Art Hackathon: Ghost In The Machine

We periodically have art hackathons as a change to the usual talk or tutorial format. This month we held our first hackathon in Cornwall.

The theme for this hackathon was "Ghost In the Machine".

Hackathon?

In a hackathon we are free to create anything we want. The theme is there to inspire us, and can be interpreted in any way we wish.

Constraints, chosen carefully, provide a sense of common working but without feeling like your creativity is being clipped. For us the key constrain is to use openprocessing.org which is an online environment for using p5js.

In our group there was a range of experiences and also a range of ages - luckily openprocessing is both beginner friendly as well as a tool for more advanced creative coders.

In larger groups, people tend to self-organise into individuals and those working together. We also identify those who are able to help others, and those who want technical help.

For complete beginners I I usually refer to the creative coding for kids course, which although designed for children, has been successful with adults too:

• https://sites.google.com/view/creative-coding-for-kids

Ghost In The Machine?

Someone asked about the theme, so I explained that all of our themes for this and previous hackathons are chosen to resonate with a theme without being too prescriptive. There is often a reference behind the theme but it is not intended that everyone will know this. In short, a playful theme.

For me the phrase Ghost In The Machine refers to the philosophy of mind-body dualism, but my intention was to invoke the classic Japanese animation Ghost In The Shell, a beautifully crafted exploration of consciousness, synthetic bodies and machines, artificial intelligence, their co-existence and conflict.

Watching Ghost In The Machine in the 90s was a key moment for me - it set me on a lifelong journey into artificial intelligence, machine learning and algorithmic art.

Example Works

In the fixed timeframe of a hackathon most people find they don't finish wha they had planned. This is ok. Showing a work in progress, and talking about your inspiration and journey, what worked and what didn't, is often more interesting than a finished work in isolation.

The following are some examples from the group.

Jonathan worked, not with openprocessing, but blender to create the following beautiful mandala-like designs.

The following playful image of ghosts has an underlying mathematical structure as the number increases along the fibonacci sequence with each ring layer.

The following cute ghost was created by a young member who only learned to code very recently - lovely!

The following animated work was started as an interaction between two machines, with polygons of varying facets, to see if the combined motion had any interesting emergent or optical effects. Click the image to see it in motion.

The next animation was intended to show a rigid grid of dots - the machine - with other dots moving away from this rigid structure in an organic natural movement.

The next work was created in collaboration between two friends, one with more experience as an artist and the other with more experience as a developer.

It starts with the concept of boids, individual objects which move according to simple rules, but as an interacting collection, we see emergent behaviour such as flocking.

They wanted the red objects to turn on and off, and when on they were intended to repel the boids. Click the image to see the full animation and code.

Thoughts

I think initially the idea of hackathon without somone leading a talk or tutorial might have felt a little uncertain but once underway, with soothing visuals and clasical music, the room was soon a hive of activity!

Typically the show-n-tell, where we see each others work and hear the artists ideas and journey, is really interesting and inspiring - and this session was no different!