Jonathan Reus was interviewed about his live coding work on Medium as part of his 10 minute live coding challenge organized by Creative Coding Utrecht.
“I am still in the process of understanding what the attraction to live coding is for me and how it fits into my broader artistic practice. I think the approach is exciting. It’s one of the few digital art forms (and perhaps more so, communities) that carries a lot of the vibes of folklore. The community is extremely egalitarian and DIY. And, despite some initial feelings people might have that coding is hard, some of the more accessible languages like Tidal or Hydra are actually pretty easy to get started with, or at least as easy to approach as any other creative software. The process of live coding is dynamic. Feedback is immediate and your ideas grow quickly and organically. It’s not at all like writing an app, it’s exciting to see self-confessed “non coders” discover that.
Live coding has had a strong influence on the way I think about the presentation of a performance. In essence a live coding performance presents a piece of software that is in process, there’s a great potential for creating an artistic relationship to an audience that foregrounds vulnerability and demands trust. It’s the performer’s decision to embrace this potential or not, you always have the freedom to stake out positions like that of the star performer who is out to put on a spectacular show, or the composer who is aiming to present something whole and complete like a musical work.”
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