I started an artist’s guide to computation as a Facebook group in late 2017 and then transitioned to a Substack newsletter in October 2018. The site and newsletter have been rebooted and reworked half a dozen times since. The content archive, and whatever An Artist’s Guide might become, is now hosted as a WordPress instance on my own green web server.
I began the group because I was having 2 conversations over and over. The first was with artist friends who were excited about some new technology but having trouble finding a way to dive in hands-on, maybe just because so many of the resources for learning these technologies are oriented around commercial rather than creative applications. The other was with programmer friends who were making exciting and weird and creative things that they didn’t consider to be art and weren’t sure how to share with the world, maybe just because they had a CS degree instead of one in painting or sculpture.
For years, the heart of an artist’s guide to computation was the weekly newsletter, where I hand-picked resources, events, and opportunities that I hoped will be helpful to anyone on the spectrum of creative people who want to make things with technology for reasons other than making commercial products or getting a job at a company that makes commercial products. Writing and self-publishing a weekly newsletter is a lot of work, and I also find myself increasingly offline and out-of-touch with the latest in digital art.
Going forward, I’m hoping to make better use of tools that let you the reader and community member share your own work, your own events, and your own open calls. I’m also hoping to center the blog’s content and parallel newsletter around featuring the writing of community members.
Thanks!
– MH