Computing
& the Arts (MSC703)
2007-2008
Softwares :
- Recommended (packages/softwares) :
Events :
Check our our
events
website and our
calendar.
- Arts Computing Invited
speakers,
- Oct. 30: Alex McLean and Rui Antunes
- They
will entertain us with their experience on the MSc AC and their
projects.
- Thursday Club:
18h-20h, Seminar rooms (ground floor), BP building
- Organised by the Digital Studios and Goldsmiths Graduate School.
- Fall 2007:
- Oct. 11: Chris Bowman: "GEO Landscapes and other sites of
investigation"
- Nov. 1: Veronique Chance & Rachel Stewart: "Live
Run(ner) & Thinking Blue Sky"
- Nov. 22: Joseph Tabbi: "Toward a Semantic Literary Web: Three
Case Histories"
- Dec. 13: Alex Gillespie, Brian O'Neill & Robb Mitchell:
"Cyranoids"
- Winter 2008:
- Whitehead Seminars,
Wednesdays, 4pm-5pm, BP Lecture Hall.
- Organized by Computing, Cognition, and Psychology
- Special Events, Symposia:
Homeworks :
- 2nd essay + presentation: Minimum of 10 pages long, based on
the Graphics module
- Essay due Tuesday February 5, noon (no extensions)
- Presentation (15 minutes each) on either Tuesday Feb. 5 or 19.
- Past homeworks:
- 1st essay + presentation: 10 pages long, based on the Vision +
Gestalt modules
- Essay due Monday November 26, noon (no extensions)
- Presentation (10 minutes each) on Tuesday Nov. 27.
Past events :
Outline
(2007-8)
Giuseppe, Changing
heads, From a series of changing heads,
Copperplate
engraving, Italy c.1700. Werner Nekes Collection
1. Computational theories of
Visual Perception 
Lecture 1 (Oct. 2-16): David
Marr's model 
Lecture 2 (Oct. 23 + Nov.
13):
Gestalt Principles
Seminar
0 (Oct. 30): "Old" MSc students present their work
Reading week: Nov. 5 -
9 (1st Homework will be due Nov. 19)
Seminar 1 (Nov. 13):
Part-Based Representations of Visual Shape
Readings
:
- For the seminar of Oct. :
- Sing, M.,
& Hoffman, D., "Part-Based Representations
of Visual Shape and
implications for visual cognition,"
Chapter 9 in From Fragments to Objects: Grouping and Segmentation
in
Vision, T. F. Shipley & P. J. Kellman (Eds.), pp. 401-459. Elsevier
Science. 2001.
- Local copy
- Review of Gestalt theory:
- Wertheimer,
M., "Laws
of Organization in Perceptual Forms," 1923.
in A
Source Book of Gestalt Psychology, W. D. Ellis (ed), pp. 71-88,
Harcourt
Brace, 1938.
- Local copy
- Behrens, R., Art, "Design and Gestalt
Theory," Leonardo,
1998.
- Local copy
- David Marr's contributions:
Homeworks
:
- Short essay + presentation on Gestalt theory and/or visual understanding: pick a theme
related to the
lectures' content and/or the readings' lists.
- 10 pages, 10pt font, single-spaced, with
bibliography.
- Due date: Monday Nov.
26, noon (no extensions will be granted..)
- Recommended text processor (based on TeX/LaTeX): LyX: free @ www.lyx.org
2. Computer Graphics and Drawing
Lecture 3 (Nov. 20):
Photorealism in Graphics
Seminar
2 (Nov. 27): Students present the topic covered in their 1st
essay
- Short presentation (10 minutes each).
Lecture 4 (Dec. 4 & 11):
Non-photorealism in
Graphics 
Issues in graphics:
- non-photorealistic
rendering
- complexity and roughness
(e.g., fractals)
- animation models
Readings :
- Graphics and depiction of images:
... in 2008..
3. Image Processing and Shape
Modeling
Seminar
3 (Jan. 8): with Stanza (
www.stanza.co.uk
)
Lecture 5 (Jan. 15): Image Processing
Techniques
Lecture 6
(Jan. 22): Image Processing
Techniques (cont'd)
Lecture 7
(Jan. 29): Image Processing
Techniques (cont'd: Convolution)
Seminar
4 (Feb. 5 & 19, 26): Students present the topic
(Graphics) covered in their 2nd
essay
Reading week (Feb. 11-15: no class; but check Seminars).
Lecture 8 (Feb. 19, 26, March 4):
Image Processing
Techniques (cont'd : Fourier filtering)
Lecture 9 (March 4):
Mathematical
Morphology (intro)
4. Fractals, Chaos, Complexity
Issues of the visualization,
modeling, preception of complexity in
science, economics, nature.
Lecture 10 (March 11): Fractals, intro.
Lecture 12 (March 11): Chaos,
intro.
5. Cellular
automata, Perspective
Lecture 13 (March 18): Cellular Automata
(intro)
Lecture 14 (March 18): Perspective (intro)
Lecture 15 ():
Skeletonization of Shapes
Seminar
5 (): Students present their Final
Project.
Assessment
15% :
Participation in class
45% : 3 short essays with presentation
40% : Final project (Essay +
implementation/demo + Final presentation)
Further Readings / Links
Conferences / Workshops / Festivals
- SIGGRAPH : July 2006 in Boston, August 2007 in San Diego, August
2008 in Los Angeles
- 5th Creativity and Cognition Conference: April 12-15, 2005 @
Goldsmiths College, London.
Essays, critiques, comments on Arts Computing, and related topics:
- Graham, P., "Hackers
and Painters," May 2003.
- Kevius, Bruno, "Mathematical Art, Graphics, Chaos and
Fractals." Links
- Langrish, J. Z., "Darwinian
Design: The Memetic Evolution of Design Ideas," in Design Issues, 20(4):4-19, MIT
Press, Autumn 2004. Local copy.
- Wright, R., "Software Art After Programming," Metamute,
M28, July 2004. Local copy.
Exhibition space / facilities:
- Help for students @ Goldsmiths: < creative@gold.ac.uk > c/o
David Charlesworth, Student Activities and Finance President.
Organisations / Societies / Clubs / Institutes :
- Computer Arts Society (CAS)
: promotes the creative uses of computers in the arts and culture
generally. Is a Specialist Group of the British Computer Society (BCS)
- Computers and the History of Art Society (CHArt): open
to all who have interests in the application of computers to the study
of art and design.
- Hexagram: Institute for Research/Creation in Media Arts and
Technologies, Canada
Research
Projects on Arts and Computing :
- CACHe : investigates
the early days of the computer arts in the UK from their origins in the
1960s to the 1980s.
Last update: March 11, 2008