well i haven't seen your livecoding gig, alex, but i've seen your onscreen
command line stuff in helsinki and your live-programming demo in berlin,
so i have some thoughts (and also, this is one of my favorite issues and
foci of my projects: kinetics in computer - or any - performance). so,
some thoughts (sorry if i'm a bit incoherent - i'm intermittently groggy
all week from apparently a slightly harsh reaction to a tetanus shot of
all things...):
anyway, re:
"Somehow I think more movement has to be exposed anyway. Static source
doesn't seem to be enough on its own."
but how about static source in motion? for example, in your berlin demo,
it got a great reaction, but it wasn't the code itself most people were
interested in, but the action of you generating it live. of course - this
can lead to the old problem of the focus of livecoding appearing to be
typing virtuosity, and what happens to the programmer who's a slow typist?
but for me, these are exactly the things that are interesting to work
with. (in both extreme whitespace and cyberspaceland, i try to make the
typing and/or its onscreen results kinetic without actually requiring
myself to have onstage typing proficiency, but again, those projects are
really about physical kinetics not coding.)
also, your slub performance in helsinki with ade and the onscreen bash
shell was also visually great, because from the one-line commands (am i
remembering correctly?) the audience could get a sense that interaction
with code was going on, but also, it was kinetic - to see the commands fly
by on the screen and then hear the music change. when the
ascii-dancing-man came on, it was like icing on the cake. so seeing the
onscreen command line stuff in motion was really quite performative, even
for people who were non-programmers. i'm guessing you might be finding
that harder to do with text editors and source code onscreen - then again,
your feedback.pl sounds like a great approach to kinetic code-writing, at
least as much as i can understand from reading about it; i can't wait to
see it in action!
but what else can/should we do about the static/kinetic conondrum? i have
to admit, though i think he's got a flawed argument, i can understand
where the guy was coming from who wrote that laptop performance shouldn't
be an excuse for programmers to get onstage. i have written similar
things, but not about programmers, but about the change in performance and
leisure culture in general since tools of business (computers) became
tools of entertainment and leisure. it's boring to watch most laptop
performance because it looks just like someone doing database programming.
(i sometimes imagine that the performer *is* doing database programming to
pick up some side money and actually is playing prerecorded sound files.)
but i don't think the problem is computers; the problem is that the same
models for their use have followed them over from the business world.
that's also, i think, why the LAN-game parlors that have sprung up in all
the malls here look like offices, with throngs of teenage boys sitting
quietly in rows of cubicles as they play. the first time i saw one, i
thought it was an SAT prep center.
now, the thing is, like the neocubist calvin,
http://cocicy.envy.nu/other/CalvinNeoCubist.jpg
i can see (too?) many sides to this issue:
i played music as a kid, violin/guitar/bass/drums/etc, and even was
briefly a music performance major in college. but never was much for
composition. and i never performed computer music; i don't think they had
invented computers back then. ;-) ... then later i made films and
eventually did realtime analog video stuff (which was back to
performance), then on to various static computer and programming
endeavors, and then finally to the computer performance stuff out of
frustration with sitting still programming. but in the process of being
frustrated with the loss of physical movement, i also picked up on the
kinetics of the programming process in my head, just like everyone on this
list has obviously.
so, as we've already said, livecoding is a way to bring the performance in
our heads out to the audience. but - as alex asks, (and i think we've
mentioned these here onlist before too): do they have to be
programmers to relate to it? if bringing the intellectual performative
element to the audience is the point, are we compromising it with flying
text editors, windmill typing, fast-moving text, or dancing ascii
people? or are these kinetic hooks necessary for non-specialized
audiences? can we attack both at once?
my personal answers: well, my work isn't so much about livecoding per se
but more about addressing the juxtaposition of computer culture and
performance, so i don't feel personally conflicted when i go for
the clearly kinetic (on-screen or physical) stuff. but i do think both can
be attacked at once, as alex and ade's bash shell performances have shown.
and that kind of performance is the natural way of performing the slub
instrument, so i personally find it beautiful in itself.. i am not sure
the ascii man dancing across code would be quite as "pure" because he'd be
constructed to be amusing and not a natural way to perform. however, i
could be wrong about that, and in any case, i think he could be cool at
least at occasional moments, again as icing on a cake that is already
there...
and also, as i think we've mentioned before - almost anyone can appreciate
watching a violinist perform. but audience members who also play the
violin also appreciate the performance on another level.
my 2000 cents,
-_at_
On Sun, 30 May 2004, alex wrote:
a>
a> However after my first live coding gig I'm doubting whether this is
a> really interesting for people to look at unless they know Perl. There
a> was not much reaction when I did live coding, but when I ran my ascii
a> art dancing man script, some people whooped.
a>
a> But then there's no reason why an ascii man or woman can't dance all
a> over some sourcecode... Somehow I think more movement has to be exposed
a> anyway. Static source doesn't seem to be enough on its own.
a>
a> alex
a>
a>
Received on Mon May 31 2004 - 07:20:26 BST
