Art in Computer Programming
History
The practice of creating art using computer programming has been around since the 1960s. This is still a time where most people did not have access to computers and the technology was still in its early days, so possibilities were limited. One of the first computer artists was Frieder Nake, who used a computer and plotter to create the piece Hommageà Paul Klee 13/9/65 Nr.2. The plotter was one of the most popular methods of computer output, and this device was essentially a machine that held a pen and could follow commands from a computer. Nake wrote an algorithm that created a plotter drawing that paid homage to the painting Highroads and Byroads by artist Paul Klee.
The number of people using computers to make art grew throughout the following decades, one milestone taking place when the Slade School of Art introduced it into the curriculum in the early 1970s along with the introduction of the home computer in the 1980s. What makes the use of programming in art so significant is the possibilities for art installations that are more interactive than ever before.
Interactive Installations
One installation that exemplifies the idea of an interactive exhibit is Dance Floor as Wilderness, an interactive audiovisual performance by Morgan Jenks and Jinsil Hwaryoung Seo. Inspired by an electronic music concert held out in the forest, these artists wanted to allow people to experience the natural world using technology. Their answer was to use the Microsoft Kinect and a dance floor to bring this idea to life. The music used in their performances is a blend of instruments, organic vocals, and digital sounds, and audiences are urged to dance along while watching and listening to the art as it responds to them. A custom developed software takes the audience’s movements captured by the Kinect and translates that in real time to a visual output with images of plants and nature. This exhibit is a reminder of how technology can be used to remember the natural world and connect with both the organic and inorganic simultaneously, a unique effect that was achieved through Jenks and Seo’s custom software.
A company that specializes in interactive exhibits is YesYesNo, an organization that has created numerous unique installations, some even in conjunction with companies such as Google and Nike. One of their projects, titled Night Lights, is very similar in concept to Dance Floor as Wilderness. In this installation, audience movements captured through various means are processed through a custom software and projected onto the Auckland Ferry Building in New Zealand. There were six visual options shown, each allowing the participating public to interact in new ways, creating what the creators describe as “an interactive playground”.
Zach Lieberman, one of the artists involved in Night Lights, created a installation titled Drawn. It consisted of live performances as well as an installation as people kept asking to try the software themselves. This project allows a person to interact with their ink and paper drawings. The user takes a brush and draws whatever they want on their sheet of paper while the image is also being projected onto a screen. When the user interacts with the drawing with their hands, the components of the image will respond on-screen accompanied by sound effects. Lieberman’s software detects the inked shapes and hand movements and translates the movements into the visuals seen by the audience.
Coding With Visuals: Processing
There are numerous different programming languages, each with their own uses and specialties, but one that focuses on the creation of visual effects is Processing. Processing was originally created with the intent to help new programmers learn necessary concepts using the visual arts. However, many artists use the language for their works, one key example being Raven Kwok. Kwok makes animations and music videos, many of which use a method called “procedurally generative animation”. This animation technique is seen in a large amount of today’s media. It is not hand drawn animation, but rather uses a computer, mathematics, and physics to create visuals that respond to either other visuals models or music. We see this in CGI animation through the digitally generated movement of hair, clothes, liquid, etc. Kwok uses this concept along with Processing to create a program that generates video footage that responds to music. A select few of his works that use this are CB2D, 1194D, EDFo, and Zero One.
Processing is not limited to on-screen outputs. Several of its users use it to power robotic art installations. One of these works, titled Random Access Memory, is a functional data storage device that uses sand to store digital data. Created by Ralf Baecker, this machine consists of a rotating circular platform with a bar holding a robotic arm above it. This arm can move from side to side across the bar and pick up the grains of sand. The arm places the singular grains of sand one by one in binary patterns until the program terminates, and this process used creates interesting and mesmerizing patterns. The artist describes the purpose of the machine when he says, “[Random Access Memory] investigates the contrast of a ‘pure’ mathematical process (algorithm) and its ‘impure’ material implementation into the world.” The machine is not a perfect storage device and would never be used as an actual product due to the inherent nature of it (the sand can move, and this causes errors). However, it is still a beautiful interpretation and visual of something that people use every day, but do not understand what the concept looks like.
Programming and art are most often seen together through interactive exhibits and generated content, and they can be used together to create experiences that would otherwise be impossible. The process and final products of developing a custom software for an art project can be likened to the printmaking process. The creation of the program or print is a laborious process, taking a long time to do, but, generally, the final products can be used to create their pieces of work multiple times in a much smaller time frame.With printmaking, you press the inked etching onto and paper and then you have your final print, and with programming, you capture the user’s input and output it. The biggest difference between the two besides one being digital is the fact that with programming, the final product can be different for each user, making the experience more unique and magical for the individual. Those unique experiences are what drives this medium, and it will continue to grow as technology improves and becomes more and more accessible. The future is in computer technology, and artists are already using it in their projects, and this trend will only continue as the world becomes more digital.
Works Cited
“A History of Computer Art.” Victoria and Albert Museum, Victoria and Albert Museum, London, www.vam.ac.uk/content/articles/a/computer-art-history/.
Baeker, Ralf. “Random Access Memory.” Ralf Baecker, 2016, www.rlfbckr.org/work/random-access-memory/.
“Drawn.” Thesystemis, thesystemis.com/projects/drawn/.
Foundation, Processing. “Overview. A Short Introduction to the Processing Software and Projects from the Community.” Processing, Processing Foundation, processing.org/overview/.
Jenks, Morgan, and Jinsil Hwaryoung Seo. “Dance Floor as Wilderness: Audiovisual Performance Towards a Regard for the Non-Man-Made.” The Journal of Digital Media Arts and Practice, iDMAa Conference Journal 2015, 23 Nov. 2015.
Kitagawa, Midori. “Procedural Animation.” Procedural Animation, The University of Texas at Dallas, www.utdallas.edu/atec/midori/Handouts/procedural_animation.htm.
Kwok, Raven. “Reel 10-14.” Raven Kwok, ravenkwok.com/reel/.
Lieberman, Zach, director. Drawn (Installation). Vimeo, 19 May 2009, vimeo.com/4732884.
Nake, Frieder. “Hommage àPaul Klee 13/9/65 Nr.2.” Victoria and Albert Museum, Victoria and AlbertMuseum, London, 1965, Victoria and Albert Museum, London,www.vam.ac.uk/content/articles/a/computer-art-history/.
“Night Lights.” YesYesNo Interactive Projects,www.yesyesno.com/night-lights/.