From: John Morrice <spoon@...>
Date: 2010-12-17T20:53:29+09:00
Subject: Re: Is programming art?

> True works of art have no utility and have a final form.

Warning: I'm going to use some onanism to attempt to demonstrate
a point.  This is because writing silly, and often useless, pieces of
software is my hobby!

Here is a specimen.  It's a zoom into a fractal exclamation mark.
https://github.com/elginer/exclamation/blob/master/surprise.gif

So that's a bit of a strange program that generates fairly strange
(or crap) art. 

I'm trying to show is that the relationship between
utility and art is not as simple as XOR.

* The program makes art.

* The art is useless.

* Is the program useless?  On the other hand, could I really argue that
  it's useful?

* If the program was used as part of a particularly pretentious
installation, would it then become part of the art, or would only its
output be art?

* Importantly, would you shoot the person who arranged the exhibit?

Johnny