Slashdot Mirror
Open Source Art?
gz writes "The Whitney has put online an exhibit where viewers are encouraged to examine the source code of the program that generates the art, despite the fact that the majority of viewers have no idea what the code means. Projects use Java, C, Perl, Lingo, and VB."
"The Whitney has put online an exhibit where viewers are encouraged to examine the source code of the program that generates the art, despite the fact that the majority of viewers have no idea what the code means. Projects use Java, C, Perl, Lingo, and VB."
Note that in the above quote, "the program" should be replaced with "the artists using the program" and the headline "open source art" should be replaced with "open source software tools for creating art".
The writer seems to be implying that the program is generating digital modern art without any human intervention whatsoever, which is both silly and wrong.
CODeDOC takes a reverse look at 'software art' projects by focusing on and comparing the 'back end' of the code that drives the artwork's 'front end'--the result of the code, be it visuals or a more abstract communication process. A dozen artists coded a specific assignment in a language of their choice and were asked to exchange the code with each other for comments. The assignment was to 'connect and move three points in space,' which obviously could be interpreted in a literal or abstract way. The 'core' of the code (commonly referred to as the 'main') was not to exceed 8KB, which equals a fairly short text document. The results of the programming are made visible only after the code--what visitors to this site encounter first is a text document of code from which they can launch the front end of the project. The languages in which the code is written are Java, C, Visual Basic, Lingo and Perl. Obviously, this is only a selection of scripting and programming languages. HTML (Hypertext Markup Language), the scripting language on which the World Wide Web is based, and Flash Script were excluded mostly for pragmatic reasons (the inclusion of these languages probably would have doubled the number of artists, making the project unwieldy). Not all of the artists originally invited were able to participate in CODeDOC due to their busy schedules.
The category of software art, commonly used for artist-written software, is a manifestation of fairly blurry terminology. Software is generally defined as formal instructions that can be executed by a computer. However, there is no digital art that doesn't have a layer of code and algorithms, a procedure of formal instructions that accomplish a 'result' in a finite number of steps. Even if the physical and visual manifestations of digital art distract from the layer of data and code, any 'digital image' has ultimately been produced by instructions and the software that was used to create or manipulate it. It is precisely this layer of 'code' and instructions that constitutes a conceptual level which connects to previous artistic work such as Dada's experiments with formal variations and the conceptual pieces by Duchamp, Cage and Sol LeWitt that are based on the execution of instructions.
What distinguishes software art from other artistic practices, is that, unlike any form of visual art, it requires the artist to write a purely verbal description of their work. In traditional art forms, the 'signature' and 'voice' of an artist manifests itself in aesthetics of visuals and execution. Every medium may have its specific language but in digital art, this language has a quite literal rather than figurative manifestation. In software art, the visual results of the artwork are derived from the language of code. Languages are defined by grammar and complex rules and at the same time leave space for individual forms of creative expression. Our identity and the roles we play are expressed in our use of language. One might assume that the aesthetics of artists who write their own source code manifest themselves both in the code itself and its visual results. Artist John F. Simon, Jr. (who wasn't able to participate in the project) has talked about code as a form of creative writing. Code has also been referred to as the medium, the 'paint and canvas,' of the digital artist but it transcends this metaphor in that it even allows artists to write their own tools--to stay with the metaphor, the medium in this case also enables the artist to create the paintbrush and palette.
The projects featured as part of CODeDOC are expressions of distinct artistic signatures: the conceptual approach to the project, the way the code has been written, and the results produced by it reveal a lot about the respective artist. Some of the artists interpret the assignment in a predominantly graphic, visual way; others connect points in the global network of the Internet; one project explicitly treats the language of code as a narrative connecting 3 'characters'; another one creates a meta-layer for profiling the code itself, collapsing the boundaries between front end and back end; yet another project focuses on 'language abuse' and illegal instructions.
