On 13/08/2013 5:16 AM, Graham Wakefield wrote:
> Interesting. It seems like you want a value judgement capable of
> marking an axis between live coding and live arrangement (DJing,
> triggering clips in Ableton, triggering pre-written functions in SC,
> etc.). Is it a question of the behavioral complexity the performer is
> making use of (limited of course by what the software supports)?
> Would you be looking for a metric that can determine to what extent a
> piece is authored "live"? Is it a product of both of these factors,
> or more? I'm guessing that nobody would suggest analysing the
> resultant sounds (sample time-series) to measure it, but where would
> you measure it? Translate the code into a neutral representation of
> the algorithm (as a time series) to compare performances?
I'd expect the literature on "what is improvisation?" to address many of
these questions too.
Is there an established etymology for "live coding"? I suspect that it
has some British origin related to "live art"[1]. I couldn't tell you
what the "live" in "live art" means but I suspect it's related to
*performance*, not to *liveness*[2], i.e. "live art" is closely allied
with performance art.
It might be useful to focus on what "coding" is. In software development
there is a more or less established continuum from systems programming,
applications programming through to user-level scripting and text-based
and graphical configuration. Algorithm design, library and code reuse
and refactoring also come into it.
All of these practices can be framed as a performance.
I think it's the "coding" bit that raises the most questions. When is
someone really programming? What an undergraduate music student
understands as programming is likely different from what a commercial
software engineer thinks of as programming. A PLT theoretician may well
have a different perspective again. I see a lot of people focusing on
the syntax of interaction (text syntax and also interaction syntax) to
give things a "coding" flavour, but live coding is broader than that
(thinking of some of the non-computer works of Click Nilson).
I think the role of algorithm is important. Performed art of the reified
algorithm.
Ross.
[1] "The term 'Live Art' came into usage in the UK in the mid-1980’s..."
http://www.joshuasofaer.com/2011/06/what-is-live-art/
[2]
http://www.johncroft.eu/Theses_on_liveness.pdf
Received on Tue Aug 13 2013 - 23:52:41 BST