Margaret A. Boden - From Fingers to Digits: An Artificial Aesthetic

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From Fingers to Digits: An Artificial Aesthetic, Margaret A. Boden and Ernest Edmonds, 2019

See http://mitpress.mit.edu for a complete list of titles in this series.

From Fingers to Digits

An Artificial Aesthetic

Margaret A. Boden and Ernest A. Edmonds

The MIT Press

Cambridge, Massachusetts

London, England

2019 Margaret A. Boden and Ernest A. Edmonds

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form by any electronic or mechanical means (including photocopying, recording, or information storage and retrieval) without permission in writing from the publisher.

This book was set in Stone Sans by Westchester Publishing Services. Printed and bound in the United States of America.

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Names: Boden, Margaret A., author. | Edmonds, Ernest A., 1942- author.

Title: From fingers to digits : an artificial aesthetic / Margaret A. Boden and Ernest A. Edmonds.

Description: Cambridge, MA : The MIT Press, 2019. | Series: Leonardo book series | Includes bibliographical references and index.

Identifiers: LCCN 2018029639 | ISBN 9780262039628 (hardcover : alk. paper)

Subjects: LCSH: Computer art. | Art--Philosopohy.

Classification: LCC N7433.8 .B62 2019 | DDC 700.1--dc23

LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2018029639

d_r0

To our dear friend Jasia Reichardt

Contents

List of Figures

An example of AARONs jungle period, late 1980s; the drawing was done by the program, but the coloring was done by hand. Untitled. 1988, oil on canvas (painted by Harold Cohen), 54 77, Robert Hendel collection. (Reproduced with permission of the Harold Cohen Trust.)

An example of AARONs early 1990s period; the drawing was done by the program, but the coloring was done by hand. San Francisco People. 1991, oil on canvas (painted by Harold Cohen), 60 84, collection of the artist. (Reproduced with permission of the Harold Cohen Trust.)

An example of AARONs acrobats-and-balls period, early 1980s. (Reproduced by permission of the Harold Cohen Trust and reprinted from Boden 2004, frontispiece.)

Analogy problem tackled by Evanss program (Evans 1968).

The letter a written in different fonts (Hofstadter 1995, 413). (Reprinted by permission of Basic Books, an imprint of Hachette Book Group, Inc.)

Different fonts based on the Letter Spirit matrix (Hofstadter 1995, 418). (Reprinted by permission of Basic Books, an imprint of Hachette Book Group, Inc.)

Max Bill. Ardiv III. 1972, screen print. See color insert. (Reproduced by permission of Ernest Edmonds.)

Jeffrey Steele. SYNTAGMA SG III 104. 1992, oil on linen, 61 61 cm. See color insert. (Reproduced by permission of the artist.)

Ernest Edmonds. Nineteen. 19681969, multimedia, 183 145 17 cm. See color insert. (Reproduced by permission of the artist. Image courtesy of Jules Lister.)

Dominic Boreham. STOS 55. 1979, plotter drawing, ink on paper, 50 50 cm. (Reproduced by permission of Ernest Edmonds and the artist.)

Edward Ihnatowitz. Senster. (Photograph Edward Ihnatowitz.)

Christa Sommerer and Laurent Mignonneau. Life Spacies. 1997, screenshot, collection of NTT-ICC, Tokyo, Japan. See color insert. (Reproduced by permission of the artists.)

Sidney Fels and Kenji Mase. Iamascope. 2000, in the Millennium Dome Play Zone, London. See color insert. (Photograph courtesy of Linda Candy.)

Ernest Edmonds. Shaping Space. 2012, interactive installation. See color insert. (Reproduced by permission of the artist. Photograph Site Gallery, Sheffield, UK.)

Brigid Costello. Just a Bit of Spin. 2007, two views of someone interacting with the work. See color insert. (Reproduced by permission of the artist.)

Zafer Bildas creative engagement model. See color insert. (Reproduced by permission of Zafer Bilda.)

Aaron Marcus. Evolving Gravity. 19721974. See color insert. (Reproduced by permission of the artist.)

Harold Cohen. Coming Home #2. 2007, permanent pigment ink on panel, 57.5 169.5 cm. See color insert. (Reproduced by permission of the artist.)

Manfred Mohr. P155c. 1974, plotter drawing. 60 60 cm. (Reproduced by permission of the artist. Photograph Winfried Reinhardt, Pforzheim, Germany.)

Paul Brown. Builder/Eater. 1977 (re-created 2014), real-time computational generative artwork, size variable. See color insert. (Reproduced by permission of the artist.)