Intrinsic to software art is a procedural element that allows for reconfiguration and extension, and, as way of commenting on the projects, artists started to 'remix' their work, applying their own code to other projects or combining sections of code into a new project.
One does not need to be a programmer and have an in-depth understanding of computer languages to establish a connection between the code and its respective results: even a glance at the artists' source code will reveal certain mathematical functions, and in many cases, the artists' comments on their writing clarify the functionality of a line or section of the code. In some cases, reading the source code will enhance the perception of the work; in other cases, the code doesn't necessarily add to the projects. CODeDOC is an endeavor to take a closer look at the process of this particular artistic practice, and to raise questions about the parameters of artistic creation.
CODeDOC
Digital Art is not a purely visual medium but always consist of a mostly invisible back end--source code or scripting languages--and a front end, the results created by "computer language." These results can manifest themselves in visuals or a more abstract process that allows for a form of communication in the broadest sense. Source code is a set of instructions formulated in a language that can be understood by the computer.
In traditional art forms, the 'signature' and 'voice' of an artist manifests itself in aesthetics of visuals and execution. Every medium may have its specific language but in digital art, this language has a quite literal rather than figurative manifestation. The visual results of an artwork are derived from the language of code. Languages are defined by grammar and complex rules and at the same time leave space for individual forms of creative expression. Our identity and the roles we play are expressed in our use of language. One might assume that the aesthetics of artists who write their own source code manifest themselves both in the code itself and its visual results. How much of a personal signature is found in an artist's source code?
"CODeDOC" takes a 'reverse' look at artists' projects by focusing on and comparing the back end of the code. A dozen artists are invited to code a specific assignment in a language of their choice and to exchange the code with each other for comments. The emphasis is placed on process and data while the results are made visible only after the code. The project explores both the artist's creative expression on the level of source code and the linguistic universe of code.
Languages: Java, C/++, VB; Perl, Lingo, xml
[html and FlashScript have been excluded for pragamatic reasons]
Assignment and Requirements:
The code should move and connect three points in space. [This could obviously interpreted in a visual or more abstract way].
The code should not exceed 8 KB. 8 KB refers to your "main." The emphasis and focus is on code written by the artist. Obviously it's almost impossible to *not* call any libraries and subroutines but if possible, you should avoid relying on them too much (if they haven't been written by yourself); meaning, the idea is not that you write one line that calls powerful subroutines and libraries. However, if you can't resist bending the rules, please write a short line explaining what you did (so it becomes a bit more intelligible for anyone who isn't a programmer).
The code must be compilable / interpretable; it should run in a browser window or be accessible as downloadable executable.
The "object" is the code itself not what it produces. "Visual beauty" does not have to be the main focus.
By the deadline, you should deliver your code as a text file + the applet / exe etc.
The "assignment" will be collected and made available to everyone on a website. You are invited to comment on each others' projects. You do *not* have to comment on every participant's code; you can decide to stick to the artists' code that has been written in the language of your choice (or comment on whatever interests you).
The 'exhibition' of the project at the artport website will present each artist's code as well as the comments submitted by the other artists. The visuals / process created by the respective code can be launched from each artist's section.
(Tentative) Objectives:
Obviously, this is a more experimental and process-oriented project, and it can't be predicted what exactly the outcome will be. You shouldn't just strive to illustrate the potential outcome I'm outlining below.
The project could (but does not have to) show
*the differences between the respective coding / scripting languages
*the differences and/or similarities between artists' approaches -- be it in how they interpret the assignment or write their code
*the various relationships between code and its results
The Whitney is a museum in New York City showcasing modern art. They also offer a biennial which showcases digital works by many emerging artists. It's definitely worth a visit if you're are ever in New York for the day. Fridays from 6pm until 9pm is pay what you wish admission for all your students/cheapskates.
I'm tired of bombing the universe
Whoops, should be there now...
@AlexSheive
And you can find it here.
:)
Looks kinda cool actually