{"id":565,"date":"2021-09-12T21:38:41","date_gmt":"2021-09-13T01:38:41","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/courses.ideate.cmu.edu\/60-428\/f2021\/?page_id=565"},"modified":"2021-09-13T10:31:41","modified_gmt":"2021-09-13T14:31:41","slug":"09-13-lines","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/courses.ideate.cmu.edu\/60-428\/f2021\/daily-notes\/09-13-lines\/","title":{"rendered":"09-13 Order\/Disorder"},"content":{"rendered":"<h3>Agenda<\/h3>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"list-style-type: none;\">\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Reminders<\/strong>\n<ul>\n<li>Office hours on Tuesday evenings, 4-7pm in the STUDIO<\/li>\n<li>Occasional office hours on Sunday evenings (&#8230;check Discord)<\/li>\n<li>The STUDIO is open during evenings, Mon-Thu, 5-11pm.<\/li>\n<li>Course Discord is active<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li><strong>Mini-Lecture<\/strong>\n<ul>\n<li>Order and Disorder (25m)<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li><strong>Technical Concepts<\/strong>\n<ul>\n<li>Perlin Noise<\/li>\n<li>Computing a perpendicular to a line<\/li>\n<li>Subtleties of SVG export in Processing<\/li>\n<li>Demonstration of <a href=\"https:\/\/github.com\/golanlevin\/DrawingWithMachines\/blob\/main\/rpi\/README.md\">Perry&#8217;s Plotting Pipeline<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li><strong>Work Session<\/strong>\n<ul>\n<li>Make some plots.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<hr \/>\n<h3>Theme: Order and Disorder<\/h3>\n<p>One of the first international group exhibitions of computer art was called <em><a href=\"https:\/\/monoskop.org\/Cybernetic_Serendipity\">Cybernetic Serendipity<\/a><\/em>, which took place at the London Institute of Contemporary art in October 1968. What&#8217;s the definition of the word &#8220;<em><a href=\"https:\/\/www.merriam-webster.com\/dictionary\/serendipity\">serendipity<\/a>&#8220;<\/em>?<\/p>\n<p>In this 1968 recording, <strong>Jasia Reichardt<\/strong> (1933\u2014), the curator and organizer of the exhibition, presents the programme.<\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Cybernetic Serendipity (ICA) - Late Night Lineup (1968)\" width=\"840\" height=\"630\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/n8TJx8n9UsA?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>Too little predictability, and the viewer is confused. Too much, and they are bored. In a generative system, how can we find the right amount?<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/courses.ideate.cmu.edu\/60-428\/f2021\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/09\/theNewArtist-diagram.jpg\"><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-663\" src=\"https:\/\/courses.ideate.cmu.edu\/60-428\/f2021\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/09\/theNewArtist-diagram.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"600\" height=\"242\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>Randomness, chance, aleatoric form, order vs. disorder. Taken together, these comprise only one of many themes that are explored in computer arts, but it is an important one. You will recall <strong>Vera Moln\u00e1r<\/strong> (1924\u2014), in the interview we watched, discussing how she used the computer as a tool to create &#8220;surprise&#8221;.<\/p>\n<p>As computers are well-known for only doing what they are told, a significant thread in computer art is the abiding problem of wringing surprise from the computer&#8217;s plodding logic, of creating a machine to produce serendipity. Per Moln\u00e1r: \u201cThis may sound paradoxical, but the machine, which is thought to be cold and inhuman, can help to realise what is most subjective, unattainable, and profound in a human being\u201d.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/courses.ideate.cmu.edu\/60-428\/f2021\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/09\/Vera_Photo-1.jpg\"><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"alignnone size-large wp-image-622\" src=\"https:\/\/courses.ideate.cmu.edu\/60-428\/f2021\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/09\/Vera_Photo-1-1024x768.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"840\" height=\"630\" srcset=\"https:\/\/courses.ideate.cmu.edu\/60-428\/f2021\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/09\/Vera_Photo-1-1024x768.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/courses.ideate.cmu.edu\/60-428\/f2021\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/09\/Vera_Photo-1-640x480.jpg 640w, https:\/\/courses.ideate.cmu.edu\/60-428\/f2021\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/09\/Vera_Photo-1-768x576.jpg 768w, https:\/\/courses.ideate.cmu.edu\/60-428\/f2021\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/09\/Vera_Photo-1-1200x900.jpg 1200w, https:\/\/courses.ideate.cmu.edu\/60-428\/f2021\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/09\/Vera_Photo-1.jpg 1500w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 709px) 85vw, (max-width: 909px) 67vw, (max-width: 1362px) 62vw, 840px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p><strong>Georg Nees<\/strong> (1926-2016) was a German artist and mathematician, and a contemporary of Moln\u00e1r&#8217;s. Like many of the earliest computer artists, he programmed his works by punched cards, and then plotted them on the <a href=\"https:\/\/de.