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I believe that, to some degree, we can compatimentalize the beauty in the representation and the content. Take a discernment test which I would call a "substit

I believe that, to some degree, we can compatimentalize the beauty in the representation and the content. Take a discernment test which I would call a "substitution test": if you replace the content and the artistic value is more or less unchanged, I claim the representation is the highlight; if replacing the content destroys the values I claim the content is the highlight. For example, for a picture of Monet, if you swap the scenery for another similar one while maintaining the style not all value is lost. However, if you take E=MC^2 and replace that with B=CD^3, the value vanishes. I claim that algorithms have a great value in terms "content", and picturing it in illegible text highlights instead a "representation" (since you could replace that code with any other algo) -- missing the point.

wanderingstan 11y ago
Since I'm stuck late coding tonight, a little art talk is fun. :) Representation and content are not so easily separated. (Marcel Duchamp is all over this.) And to the extent that this division exists, they can combine in a cumulative way; great representation with great content. My field, calligraphy, is keenly aware of the "content problem". (My humble works[1]) Are the great Chinese calligraphers "missing the point" of the poems in their works when the resulting script is illegible to most? Especially in the west, it seems people take writing and letters so much for granted that they assume the only appropriate function is for them to be easily interpreted. (Before abstract art, people held similar ideas that the purpose of painting was to easily convey what the artist had seen.) Perhaps in a similar vein, you're saying that the only appropriate use of algorithms in a piece of art is for them to be communicated clearly and faithfully? We are in agreement that algorithms have great value in terms of content. And I'm excited that the art world is growing aware of the "value" of algorithms. It's been my impression that the art world was stuck too long on the physical forms of computing technology (the cases, the monitors, the phones, the wires, the blinking lights), so it's exciting to see how artists will interpret the beauty of algorithms themselves. Okay, now back to coding. EDIT: Some beautiful Chinese calligraphy: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chinese_calligraphy#/media/File:Mi_Fu-On_Calligraphy.jpg https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chinese_calligraphy#/media/Fil... [1] http://instagram.com/wanderingstan/ http://instagram.com/wanderingstan/

wanderingstan 11y ago

Since I'm stuck late coding tonight, a little art talk is fun. :) Representation and content are not so easily separated. (Marcel Duchamp is all over this.) And to the extent that this division exists, they can combine in a cumulative way; great representation with great content. My field, calligraphy, is keenly aware of the "content problem". (My humble works[1]) Are the great Chinese calligraphers "missing the point" of the poems in their works when the resulting script is illegible to most? Especially in the west, it seems people take writing and letters so much for granted that they assume the only appropriate function is for them to be easily interpreted. (Before abstract art, people held similar ideas that the purpose of painting was to easily convey what the artist had seen.) Perhaps in a similar vein, you're saying that the only appropriate use of algorithms in a piece of art is for them to be communicated clearly and faithfully? We are in agreement that algorithms have great value in terms of content. And I'm excited that the art world is growing aware of the "value" of algorithms. It's been my impression that the art world was stuck too long on the physical forms of computing technology (the cases, the monitors, the phones, the wires, the blinking lights), so it's exciting to see how artists will interpret the beauty of algorithms themselves. Okay, now back to coding. EDIT: Some beautiful Chinese calligraphy: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chinese_calligraphy#/media/File:Mi_Fu-On_Calligraphy.jpg https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chinese_calligraphy#/media/Fil... [1] http://instagram.com/wanderingstan/ http://instagram.com/wanderingstan/