Processing Community Day @Aarhus 2023 Saturday, Sept 30th 10.00–18.00 @DIDAKTEKET Arkitektskolen Aarhus

Why Code?

Ester Marie Aagard (2019) The software we use can influence our life in many ways, some we are aware of and some which are hidden. I want to understand the hidden parts as data-tracking, the way in which different software’s are programmed and so forth. And in my projects, I try to visualize the hidden parts to try to make people reflect upon them. Therefore, I use coding both to understand and explain the software that we use
Sofie Andersen (2021) Coding for me, is a way of expressing yourself just like art and literature. Just like traditional artforms have been used to raise critique and awareness of important matters, I see coding as the new artform that gives empowerment back to the individual. If you are willing to learn how to code, there are endless possibilities to what you can create and explore
Andreja Andric (2019) I subscribe to the Pythagorean idea that numbers are behind everything. With this in mind, coding helps me connect to the hidden side of the world and is a form of contemplative action
Nina Isis Kinch Bolton (2021) I believe it is important to understand one of the most prevalent creation tools of today so that we can question and create for all and not just the privileged few
Anna Brynskov (2020) With knowledge about coding you can change the world. Or at least you can have a stronger voice in discussions about how society should be built and designed. Knowledge is power
Nanna Debois Buhl (2021) Weaving is often associated with the homely, the domestic, and the feminine. Recently, however, the shared history of weaving and computing has been brought to light. Often the binary connection between weaving and computation is exemplified with the 18th century-Jacquard loom, which was operated by punch cards. What happens when the weaving-computing relationship is examined from a bodily and material perspective and when we engage the loom as a computer, as a time machine? Through experiments with coding and weaving I explore the connections between the threads of the loom and the programming of the computer, between the logics of weaving recipes and algorithms.
Tilde Lageri Damborg (2019) Coding to me is not only a tool to reach a end goal, its an inspiring, strict, rigid and sometimes very annoying co-designer
Malthe Stavning Erslev (2019) I am interested in coding because it inspires me and enables me to think trough conceptual ideas, notions, concerns etc. I will often start out with a vague idea of a concept that I want to explore, and the practice of coding will ‘take’ me somewhere I did not anticipate. I like to remain open and curious as to what reveals itself as being interesting, troubling or surprising when coding. As such, coding is not only a constructive practice for me (where the goal is working software), but is as much a practice of knowledge development. I mostly explore concepts related to words, language and literature, and my practice often results in a rough sketch or proof-of-concept – hence I refer to my practice as ‘conceptual software design’
Raune Frankjær (2021) To me it's almost like some a kind of modern day shamanism - using sensing technology in conjunction with visual or auditory interpretations, instead of magic potions and bones - to reveal the forgotten yet amazingly vibrant and intertwined multispecies world that we live in and are part of
Mathilde Borregaard Gajhede (2021) Coding has proved to be not only a practical tool in the digital world, but also a way for me to express myself creatively. Through our courses I’ve found that coding is one of the most powerful ways of not only creating, but also reflecting and understanding the world
Rolf Holm (2020) Personally for me, coding is fun. Someone once called it, "the greatest puzzle", and I get why. It’s the most open-ended game there is, with no end goal beyond creativity and mastery. And beyond that I find it deeply intriguing, when the unexpected happens, be that breakdowns or the emergence of "features". It’s about exploration, and finding your own niche
Ann Karring (2019) To me coding is a way to express myself. Whether it is personal or global issues, coding helps me reflect on these issues. I also use it as a tool of communication, so I can share my views with others
Niels Konrad (2020) Coming from a visual and creative background and having drawn and sketched for as long as I can remember, I started coding rather late in life. When I started studying deisgn, I remember I saw coding and prototyping with code as a little spark, a little bit of magic that could breathe life into already appealing visual design. Not that static graphic design, print and posters are in anyway boring or will ever go out of fashion, but I thought why not make graphic design react to your presence and make it surprise? That’s why I started coding and why I still code today
Lasse Korsgaard (2020) The main reason I code and love coding is that I have the ability to create my own tools to use in my creative process
Simon Feusi Ludvigsen (2021) Knowledge about coding gives you the tools to change the world in your own way. It gives you the ability to solve problems from a new perspective that the majority of people don’t have knowledge about. In our project we try to emphasize the fact that every image we see is biased to some extent. The code behind the program creates a better understanding for how and why this can be an issue
Sofie Fürsterling Mønster (2021) Digital technologies surround us in our everyday life, and the software underneath the surface of these influence us more than some might be aware of. The algorithms controlling certain parts of the software that we use, will always be biased to some extent. This leads to dysfunctional societal problems that are affecting some people more than others, which leads to a “hidden” inequality in society. So, what I find most intriguing about coding is how I have the possibility to increase awareness and critical reflection about topics that I find important to draw attention to, especially as a lack of critical reflection helps to perpetuate this inequality…
Alex Mørch (2020) Besides being a great compositorial tool for autonomous and interactive music, coding also bridges digital and physical space
Mace Ojala (2021) For me to code is to attend to the relationship we have with these machines, with computers. Basically, to code is to seek a lasting relationship which is based not only on one-sided use, but on mutual transformation. I like to think that coding allows the needs, passions and potentials of both humans and computers to be responded to, and that is a beautiful, worthwhile and even rebellious thing to do.
Gabriel Pereira (2020) I think I’m interested in coding because I’m ultimately afraid of it. It is undeniable what it can do, how it can build worlds, break things, and change realities on a large scale. That potential is there, and I (as anyone), am accountable to it, and to building it into something that supports and advances human rights, and social/economic justice
Mark Staun Poulsen (2019) A year ago, I would have flinched at the mere sight of code. However now, having experienced the potential of computation and creative practices, I highly regard, and seek to understand, the use of code and computation in the art, storytelling and interactive design that I encounter every day. At the same time, code underwrites so many aspects of contemporary digital living – in multifaceted ways. This often makes me cautious and uneasy. It ultimately forces me to consider and reflect on my role as a programmer and the code I can contribute to the rest of the world. Code does matter, and as a student at Digital Design at Aarhus University I have a unique chance to explore meaning and consequences of computation in light of a creative and practical engagement with programming
Renée Ridgway (2023) Code is often about 'codex' for me, linking laws to books by way of tree trunks. But also ‘code names’ or ciphers, in the sense that this system of signals, or rules that govern their use, means programming (coding, signals and decoding) instead of being programmed by Silicon Valley corporations, through commands, (IP) addresses and data.
Magda Tyżlik-Carver (2020) code / language, code / translation, computation before code, worlding practices
Richard Vijgen (2023) Code allows us to formulate new perspectives, to engage with worlds too small, too big, too fast or too slow for us to observe. It allows us to connect with a world beyond our senses.
Kristoffer Ørum (2021) Why would I not code? Especially when so much of my daily life is shaped wholly or in part by code? From the design of the injection molded plastic chair that my body rest on, to the constant nagging suggestions of my spell checker, I am entangled in code for better or worse. If I want to understand the manmade world around me, and retain some semblance of freedom, I see no way around engaging with code. I remain first and foremost an artist, and as such I work with coding from the point of view of a “script-kiddie” - a dabbling amateur who appropriates and remixes found code without a deep understanding of mathematics or code. A tourist visiting the territory of code and wondering about the conventions and cultures of code without taking up permanent residence or feeling obliged to obey local customs. I mostly use code to break or hack technological artifacts such as routers or screens, in order to make them do things they were not originally intended to do. My hope is to the ludic and weird aspects of contemporary everyday technologies visible behind the pragmatic utilitarianism and normalcy of their usual presentation.