Selma Singer wrote:
[snip]
I would like to know your thoughts about whether computers can produce art.
I doubt that there is an interesting sense in which computers
can produce art, although they can certainly reproduce it, and that
is not irrelevant.
Persons produce art. Persons produce art immediately with their bodies
(dance, singing, etc.). Persons produce art using tools (paint, paper,
chisels, stone, etc.). Certainly persons can produce art with computers.
I did some in the 1980s
http://www.users.cloud9.net/~bradmcc/envelopes.html
I thin k an interesting question is *What kind of art can persons
produce with computers?* Can it be "in the same league" as
Bach, Leonardo and Sophocles?
Bach and Leonardo used *analog* media: musical instruments and
pencil drawing and painting.
Sophocles used words, which are digital, and yet different
from all other digital media. By digital, I mean that the
words can be recorded in strings of iconic symbols and the
symbol strings can be exactly reproduced (by scribal
copying, or, even better, by print).
But computers only operate with "ones and zeros". Is it
possible to embody (incorporate, etc.) the richness of
human emotion and sensibility in ones-and-zeros that
can be embodied in analog media (music, drawings, etc.)?
I really am not sure. Something like doing architecture
with CAD systems does not count, because, in the end, the
computer generated plans get embodied in analog physical
materials, which, even if they are produced by N/C tools,
in real architecture, get "hand finished" -- or at least
weathered.
Film and photography are perhaps "borderline" art forms.
Or else they are not really digital art forms, even when they
use digital recording media as if it was film.
In 30+ years living with computers, I have encountered
two things that I feel have substantive cultural
value, and neither is what most persons would call "art".
One is the computer programming language APL
http://www.users.cloud9.net/~bradmcc/APL.html
the other is probably an even more important advance
in "the ascent of man": SGML (Standard Generalized Markup Language)
http://www.users.cloud9.net/~bradmcc/sgmlnote.html
These may have historical "places" in culture something like
the printing press, but people don't consider printing
to be exactly an art.
But the above are "theoretical" reflections. In practice,
the use of computers is mediated by *computer people*, and
they are generally not avatars of Bach, Leonardo or Sophocles,
nor do they even care. They are some combination of
nerds, salarymen and split personalities [i.e., persons
who make a living doing computer stuff and then play
Bach in their free time -- sound familiar?].
Walter Ong's question cannot, I think, be repeated too often --
are you listening Mr. Gates?
What is the purpose of a person acquiring perfectg French pronunciation
if the person has nothing of value to say in any language?
Supercomputers will make films without real actors that
look more and more realistic, but will the films be worth
watching (and no, I am not using George W Bush's criterion
of cinematographic value here, namely, that Saddam Hussein
disarm)?
The best computer movie I have heard of is Princess Mononoke,
and it's not bad, but it's not Genji or Ugetsu, either. But,
if I was going to look for meaningful art from the computer,
I'd go to Japan.
\brad mccormick
It would certainly seem that whatever computers produce will be sedimented.
I hope I am not totally misunderstanding the way you mean for that term to
be understood.
Selma
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Let your light so shine before men,
that they may see your good works.... (Matt 5:16)
Prove all things; hold fast that which is good. (1 Thes 5:21)
<![%THINK;[SGML+APL]]> Brad McCormick, Ed.D. / [EMAIL PROTECTED]
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