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Datei:Graphomat_Zuse_Z64_1.jpg\">ZUSE Graphomat Z64<\/a>, an early digital plotter. In February 1965 Nees became the first person to publicly exhibit artwork made on a digital computer. His 1968 work, <em>Schotter<\/em>, shown below, is one of the best-known classics of early computer art. A gradient from order to disorder, it is emblematic of the struggle of the computer artist.<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><em>If you had to guess: attempt to describe the algorithm which produced this work.<\/em><\/li>\n<li><em>To the extent that this artwork is interesting, what makes it so?\u00a0<\/em><\/li>\n<li><em>How is disorder expressed in this work?<\/em><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/courses.ideate.cmu.edu\/60-428\/f2021\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/09\/schotter.jpg\"><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"alignnone size-large wp-image-444\" src=\"https:\/\/courses.ideate.cmu.edu\/60-428\/f2021\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/09\/schotter-681x1024.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"681\" height=\"1024\" srcset=\"https:\/\/courses.ideate.cmu.edu\/60-428\/f2021\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/09\/schotter-681x1024.jpg 681w, https:\/\/courses.ideate.cmu.edu\/60-428\/f2021\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/09\/schotter-319x480.jpg 319w, https:\/\/courses.ideate.cmu.edu\/60-428\/f2021\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/09\/schotter-768x1154.jpg 768w, https:\/\/courses.ideate.cmu.edu\/60-428\/f2021\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/09\/schotter-1022x1536.jpg 1022w, https:\/\/courses.ideate.cmu.edu\/60-428\/f2021\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/09\/schotter.jpg 1159w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 681px) 85vw, 681px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p><strong>Paul Rickards<\/strong> is an artist and retrocomputing enthusiast active on #PlotterTwitter. In September 2016 he tweeted <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/paulrickards\/status\/780057031566917632\">this small study<\/a>, &#8220;Grid of imperfect circles&#8221;.<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><em>If you had to guess, attempt to describe the algorithm which produced this work.<\/em><\/li>\n<li><em>To the extent that this artwork is interesting, what makes it so? (Can you imagine this work without the imperfections in the circles?)<\/em><\/li>\n<li><em>How is disorder expressed in this work? (Do you think the circles are intended to look &#8220;hand drawn&#8221;?)\u00a0<\/em><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/courses.ideate.cmu.edu\/60-428\/f2021\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/09\/CtNRth7XgAAbNYQ.jpg\"><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"alignnone size-large wp-image-446\" src=\"https:\/\/courses.ideate.cmu.edu\/60-428\/f2021\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/09\/CtNRth7XgAAbNYQ-1024x768.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"840\" height=\"630\" srcset=\"https:\/\/courses.ideate.cmu.edu\/60-428\/f2021\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/09\/CtNRth7XgAAbNYQ-1024x768.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/courses.ideate.cmu.edu\/60-428\/f2021\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/09\/CtNRth7XgAAbNYQ-640x480.jpg 640w, https:\/\/courses.ideate.cmu.edu\/60-428\/f2021\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/09\/CtNRth7XgAAbNYQ-768x576.jpg 768w, https:\/\/courses.ideate.cmu.edu\/60-428\/f2021\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/09\/CtNRth7XgAAbNYQ.jpg 1200w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 709px) 85vw, (max-width: 909px) 67vw, (max-width: 1362px) 62vw, 840px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>The mononymic Austrian computer artist, <strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.liaworks.com\/\">Lia<\/a><\/strong>, has been active in software art since 1995. In 2018 she experimented with the use of an AxiDraw plotter to produce <a href=\"https:\/\/www.liaworks.com\/theprojects\/mechanical-plotter-drawings-waves\/\">a series of ink studies<\/a>. The example below consists of a series of sinewave-like paths, executed by an ink brush.<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><em>If you had to guess, attempt to describe the system which produced this work.<\/em><\/li>\n<li><em>To the extent that this artwork is interesting, what makes it so?<\/em><\/li>\n<li><em>Where or how is disorder expressed in this work?