Code as Canvas

    Attending Roxanne Harris’s lecture completely reframed how I understand coding, not as a technical language, but as an artistic tool. A self-described “musician-programmer,” Harris shared how her background in computer science and music at Yale evolved into live coding performances, where she improvises music and visuals through real-time programming. Her lecture made me see code as a form of improvisational art, not just structure.

    Exploring her portfolio, I was especially struck by her use of Sonic Pi, a live coding platform that transforms programming into performance. Watching her craft layered soundscapes in real time, I saw a direct connection between code and musical expression, something I had never considered before. She described it as “algorithmic vulnerability,” where even mistakes become part of the performance. This transparency aligns with themes we’ve discussed in class: the merging of logic and creativity, and embracing the unknown in digital media.

    To learn more, I read a Medium article on live coding, which explains how artists globally use languages like Sonic Pi and TidalCycles to create live performances. The article made it clear that this movement is growing and reshaping how we experience both music and programming. I also explored the Wikipedia page on live coding, which helped contextualize the historical roots of this artform. Knowing that it intersects with both experimental music and hacker culture made Harris’s work even more compelling.

    Her event inspired me to explore live audiovisual creation for my final project. I’d recommend her talk to anyone, especially those who think coding is purely technical. This was a reminder that code, like art, is full of emotion, spontaneity, and personal meaning.


Sources/Citations:


Proof of Attendance:



Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

The Cosmos is a Canvas

Image
    This week’s materials reminded me that space is not only the final frontier for science, it’s also a boundless canvas for cultural imagination. The most influential source for me was the Leonardo Space Art Project Working Group, particularly the personal statements by Roger Malina and Arthur Woods. Malina reflects on how the cultural dreams of artists, writers, and musicians preceded and enabled space exploration. This made me reconsider the idea that science drives progress alone; instead, it’s the collaboration between imagination and inquiry that fuels discovery. Woods’s point, that artists are essential in shaping the   why   of space exploration, not just the how, deepened my understanding of the ethical and symbolic significance of venturing beyond Earth.      Marko Peljhan’s   Makrolab   project offered a compelling example of this ethic in action. A blend of architecture, sculpture, media lab, and performance space, Makrolab ...
Read more

Meeting in the Middle: A Return Walk Through UCLA

Image
    Retracing my steps from North to South Campus, I found myself once again pausing at the Tongva Steps, formerly Janss Steps. These 87 stairs are more than just a connector between the arts and the sciences, they are UCLA’s spine, binding disciplines, ideologies, and communities. Since their renaming to honor the Gabrielino-Tongva people, the steps have taken on new meaning. As the   Daily Bruin   reported, the decision wasn’t just symbolic; it was a conscious effort to acknowledge the Indigenous history beneath our feet and reconsider whose narratives are centered in our institutions     In our   Art, Science, and Technology   course, we’ve challenged the rigid divide between North and South Campus, between humanists and scientists. We've seen how artists use algorithms and how scientists rely on creative intuition. Programs like UCLA’s   Sci|Art Lab + Studio   illustrate this convergence in action, fostering interdisciplina...
Read more

Medicine as a Mirror for Ethics and Art

Image
    This week’s materials opened up a dimension of medicine I rarely considered: the deeply artistic and  architectural   nature of the human body, and the ethical frameworks that shape how it’s studied, scanned, and saved.      Silvia Casini’s discussion of MRI as both   portrait   and   mirror   helped me revisit my own experience inside the machine. Years ago, I had an MRI for chronic migraines, and it felt sterile, clinical. But Casini reframes the MRI image as something intimate and aesthetic, a product of cultural and sensory translation. In this way, even diagnostic imaging becomes an artistic interface between technology and the self.     That insight resonated with Donald Ingber’s   The Architecture of Life , where he introduces   tensegrity   as the structural principle behind everything from cells to organs. It’s a concept borrowed from sculpture, structures held together not by rigid bo...
Read more