Computing & the Arts (MSC703)

Part of the MSc Arts Computing @ Goldsmiths

Professor Frederic F. Leymarie

2006-2007

Softwares :

Recommended (packages/softwares) :

Document processor (based on TeX/LaTeX): LyX : free @ www.lyx.org .
Text/program editor : xemacs : free @ www.xemacs.org .
Image manipulation package: GIMP : free @ www.gimp.org .
Image processing programming environment : processing : free @ processing.org .

Events :

Check our our events website and our calendar.

Arts Computing Invited speakers,

Michael Leyton: A Generative Theory of Shape

Friday, Nov. 24, noon, BPB, Seminar Rooms 2-3

Thursday Club: 18h-20h, Seminar rooms (ground floor), BP building

Organised by the Digital Studios and Goldsmiths Graduate School.

Winter 2007:

Jan. 11: Charlotte Frost & Marc Garett: "New futures in net art"
Jan. 25: Michael Young: "Living computer music"
Feb. 15: Jon Meyer: www.cybergrain.com
Feb. 22: Bill Gaver : The Home Health Monitor : www.goldsmiths.ac.uk/interaction/
March 8: Sue Broadhurst: "Digital practices"
March 22: Igloo

Fall 2006:

Oct. 5: Mick Grierson
Oct. 19: Uneasy Space: Opening of a photo /video show in collaboration with the New York University
Oct. 26: Adnan Hazi and Maria X
Nov. 2: Brian Kavanagh
Nov. 16: Tim Hopkins
Nov. 30: Mark d'Inverno
Dec. 14: Chris Brauer

Whitehead Seminars, Wednesdays, 4pm-5pm, BP Lecture Hall.

Organized by Computing, Cognition, and Psychology

www.mcs.gold.ac.uk/seminars/2006/autumn.html

Immersivity, Art, Architecture, Sound and Ecology

Small Hall/Cinema, Main Building, Goldsmiths College.
www.liveartgardeninitiative.org.uk/events.html

Sat. 21 October 2006: Deleuzian philosophy; architectures of time.
Sat. 18 November 2006: Sound; electromagnetic fields; meditative perception and movement.
Sat. 9 December 2006: Sound; vibration; acoustics and environmental architecture.
Sat. 20 January 2007: Durational, immersive performance and consciousness.
Wed. 14 February 2007: Ecology and interactivity; sensing; responsive systems.

Special Events, Symposia:

Stanza:

Monday, Jan. 15, 4-5pm, BPB, DS space

Art of the Digital Age: Past and Future

Tuesday, November 14, 18h30
Lecture Hall, Wilson Road, Camberwell College of Arts, London SE5 8UF

Symposium: Affective Imaging, Uneasy Spaces, Conteporary Arts Practice & Research

Friday October 20, BPB, ground floor, 10am--17h30

Homeworks :

Latests homeworks:

Short essay + presentation on topics from the "Computer Graphics" section.

Past homeworks:

Short essay + presentation on Gestalt theory and visual understanding: pick a theme related to the lectures' content and/or the readings' lists. Due Nov. 14 (see below).

Past events :

Outline (2006-7)

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. 3-10): David Marr's model

Art Critique Seminar 1 (Oct. 5) : Intro. by Prof. Janis Jefferies

Seminar 0 (Oct. 12): "Old" MSc students present their work

Lecture 2 (Oct. 17): Gestalt Principles

Seminar 1 (Oct. 24+31): Part-Based Representations of Visual Shape

Seminar 2 (Oct. 26): PerFormaSpace: Goldsmiths & University of Cambridge

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:

Edelman, S. & Vaina, L., "David Marr: a short biography," in the International Encyclopaedia of Social and Behavioral Sciences, 2001

Local copy

Homeworks :

Short essay + presentation on Gestalt theory and visual understanding: pick a theme related to the lectures' content and/or the readings' lists.

