Algorithmic artists write code, and the artwork exists when the code executes. Code execution lets artists explore variations of their ideas, fine tune the subtle balance between randomness and identity. While all these artists explore different aesthetics and forms, from Ikeda’s audiovisual minimalism to Licia He’s automatic watercolor, the practices of all these artists have one thing in common: the artwork is the result of the execution of a program. The generated work can be projected, broadcast through a light installation or a sound device. In this case, the unique work generated at a given moment exists only for the audience present at that moment. Sometimes artists program machines to bring the artworks into the physical world, for example with a pen plotter. In this case, a particular execution is fixed on paper, wood or metal and it exists beyond the time of the execution of the program.

Artists who practice algorithmic art have developed strong software expertise. Casey Reas and Ben Fry created Processing in the early 2000s. This Java library is still actively maintained and developed today, and is part of the toolbox of many digital artists. Lauren Lee McCarthy has built an inclusive community of artists and developers around the open source project p5.js, which is now at the heart of million of artworks, educational projects, and cultural initiatives around the world. Many artists document their work on open source platforms such as Github.

Algorithmic art is deeply rooted in everything we love about software: code, execution and the performative nature of software. In this talk, we go on a journey into the code that generates art, we wander into seminal art works, explore open source software for the arts, and perform code.

Benoit Baudry is a Professor in Software Technology at the Université de Montréal. His research focuses on automated software engineering, software diversity and software testing. He favors code execution over code on disk.