\u00a0<\/em><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/courses.ideate.cmu.edu\/60-428\/f2021\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/09\/12_P8280026_variante-1.jpeg\"><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"alignnone size-large wp-image-629\" src=\"https:\/\/courses.ideate.cmu.edu\/60-428\/f2021\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/09\/12_P8280026_variante-1-1024x768.jpeg\" alt=\"\" width=\"840\" height=\"630\" srcset=\"https:\/\/courses.ideate.cmu.edu\/60-428\/f2021\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/09\/12_P8280026_variante-1-1024x768.jpeg 1024w, https:\/\/courses.ideate.cmu.edu\/60-428\/f2021\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/09\/12_P8280026_variante-1-640x480.jpeg 640w, https:\/\/courses.ideate.cmu.edu\/60-428\/f2021\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/09\/12_P8280026_variante-1-768x576.jpeg 768w, https:\/\/courses.ideate.cmu.edu\/60-428\/f2021\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/09\/12_P8280026_variante-1-1536x1152.jpeg 1536w, https:\/\/courses.ideate.cmu.edu\/60-428\/f2021\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/09\/12_P8280026_variante-1-1200x900.jpeg 1200w, https:\/\/courses.ideate.cmu.edu\/60-428\/f2021\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/09\/12_P8280026_variante-1.jpeg 2000w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 709px) 85vw, (max-width: 909px) 67vw, (max-width: 1362px) 62vw, 840px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>Finally, here&#8217;s an example which is not about tension against a grid. The life&#8217;s work of artist <strong>Harold Cohen<\/strong> (1928-2016) was the development of an AI program called <em>AARON<\/em> (1973-1990) which Cohen taught to make drawings. &#8220;I write programs, programs make drawings. Drawings made completely by the computer. This isn&#8217;t the case of computer aided art-making.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Harold Cohen - The Age of Intelligent Machines - 1987 (Clip)\" width=\"840\" height=\"473\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/IPczQgCuOOc?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/courses.ideate.cmu.edu\/60-428\/f2021\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/09\/harold_cohen_aaron_IMG_6638.jpg\"><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-638\" src=\"https:\/\/courses.ideate.cmu.edu\/60-428\/f2021\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/09\/harold_cohen_aaron_IMG_6638.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"800\" height=\"465\" srcset=\"https:\/\/courses.ideate.cmu.edu\/60-428\/f2021\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/09\/harold_cohen_aaron_IMG_6638.jpg 800w, https:\/\/courses.ideate.cmu.edu\/60-428\/f2021\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/09\/harold_cohen_aaron_IMG_6638-640x372.jpg 640w, https:\/\/courses.ideate.cmu.edu\/60-428\/f2021\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/09\/harold_cohen_aaron_IMG_6638-768x446.jpg 768w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 85vw, 800px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>Detail of a drawing made by <em>AARON<\/em>, 1980.<\/p>\n<p>From 1973 onward, <a href=\"https:\/\/computerhistory.org\/blog\/harold-cohen-and-aaron-a-40-year-collaboration\/\">AARON could be seen<\/a> as an art creation &#8220;expert system&#8221;. Cohen felt that \u201c\u2026 perhaps AARON would be better described as an expert\u2019s system than as an expert system: not simply because I have served as both knowledge engineer and as resident expert, but because the program serves as a research tool for the expansion of my own expert knowledge rather than to encapsulate that knowledge for the use of others,\u201d he wrote in 1988. Here is a drawing made by <em>AARON<\/em> in 1983:<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/courses.ideate.cmu.edu\/60-428\/f2021\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/09\/Screen-Shot-2021-09-12-at-7.12.09-PM.png\"><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"alignnone size-large wp-image-639\" src=\"https:\/\/courses.ideate.cmu.edu\/60-428\/f2021\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/09\/Screen-Shot-2021-09-12-at-7.12.09-PM-1024x783.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"840\" height=\"642\" srcset=\"https:\/\/courses.ideate.cmu.edu\/60-428\/f2021\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/09\/Screen-Shot-2021-09-12-at-7.12.09-PM-1024x783.png 1024w, https:\/\/courses.ideate.cmu.edu\/60-428\/f2021\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/09\/Screen-Shot-2021-09-12-at-7.12.09-PM-627x480.png 627w, https:\/\/courses.ideate.cmu.edu\/60-428\/f2021\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/09\/Screen-Shot-2021-09-12-at-7.12.09-PM-768x587.png 768w, https:\/\/courses.ideate.cmu.edu\/60-428\/f2021\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/09\/Screen-Shot-2021-09-12-at-7.12.09-PM-1536x1175.png 1536w, https:\/\/courses.ideate.cmu.edu\/60-428\/f2021\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/09\/Screen-Shot-2021-09-12-at-7.12.09-PM-1200x918.png 1200w, https:\/\/courses.ideate.cmu.edu\/60-428\/f2021\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/09\/Screen-Shot-2021-09-12-at-7.12.09-PM.png 1906w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 709px) 85vw, (max-width: 909px) 67vw, (max-width: 1362px) 62vw, 840px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><em>To the extent that this artwork is interesting, what makes it so?