Between 5 and 10 pages, 10pt font, single-spaced, with bibliography.
Due date: after Lecture 4 on Nov. 14.
Recommended text processor (based on TeX/LaTeX): LyX: free @ www.lyx.org

2. Computer Graphics and Drawing

Lecture 3 (Oct. 31 + Nov.14): Photorealism in Graphics

Reading week: Nov. 6 - 10 (Homework will be due Nov. 14 ...)

Lecture 4 (Nov. 14+21+30): Non-photorealism in Graphics

Seminar 2 (Nov. 23): Students present a topic of their choice

Short presentation
Based on previous lectures and/or readings

Art Critique Seminar 2 (Nov. 28) : by Janis Jefferies

Issues in graphics:

non-photorealistic rendering
complexity and roughness (e.g., fractals)
animation models

Readings :

Graphics and depiction of images:

Durand, F., " The Art and Science of Depiction ," Unpublished manuscript, 2000.

Local copy

Willats, J. & Durand, F., "Defining Pictorial Style: Lessons from Linguistics and Computer Graphics," submitted to Axiomathes, 2004+

Local copy

3. Image Processing and Shape Modeling

Lecture 5 (Nov. 30): Image Processing Techniques

Seminar 3 (Dec. 5): Music and Computing with C. Gilloire, A. McLean, O. Bown

Art Critique Seminar 3 (Dec. 7) : with Janis Jefferies + Nick Lambert @ Birkbeck

Lecture 6 (Dec. 12): Image Processing Techniques (cont'd)

Art Critique Seminar 4 (Dec. 14) : with Janis Jefferies

... in 2007..

Lecture 7 (Jan. 9): Image Processing Techniques (cont'd: Convolution)

Art Critique Seminar 5 (Jan. 11): with Janis Jefferies (at Tate Modern)

Seminar 4 (Jan. 15): by Stanza (NB: on a Monday in place of Lecture of Tuesday Jan. 16).

Seminar 5 (Jan. 18): Music Computing: Dave Murray-Rust on "MAMA: Using ideas from speech act theory to support musical interaction"

Lecture 8 (Jan. 23): Image Processing Techniques (cont'd : Fourier filtering)

Lecture 9 (Jan. 30): Mathematical Morphology

Art Critique Seminar 6 (Feb. 1): Students present their Tate Modern reflexions.

Lecture 10 (Feb. 6): Skeletonization of Shapes

Art Critique Seminar 7 (Feb. 8): Students present their Tate Modern reflexions (cont'd).

Reading week (Feb. 12-16: no class; but check Seminars).

4. Fractals, Chaos, Complexity

Issues of the visualization, modeling, preception of complexity in science, economics, nature.

Lecture 11 (Feb. 20): Fractals, intro.

Art Critique Seminar 7 (Feb. 22): follow-up to Feb. 8

Seminar 6 (Feb. 27): Students present a (Computer Graphics) topic of their choice.

Art Critique Seminar 8 (Mar. 1):

Lecture 12 (Mar. 6): More Fractals.

Lecture 13 (Mar. 8): Chaos

Seminar 7 (Mar. 13): Students present a (Image Processing) topic of their choice.

5. Animation, Robotics, Cellular automata (Tentative)

Lecture 14 (Mar. 15):

Lecture 15 (Mar. 20):

Seminar 8 (Mar. 22): Students present their Draft Proposal for a Final Project.

Assessment

Seminars (participation) and short essays

Report (research proposal)

Further Readings / Links

Conferences / Workshops / Festivals

SIGGRAPH : July 2006 in Boston

www.siggraph.org

5th Creativity and Cognition Conference: April 12-15, 2005 @ Goldsmiths College, London.

http://research.it.uts.edu.au/creative/CandC5/

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)

http://www.computer-arts-society.org/

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.

http://www.chart.ac.uk/

Hexagram: Institute for Research/Creation in Media Arts and Technologies, Canada

http://hexagram.org/

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.

http://www.bbk.ac.uk/hafvm/cache/

Last update: Mar. 6, 2007.