The machine that makes art. FORM+CODE in art, design and architecture

Jan. 19, 2011

Type: event
Starts: Jan 19 2011 at 5:43PM
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THE MACHINE THAT MAKES ART
FORM+CODE IN ART, DESIGN AND ARCHITECTURE
by Sabina Barcucci and Bertram Niessen
Digimag 60 - January 2011
http://www.digicult.it/digimag/article.asp?id=1963
FORM + CODE is the new book by Casey Reas, Chandler McWilliams and LUST,
recently published by Princeton Architectural Press. Contents are clearly
expressed through an historical overview on the code development in
electronic art, and in some of its conceptual art "natural language
programming" forerunners (based on instructions series set up not for the
machines but for the public). The graphic layout is a well-kept and an
inseparable part of the publishing project, including a selection of pieces
of work and breathtaking images (at a very reasonable price, it must be
said).
Primarily designed as a book for students, FORM + CODE is also an important
volume for another reason. The simplicity of its technological advancement
explanation let emerge one of the most important messages concerning
programming in art and design: its accessibility. We come then to question
if authors intention is to inculcate a kind of awareness regarding everybody's
ability to think about its complexity.
It's impressive to think how programming has changed the nature of
electronic art in recent years. Practices such as live coding, generative
design, and real time parametric visualization have quickly become popular
and accessible assets. As generally happens in rapid transformation phases,
however, this usage is often accompanied by a substantial lack of awareness
about what goes beyond the merely technical issues. And we're not thinking
about the examples given by FORM + CODE, which gives in 176 pages an
overview on the most interesting, exciting and revolutionary examples in the
field.
However, if we need to find a limit to this text, it is precisely the
hesitance in dealing with the critical and problematic elements in the
relationship between art and code. A renunciation, which, as Casey Reas and
Chandler McWilliams have explained in the interview that concludes this
article, is absolutely justified and planned. However, many of the issues at
play are precisely structured around this point. What are the limits of
author intervention in generative art? Do the complex data visualizations,
beyond any appealing aesthetics, always have something interesting to say?
What is the real added value of certain programming solutions in interactive
installations?
Complete article & interview to Casey Reas and Chandler McWilliams
http://www.digicult.it/digimag/article.asp?id=1963
http://www.marcomancuso.net/