Professor Ernest Edmonds. Keynote Speaker at ArtsIT 2019

Professor Ernest Edmonds

Keynote Speaker at ArtsIT 2019

ACM SIGGRAPH 2017; Distinguished Artist Award for Lifetime Achievement In Digital Art
ACM SIGCHI 2017; Lifetime Achievement Award for the Practice of Computer Human Interaction

http://ernestedmonds.com

Ernest Edmonds’ art is in the constructivist tradition and he is a pioneer in the use of computers and computational ideas. His art explores algorithms used to relation to colour, time, communication and interaction. He first used computers in his practice in 1968, first showed an interactive artwork with Stroud Cornock in 1970 and first showed a generative time-based computer work in London in 1985. He has exhibited throughout the world, from Moscow to LA. He has recently exhibited in Venice, Denver, Vancouver, Beijing, Shanghai, and Rio de Janeiro. His work is described in the book by Francesca Franco, “Generative Systems Art: The Work of Ernest Edmonds” (Routledge, 2017).

He has many publications in the fields of art, creativity and human-computer interaction. Ernest Edmonds is Professor of Computational Art at De Montfort University, Leicester, UK and Founding Director of the Creativity and Cognition Studios at the University of Technology, Sydney. His recent books include “The Art of Interaction: what HCI can learn from Interactive Art” (Morgan & Claypool, 2018) and “From Fingers to Digits: an artificial aesthetic”, with Margaret Boden, (MIT Press, 2019).

Ernest Edmonds was born in London and studied Mathematics and Philosophy at Leicester University. He has a PhD in logic from Nottingham University. He has held the position of University Dean, has served on many funding and conference committees and was a pioneer in the development of practice-based PhD programmes. He has been an invited speaker in, for example, the UK, France, the USA, China, Australia, Japan and Malaysia.

ACM SIGCHI Award 2015: CHI Academy

Chairman of the Board of ISEA International

Editor in Chief Springer Book Series Cultural Computing

Honorary Editor Leonardo

Founding Editor Knowledge-Based Systems

Art and Code: Programming as a Medium
Ernest Edmonds

Abstract
Computer programming is more than a tool for the artist. Writing code is manipulating a medium: a medium that is like no other. This paper discusses the importance of coding and shows how it is enabling principled investigations into imagining new forms, creating new experiences and extending the nature of engagement with art works. I will show how formal ways of making art, from perspective to the 20th century use of systems, geometry and mathematics, have pointed to the value of programming. This is a direction that has defined the work of a range of artists. I will discuss the use of the medium of code by artists I have interviewed about their art making process. They include pioneers Aaron Marcus, Harold Cohen, Manfred Mohr, Paul Brown, Roman Verostko and other artists, some of whom are live coding practitioners. I will illustrate the role of code in my own practice and how I use it to investigate the very nature of interaction.