Architect and philosopher Manuel DeLanda has claimed among a host of others that rivers, with their sorting behavior of sediments and critters, are something like ecological or watershed computers. This idea of rivers, rocks, and forests as computers has had a significant backing in scientific and architectural communities since the early days of computer science, yet what such a statement would mean for most of us is somewhat unclear and inconsistent. At its limit, this worldview considers the universe itself and everything contained within it as rudimentary computers; a philosophy known as pancomputationalism which lurks near arguably all contemporary sensibilities of practice.

This 6-week course is dedicated to modeling a practical framework of natural computers to artists and designers. Working from simple mathematical formalisms to a survey of existing artists and architects, we’ll develop projects that deploy what Sejo Vega has called non-electronic digital systems that are in harmony with nature.

We’ll model this framework through an simple overview of introductory concepts from computer science. Covering Automata, Languages, Machines, we’ll learn to read and write super simple logical formulas and then workshop them using non-electronic materials and systems like haikus, vintage legos, a 1998 passenger van and its 8 cylinder engine, Chinese logograms, a dance routine, some coloring books, and a waterfall. The artists and designers whose works we’ll engage with include Vega, Jose Sanchez, Gilles Retsin & Mollie Claypool, Andrea Zittel, AA Cavia, and the game studio Amanita Design.

Where DeLanda and others have provoked the philosophy of computation in natural systems as a design framework, this course will help us to think what this idea might actually mean formally beyond the armchair of thinking and into the fields of practice. Following a kind of Marxist ethics, if we want to understand the intelligence of a river, then we’ll have to learn the language that it speaks.

Students will be asked to develop and share work and are formally encouraged to join for an offsite class exhibition in partnership with Arts, Letters, and Numbers early November where we will day trip to a series of waterfalls and taverns.

• Become familiar with very basic ideas of computer science: Automata, Languages, Turing Machines.
• Apply these ideas to non-electronic (non-programming) mediums in your art and/or design practice.
• Consider the dynamics of these practices and ideas within your and your community’s value system.

Week 1 & 2 — Automata

We’ll define finite state automata. These are the kind of theoretical models of computers that are used to design things like automatic doors and simple alphabetical patterns and we’ll introduce the basics of formalizing these models with logical notation. We’ll then turn these formulas into lego castles and Norpet simulations and and screen Jose Sanchez’s Polyomino project and the Machinarium mobile game.

Week 3 & 4 — Languages

We’ll define context-free languages and grammars. These concepts were developed in part by by Noam Chomsky as devices to recognize more complex alphabetical patterns closer to everyday human languages. We’ll continue with our simple formalizations and workshop them with haikus and screen the Machinarium mobile game and selections from Low Tech Magazine.

Week 5 & 6 — Machines

We’ll define Turing machines. These models are a landmark of early computer science and are theoretically approximate to an everyday, general purpose computer. They also bring up a set of concerns about what is or is not computable in terms of true or false binarities. We’ll write formulas and workshop with a coloring book, a combustion engine, and a waterfall and we’ll screen the Samarost 3 mobile game and Andrea Zittel’s interior design.

Each class will include time for discussion and personal production time and then towards the end of the course we’ll discuss field trips, exhibition, and projects.

• Samorost 3 by Amanita Design
• Macinarium by Amanita Design
• Introduction To The Theory Of Computation by Michael Sipser
• Marx: Early Political Writings (Cambridge Texts in the History of Political Thought) by Karl Marx
• Computation in Physical Systems
• A Thousand Years of Nonlinear History by Manuel De Landa

Will is an artist and scholar. His practice is based in creative writing, music, and coding and he is interested in computer science and the theory of communism. His work has been shown internationally at the Estonian Academy of Art and at the Arts, Letters, and Numbers Residency in Albany, New York. His writing can be found on the Triple Ampersand Journal and in the upcoming publication of the Yale Machine and Matter Symposium. Will has taught design at Fordham University, the New School, and at SUNY Westchester Community College.

Index scholarships are designed to benefit underrepresented groups, BIPOC members of our community, and those for whom the class price is not accessible. These need-based scholarships will go to the candidates who best demonstrate why they should be chosen for the free spot to our class based on the following criteria:

• Belong to groups that are traditionally underrepresented in the graphic design and creative industries
• Do not have jobs that would pay for these courses as professional development
• Cannot independently afford the class at list price
• Share our value of intentional community

The number of selected applicants chosen is subject to the discretion of Index and the instructor, but every course will select at least one. Apply for a scholarship here. Applications close September 1st.

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More than 4 weeks before class begins → 100% refund

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