In search of a digital aesthetic. Steven Holtzman's readable and enjoyable book Digital Mantras is a fantastic investigation into the history and principles of contemporary digital expression. Looking to abstract structures in his search, Holtzman discusses music, art, language, computer science, and virtual reality.
After a lengthy grammarian look into the Sanskrit language of the fourth century BC, Holtzman demonstrates the Chomskian concept of universal grammars. What follows is an interesting discussion of the work of early 1900's linguist Saussure. Saussure's belief is that what was significant between all languages was not that specific words looked alike among languages, but that there were regular correspondences in the positions of sounds throughout the system. He realized that this reflected a common underlying system or set of rules for combining sounds. Saussure developed his own abstract system for what he believed defined language -- a system of signs. Holtzman clearly displays these similarities in his word chart comparisons of Sanskrit, Greek, Latin, Gothic, Old English, and English.
When Holtzman moved to the discussion of music as a language, he interestingly avoids any reference to Jackendoff's extensive research on the very same subject. In questioning if music is a language, and if so, what might it be communicating, Holtzman searches for the universal grammar of sound. After a sticky look at interpretation and intent, Holtzman concludes the structuralist view again. Language is a system of relationships. Meaning is defined by those relationships.
Holtzman develops, through a history of the arts, and specifically the now digitized arts, his search for abstract structures. There are color glossy plates of Kandinsky's evolution toward purely abstract painting which provide an excellent reference. Holtzman eloquently introduces avant-garde artists such as Harold Cohen, who uses computers to generate visual art, and Brian Evans, whose fractal based art pushes his ideal of a digital aesthetic. Through an introductory description of the serialism of Schoenberg and the circle of fifths, Holtzman attempts to formally represent some examples of abstract structures that have existed in art.
During his investigation into languages, there is a noticeable absence of any discussion of computer programming languages, though there is an in-depth discussion of some computer science guru's. Holtzman provides an excellent overview of computer evolution beginning with Leibniz proposed idea of a machine capable of reasoning, and later looks to virtual reality and artificial intelligence. Leibniz believed logic could "enable sufficient clarity and precision in discourse so that disputes and disagreements could be peacefully resolved." Leibniz believe the inadequacy of language was at the root of misunderstandings between people. Discovering a computer that could reason, Leibniz believed, was the answer to solving all disagreements.
Can computers have an aesthetic if they have no emotions, no intentions? Can computers really think or only simulate thinking? Through an exploration of these questions, Holtzman speculates that such a thing as a digital aesthetic might exist.
In an example of teaching grammars to computers, Holtzman presents the 1960's artificial intelligence work of MIT researcher Terry Winograd. His SHRDLU program was the first computer model of a language system to "deal in an integrated way with all the aspects of language: syntax, semantics, inference, and, perhaps most important, knowledge and reasoning about the subject it discusses." Use of this example clearly shows that in order for SHRDLU to successfully complete its task of moving blocks and conversing with Winograd, not only must SHRDLU understand the meaning of given words, but of the overall context of the conversation: the preceding discourse, knowledge of the subject matter, and knowledge of the 'world.' All the requirements of what we consider human intelligence and interaction. The demonstration that follows is fascinating.
Holtzman foresees the day when a computer will have the capacity to elicit meaning and emotion. A meaning inherent to computers, a true digital aesthetic. And at that time, the hardware will become the artist and the software will become the art. Here, Harold Cohen's program AARON is described in its evolution from the 1970's to the present. Cohen's work certainly speaks towards a digital aesthetic. Cohen's rules for his program may be considered the grammar for drawing. The plates showing AARON's interpretation and rendering of human figures is exciting to see.
In a somewhat shallow description of virtual reality, Holtzman ignores the most prevalent virtual world that currently exists -- the Internet. He enthusiastically speaks of theoretical and aesthetic principles that will inform artistic expression in new media, yet seems to somehow slightly miss his mark when discussing virtual reality.
Digital Mantras is an excellent history of how composers and artists have tried to incorporate the computer into their creative processes and a fanciful stab at where such 'collaborative' efforts may lead. Holtzman intertwines this history with excerpts from diaries he kept on trips through India and Nepal.
Holtzman is a composer and holds a doctorate in computer science.