics' in Hong Kong, he created a giant inflatable pink pumpkin surrounded by TV monitors. The National Film Theatre, London, screened a retrospective of Latham's films in 1995.