<\/em><\/li>\n<li><em>How does this artwork appear to be organized?<\/em><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Final thoughts: As new media artist\/educator <strong>Kate Compton<\/strong> writes in her article &#8220;<a href=\"https:\/\/galaxykate0.tumblr.com\/post\/139774965871\/so-you-want-to-build-a-generator\">So You Want to Make a Generator<\/a>&#8220;:<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>So your algorithm may generate 18,446,744,073,709,551,616 planets. They may each be subtly different, but as they player is exploring them rapidly, will they be perceived as different? I like to call this problem the <strong>10,000 Bowls of Oatmeal Problem<\/strong>. I can easily generate 10,000 bowls of plain oatmeal, with each oat being in a different position and different orientation, and mathematically speaking they will all be completely unique. But the user will likely just see a lot of oatmeal. Perceptual uniqueness is the real metric, and it\u2019s darn tough.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/courses.ideate.cmu.edu\/60-428\/f2021\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/09\/tumblr_inline_o2xr2hsBwu1r5f8z1_540.png\"><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-665\" src=\"https:\/\/courses.ideate.cmu.edu\/60-428\/f2021\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/09\/tumblr_inline_o2xr2hsBwu1r5f8z1_540.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"540\" height=\"143\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>In some situations, just perceptual differentiation is enough, and an easier bar to clear. Perceptual differentiation is the feeling that this piece of content is not identical to the last. A user glancing at a line of trees can tell if they are identical, or if they are less-varied-than-expected suggesting unnaturalness. This fulfills an aesthetic need even if no tree is particularly memorable.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<hr \/>\n<pre>\/\/ Processing (Java) program\r\n\/\/ When the user clicks, creates a \r\n\/\/ random squiggle and exports an SVG.\r\n\r\nimport processing.svg.*;\r\nvoid setup() {\r\n  size(800, 800);\r\n}\r\n\r\nvoid draw() {\r\n  background(250);\r\n  int now = millis();\r\n  randomSeed(now);\r\n  beginRecord(SVG, \"foo_\" + now + \".svg\");\r\n  strokeWeight(3);\r\n  noFill();\r\n\r\n  beginShape();\r\n  for (int i=0; i&lt;12; i++) {\r\n    float px = width * random(0.1, 0.9);\r\n    float py = height * random(0.1, 0.9);\r\n    curveVertex(px, py);\r\n  }\r\n  endShape();\r\n  endRecord();\r\n  noLoop();\r\n}\r\n\r\nvoid mousePressed() {\r\n  loop();\r\n}\r\n<\/pre>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Agenda Reminders Office hours on Tuesday evenings, 4-7pm in the STUDIO Occasional office hours on Sunday evenings (&#8230;check Discord) The STUDIO is open during evenings, Mon-Thu, 5-11pm. Course Discord is active Mini-Lecture Order and Disorder (25m) Technical Concepts Perlin Noise Computing a perpendicular to a line Subtleties of SVG export in Processing Demonstration of Perry&#8217;s &hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/courses.ideate.cmu.edu\/60-428\/f2021\/daily-notes\/09-13-lines\/\" class=\"more-link\">Continue reading<span class=\"screen-reader-text\"> &#8220;09-13 Order\/Disorder&#8221;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"parent":17,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/courses.ideate.cmu.edu\/60-428\/f2021\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/565"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/courses.ideate.cmu.edu\/60-428\/f2021\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/courses.ideate.cmu.edu\/60-428\/f2021\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/courses.ideate.cmu.edu\/60-428\/f2021\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/courses.ideate.cmu.edu\/60-428\/f2021\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=565"}],"version-history":[{"count":35,"href":"https:\/\/courses.ideate.cmu.edu\/60-428\/f2021\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/565\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":684,"href":"https:\/\/courses.ideate.cmu.edu\/60-428\/f2021\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/565\/revisions\/684"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/courses.ideate.cmu.edu\/60-428\/f2021\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/17"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/courses.ideate.cmu.edu\/60-428\/f2021\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=565"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}