CONNECTING THROUGH CODE
(last edited: 2020)
author(s): Tim Sayer
This exposition is in progress and its share status is: visible to all.
300 word supporting statement
The output from this practice-led research submission is the generative soundtrack, which accompanies the interdisciplinary work Breath Pieces, conceived by Rosanna Irvine. This output has led to the generation of new knowledge in the area of creative collaborative, through it’s novel use of a live coding environment, as a means of mediation between artists with differing levels of coding/technical literacy.
The contextual information submitted in this exposition includes:
• a video which provides an insight into the how the
generative soundtrack was developed using a reduced
parameter space negotiated by the artists.
• the evolution of the piece, by supplying all 12 versions
of the code, from initial sketches to finished product.
• extensive documentation of the discourse, which
supported the development of this new working
methodology.
The work, performed at Tramway Glasgow in June 2018, was commissioned by Creative Scotland, with support from The Work Room, City Moves, Cove Park and Scottish Dance Theatre. Proposals for a conference presentation and short paper entitled ‘Connecting through code: Using code as a medium to construct a generative musical score by collaborating artists with differing levels of coding literacy’ has been submitted to AISB 2020 symposium on Computational Creativity (CC@AISB’2020) St Mary’s University, Twickenham and the Journal of Web Semantics (JWS) special issue on Semantic Technologies in the Creative Industries.
Within the arts there is sometimes a form of cultural mystique, which surrounds the practice of computer programming, which can form an exclusion zone for artists who have not acquired the requisite vernacular to engage in discourse or practice in this field of endeavour. This research suggests a model of collaboration that uses code as a means of formalising mutual understanding and could potentially be applied to any collaborative context to bridge a gap in coding literacy between the collaborators.