a note about the lecture style

• interrupt me anytime if you don't understand, and especially do so because most pieces of information will have consequence for what follows
• hold discussion questions for the end

1. Nov. 6: a pragmatic aesthetic theory
2. Nov. 13: layers of algorithmic processes and interaction
3. Nov. 20: openness

today's schedule:

1. 16:20 - 17:40: discussion of a pragmatic aesthetic theory
2. 17:40 - 18:00
3. 18:00 - 19:10: thoughts about programming, understanding your projects and goals

1981: type-in programs in basic, TI-994A

• type-in programs: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Type-in_program
• TI-994A: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Texas_Instruments_TI-99/4A

1987-1988: Kitaro, Vangelis, and my Yamaha PortaSound PSS-470

• Kitaro, Silk Road: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ONjMiLMw66g
• Vangelis, Spiral: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aVpvFMgPQRI
  • this, along with my dad's book collection, simultaneously introduced me to the Tao Te Ching!
  • “Going on means going far - Going far means returning” chapter 25
  • Stephen Mitchell, Tao Te Ching translation, 1988: https://terebess.hu/english/tao/mitchell.html
• Yamaha PortaSound PSS-470: https://www.vintagesynth.com/yamaha/pss470.php

1990: Pascal on a Mac: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pascal_(programming_language)

1994: Max for MIDI, TurboSynth, ARP 2600, Csound

1997: George Brecht's Water Yam https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Water_Yam_(artist%27s_book)

• Fluxus

2001: Autechre, Confield

• https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Confield
• https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fluxus

2005: SuperCollider

2006: Lisp, Scheme

• The Little Schemer: https://wiki.c2.com/?TheLittleSchemer

2007: Conductive (Haskell), live coding

2015: completed doctoral degree “Affect-Based Aesthetic Evaluation and Development of Abstractions for Rhythm in Live Coding”

2021: Conductive port to JavaScript

1. a pragmatic aesthetic theory
2. application to algorithmic art
3. the algorithm as an affector

John Dewey, Art as Experience: https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/dewey-aesthetics/