Generative documentary film directed by Gary Hustwit on pioneering electronic musician Brian Eno.

85 mins, limited release

Brian Eno has had a long fascination with generative processes in art. He’s a pioneer of working with creative technology and methodology since he left art school to be the keyboard guy in Roxy Music, twiddling many knobs and sliders to produce a very distinct contribution to the band’s first two albums. As a solo artist, that difference only grew, including becoming a pioneer of ambient music (an association he hated), and a super-producer and often co-composer with the likes of David Bowie, Talking Heads, U2, Coldplay and many others. Along the way, he may have picked up his most lucrative project, on a dollar per second basis, when commissioned to create the Microsoft 95 startup sound.

And now Gary Hustwit, who made the much-lauded film Helvetica (yes, the typeface), has collaborated with Eno to produce a remarkable film that you may struggle to get to see. You’ll never be able to view the exact version your reviewer saw and we won’t see the same one next time we see it … every time, a new iteration of the composition is generated, drawing on a vast archive of content and assembling it within certain defined rules.