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.) An

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/