code, shape and meaning: a study about arts and computing

Art, just like computing, has never been a narrow field. Many are the applications, movements, methods and motivations for creating pieces that have been shaping our society across history. Leaving aside, for a moment, the obvious distinctions, both areas deal with culturally specific communities, challenges and practices that, when sorted out, bring to life products and artifacts that become a relevant part of our lives.

This series of texts investigates and presents the art-technology field and, more specifically, computational art: its common tools, history, motivations and also the people whose life events and experiments contributed for its establishment. Texts will be released as chapters in the upcoming weeks.

One of the intentions is also to introduce the art-technology field as a fruitful medium for multidisciplinary collaboration between technical practitioners (computer scientists, engineers, developers), artists and designers. The latter also being a pertinent personal motivation as I've been studying and working in this intersection for the past 15 years.

1. The first text discusses the relationship between computing and art by first investigating how mathematics, being the area that encompasses computer science, and art have met each other across history.

2. The second text explores how developments in computer graphics enabled good output quality and aroused the interest of a community of artists that started to use the computer to create art.

3. The third text goes deeper into computer art or computational art, presenting its pioneers and some of their work; showing as well some methods for algorithmic creation.

4. The fourth text goes deeper into generative art, presenting definitions and distinguishing it from other types of algorithmic creation.

5. The fifth text discusses some famous programming languages and frameworks for creating art through computing: Processing, Javascript, openFrameworks, Cinder, touchDesigner, and Unity. Each one of the tools are accompanied by a case that exemplifies its expressiveness.

6.Finally, the sixth text discusses how recent developments in AI tools can pose another layer of transformation for the field.

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This series of texts is a re-issue of a thesis-book I wrote in 2018. I made some improvements and updated some of the topics. The original version can be accessed in Issuu through this link.

References:

_Fishwick, Paul A. Aesthetic Computing. Cambridge: Mit Press, 2006.

_Santaella, Lucia. Arte e Tecnologia. Modus operandi universal. A relevância da arte-ciência na contemporaneidade. Brasília: Instituto de Arte da Universidade de Brasília, 2012.

_Popper, Frank. From Technological to Virtual Art. Cambridge: Mit Press, 2007.

_Jankel, Annabel; Morton, Rocky. Creative Computer Graphics. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1984.

_Taylor, Grant. When the Machine Made Art: The Troubled History of Computer Art. London: Bloomsbury Academic, 2014.

_Pearson, Matt. Generative Art. Manning, 2011.

_Reichardt, Jasia. Cybernetic Serendipity : The Computer and the Arts : A Studio International Special Issue. London: ICA, 1968.

_Blais, Joline, IPPOLITO, Jon. At the Edge of Art. Thames & Hudson, 2006.

_Klanten, Robert; Ehmann, Sven; Hanschke, Verena. A Touch of Code: Interactive Installations and Experiences. Gestalten, 2011.

_Gray, Alfred; Abbena, Elsa; Salamon, Simon. Modern Differential Geometry of Curves and Surfaces with Mathematica. Chapman and Hall/CRC, 2006.

_O’Connor, John; Robertson, Edmund. Mathematics and Art: perspective. 2003.

_Galanter, Philip. What Is Generative Art?: Complexity Theory as a Context for Art Theory. 2003.

_Esaak, Shelley. Understanding Proportion in Art. ThoughtCo, Jun. 22, 2018. thoughtco.com/proportion-definition-in-art-182453.

_Wever, Sarah. Media Lab Intern Spotlight: Exploring Algorithms in Islamic Art through Augmented Reality. The MET, Aug. 26, 2014. metmuseum.org/blogs/digital-underground/2014/exploring-algorithms-islamic-art.

_Molnár, Vera. Atari Archives: Vera Molnár interview. Tihany, France, Aug 1975. atariarchives.org/artist/sec11.php.

_compArt daDA: the database of Digital Art. Georg Nees. 2018. http://dada.compart-bremen.de/item/agent/15.

_compArt daDA: the database of Digital Art. Frieder Nake. 2016. http://dada.compart-bremen.de/item/agent/68.

_DAM: Digital Art Museum. Frieder Nake. http://dam.org/artists/phase-one/frieder-nake.

_ Lillian F. Schwartz: Biography. 2013. http://lillian.com/biography.

_Heller, Eric. Eric J Heller Gallery.

http://jalbum.net/en/browse/user/album/1696720.

_Boutin, Chad. Rothman helps reveal intricacies of ancient math phenomenon. 2006.
https://www.princeton.edu/news/2006/06/15/rothman-helps-reveal-intricacies-ancient-math-phenomenon