Elsa Carvalho (Portuguese, b. 1973) is a software engineer and artist who combines creative coding with artificial intelligence to explore nature and organic forms. She holds a PhD in computer science, earned in 2012, and began working in visual art in April 2021. Her process starts with code she writes herself to generate base images, which she then feeds into AI tools to expand and transform.
In tran•sience, a video work in six acts made from 32 pieces, Carvalho generated base visuals with custom JavaScript code in Emprop Open Studio, refined them with AI prompts, and animated them with the Luma Dream Machine tool. Each act was set to an original score by Bruno Miranda, who composed a unique 110-second piece for every act. Most acts combined five audiovisual pieces synced to 22-second segments of that score, while the final act combined seven pieces. The project explores impermanence and transformation, themes Carvalho has linked to her own restlessness and to cycles of growth, decay and renewal.
