Physical Computing Algorithmic & Reactive Art Creating Agents that Sense, Think and Act DESIGN | MEDIA ARTS 189 - Fall 2003 - 5 Units CLICC PC Classroom A (Powell 307). Enrollment cap = 14. !!! New Day/Time: Fridays 11:00 to 2:00 !!! Open to all majors. Nicholas Gessler gessler@ucla.edu http://www.bol.ucla.edu/~gessler Syllabus	Calendar Index Participants Simulations Art & Aesthetics of Artificial Life Registrar's Information The Kit of Equipment We Will Likely Use Simulations - Realworld Interfacing - Circuits Sensors - Actuators - Encoders - Steppers - Switches - Pneumatics
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Please attend this free exposition: I will give you extra credit for a report on how you might incorporate some of the latest sensors into an arts installation - be specific; September 23 - 25: Sensors Expo and Conference, Anaheim Convention Center. Exhibits free until August 29 - otherwise $35.

Our course will survey and critique design and art installations in the fields of:

Links to some physical, algorithmic and reactive art:

We will also do hands-on programming samples in each of these areas in Borland C++ for Windows. We will also work with the EZIO interface and a variety of sensors and actuators. The CLICC lab where we meet will be a "clean lab," so any work soldering electronic components and fashioning wood, plastic, metal, and other arts media will have to be done somewhere else. Participants are encouraged to adapt the class assignments and project to their own special interests.

No previous experience in programming* is necessary, although familiarity with a PC will certainly be helpful. Attendance and participation in discussions, critiques and extra-curricular events (if we schedule any) as well as effort and success in 8 "weekly challenges" and one course project will comprise your grade. Class size is limited to 14 participants who will most likely have to team up in pairs for the formal assignments since we have only 7 EZIO boards. The classes will be held in the CLICC computer labs in Powell Library, and since there is no storage room in the labs, participants will have to check out materials during class* and be responsible for them throughout the course*. I will do my best to customize the materials we cover to match your interests as long as you let me know what you are interested in and there is sufficient overlap with the topics mentioned above and what we can practically accomplish given the limited "physical" support we have. Your suggestions are always welcome. So please join us and let's see what cutting-edge ideas for installations we can come up with!!!

Have a look at previous courses for ideas...

* So far, even those new to programming have managed to write creative and innovative applications. (Alternatives are available if you are worried.)
** One set of materials for every two participants to include: EZIO board, power supply and Serial Cable. Also sample sensors and actuators.
*** You will not receive a grade until the materials are returned or paid for.

This is further information on the kinds of things that we might cover in the course.
We can only touch on a few of them, so let me know what interests you!

Description:

An exploration of the artistic use of computation "outside the box," of thinking machines and algorithmic and evolutionary processes embodied in behavioral and reactive sculptures and environments and robotic installations. It is no wonder why most people regard computers as passive boxes incapable of any character - most can only sense key presses and mouse moves and can only speak by painting pictures on a screen. We will explore the possibilities of providing them with real world capabilities and personalities that will be noticed. We will critique examples of contemporary art involving computation embodied in the real world and explore methods of connecting computers to sensors and actuators from the bottom-up, with practical hands-on integration of code examples we will write in C++ for Windows and electronic and mechanical components and assemblies. No previous programming experience is required.

Philosophy:

In my courses, I try to strike a balance between epistemology (how we come to know the world), theory and practice in the creation of visual, environmental and conceptual art built from computation. We understand computation to be embodied not just in contemporary media (silicon computers), but in electromagnetic devices of the past (mechanical), living tissue, and computational media of the future (photons, quanta). We consider many questions of the mind: Why did evolution make our minds of many modules and desires? How do we understand the world through cognition built from recursively-nested representations? Why do we find certain experiences compelling and immersive? Computation is inherent in almost every aspect of the world around us - in shifting sands, flocking birds, sliding levers, gears and cams, in silicon devices as well as convoluted brains. We focus on teasing out the bottom-up local processes responsible for the complex global patterns of behavior we see around us, and illuminate these examples of emergence with hands-on programming projects. Participants will write graphical software in the globally ubiquitous language C++ (for Windows PCs). Building examples of behaviorally based art from the atoms and molecules of computer code, we emphasize both the physical and algorithmic nature of computation and design. We welcome students with or without previous programming experience. Those who are new to computation will have an equal opportunity to succeed.

Theory:

Method:

Check out these links on artFuture:

• Algorithmic Art
• Art and Science.
• Art and Technology.
• Biological Art.
• Light Art.
• Mathematical Art.
• Nanobiology.
• Robot Art.
• Robot Artists.
• Robotic Art
• Tissue Engineering Art.
• Participation/Interactive Art.
• Sound Art.