How to see the beauty that is not there: The aesthetic element of programming in the computer-based media art

Abstract

This study is to define aesthetic elements of the programming in the computer-based media art. It can be explained as the totality of the concept and reality in the respect of collaboration of art and science. The programming as aesthetic object deconstructs the traditional notion of art that the aesthetic value is determined by the aesthetic attitude. The code is not just for the computer programming, but for the pleasure. The artistic and creative 'Open Code' must be at the cost of the death of the code closed in a signified, and it lives, improves and changes through additional new functions or algorithms. Like the conceptual art, the programming is both a dematerialization of the object and an immaterialized meaning. It leads us to change the seat of a subject as a signifier. Therefore, 'The beauty of program that is not there' becomes more viable when it involves the application of aesthetics. © Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg 2007.