media arts and technology graduate program uc santa barbara mat 256 visual design through algorithms...

Winter 2006

Media Arts and TechnologyGraduate ProgramUC Santa Barbara

MAT 256 Visual Design through Algorithms

Lecture 3: 256 Information & Art

Winter 2006



Communication (Weaver) When a truck picks up a cargo in New Orleans

and delivers it to Baltimore, communication has happened.

When someone steps out onto the beach and the salt air touches their nose and the smell of the ocean comes into their mind, communication has happened.

When two stray cats meet for sex in an alley in Los Angeles, communication has happened.

When a child having breakfast in Phoenix and reads the back of a cereal box, communication has happened.

When a computer in New York City calls up a computer in Tokyo and transmits a message, communication has happened

Winter 2006



3 Levels of Communication (Weaver)TECHNICAL: How accurately can the symbols of communication be

transmitted? Concerned with the accuracy of the transfer

SEMANTIC: How precisely do the transmitted symbols convey the desired meaning?

Concerned with satisfactorily close approximation in the interpretation of meaning by the receiver, as compared with the intended meaning of the sender

EFFECTIVENESS: How effectively does the received meaning affect conduct

in the desired way? Problem of effectiveness involves aesthetic considerations

in fine arts Involves mechanics of style, psychological, emotional

aspects and other values

Winter 2006



Shannon’s Information Theory

Applies only to the technical problem of accuracy

But impact on semantic and effectiveness

Any limitations in A impacts on B and C

Weaver argues that A is also a theory of B and C

Winter 2006



Information & Meaning

In Information Theory, information not to be

confused with meaning

Meaning and nonsense may have equivalent

information value

Semantic aspects irrelevant to the engineering

aspects

“Not what you say, but what you could say”

Information, a measure of one’s freedom of choice

when selecting a message

More information with greater the choices

Winter 2006



For Later Discussion (p10-19)

Probability, Entropy potential for artistic procedure

Markov Processes

Noise

Winter 2006



Weaver: Semantic Receiver, Semantic noise

Semantic receiver inserted between message and

receiver subjects message to 2nd level decoding

Match between statistical semantic characteristics

of message to the totality of receivers

Semantic noise inserted between message and

transmitter

Decoding must take this into account

Sum of message meaning + semantic noise =

desired total message

Winter 2006



Capacity Issues

Error and confusion arise, fidelity decreases with too

much info through a channel

Take into account capacity of channel, but also

capacity of receiver/audience

Winter 2006



Information Theory for Art (to be further dev…)

A model with recognizable features (signal, noise,

order, chaos, transmission, encoding, decoding,

reception)

Relationship of Signal to Noise has metaphoric

potential (art allows for deviation, re-interpretation,

metaphoric appropriation)

Art leans towards noise, or the play between signal

and noise as aesthetic material

Information Theory provides methodologies by

which to address semantic interpretation (Humanities

studies cultural interpretation of messages)

Winter 2006



Historical Transition in Artistic Visualization

Second industrial revolution (1850 onwards) displaced

the historical function of painting to visually represent

the world

Culprits: camera (realistic optical representation),

lithographic printing press (multiplicity), railway

system (access to other places, countryside, etc.)

Painting had to reinvent itself. Shifted focus to the

language of painting, and the logical perspective of the

artist rather then the world

Monet Haystacks at Sunrise Series, 1890-1981

Winter 2006



Abstraction

Art & Painting Became Abstract in the 1910’s

Kazimir Malevich, Soviet Constructivism, 1910

Marcel Duchamp, Fountain, Conceptual, 1917

Luigi Russolo, Art of Noise, Futurism, 1930’s (sound)

Jackson Pollock, Abstract Expressionism, 1940s

Winter 2006



Art & Chance-Imagery

“A throw of the dice will never abolish chance”,

Mallarme, symbolist poet (1842-1898)

Marcel Duchamp: 3 Standard Stoppages, 1913,

(mechanical chance processes)

Duchamp dropped three threads, each a meter long, on

to the same number of Prussian blue cloths/canvas.

Then they were stuck to the surfaces without any

adjustments to the curves that chance dictated they

fell into. He then cut up the cloth and stuck it to glass

plates

Winter 2006



George Brecht, in “Chance-Imagery” (1957)

Fluxus artist addresses the role of chance in art

Chance-images characterized by lack of conscious

design, a method to override subjectivity

Aesthetic decisions through tossing of coin, dice:

visual form developed through consecutive sets of two

random numbers (RAND Corp, published numbers)

Chance: a means to attain greater generality

http://www.ubu.com/historical/gb/brecht_chance.pdf

Winter 2006



Artistic Possibilities John Simon http://www.numeral.com/eicon.html http://www.earstudio.com/projects/listeningpost.html?

middle=listening_middle.html (Listening Post) http://textarc.org/ (Paley) http://www.marumushi.com/apps/newsmap/ http://www.txtkit.sw.ofcd.com/ http://jevbratt.com/projects.html http://128.111.69.4/~jevbratt/1_to_1/3/migration/ http://www.ima.fa.geidai.ac.jp/trdproj/TAP2000-E/trap/

nishijima.html http://images.google.com/images?

q=particle+tracks&ie=ISO-8859-1&hl=en (particle tracking)

http://www.cybergeography.org/atlas/info_spaces.html

media arts and technology graduate program uc santa barbara mat 256 visual design through algorithms...

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