Drawing has long been known to show the thought process of the artist because of its physical immediacy and the way it encourages fast, informal iteration. In contrast the history of programming has been toward a universal language so that common challenges can be addressed in the same way. This MFA Thesis uses the principles of rule-based and generative art to cross the borders between drawing and coding. / Master of Fine Arts

This work consists of a set of eight vector graphics animations exploring phasing loops, intended to be displayed on televisions and monitors, for home use or exhibition in art galleries as Generative Cinema installations. By combining animated loops with different durations it is possible to generate complex images created by simpler basic elements through a phasing effect. After the first loop, the animation gradually desynchronizes. The different combinations resulting from the layering of desynchronized loops generate image variation until the loops return to unison and restart the cycle. The duration of the phasing cycles of six of the eight pieces reach orders of magnitude over 10^19 frames, which, at a rate of 24 frames per second, is equivalent to the estimated age of the universe (14 billion years). The imagery of the resulting pieces is based on research on properties and structural elements of analog and digital electronic media. This work combines different elements that are present in works from avant-garde movements such as Structural Film, the graphic aspect from Absolute Film, John Cage’s and Andy Warhol’s approaches to the element of time (duration), and the explorations by video artist Nam-June Paik. The generative aspect of this work references minimalist composers and visual artist and composer Brian Eno. This thesis documents the research with analog and digital technologies, and the development of this installation.

Esta pesquisa objetiva investigar o design computacional, explorando a aplicação de ferramentas conceituais da computação no projeto e na produção de imagens dinâmicas e interativas. A realização desta pesquisa foi motivada por observações feitas pelo autor ao longo de sua experiência profissional, projetando e desenvolvendo interfaces digitais. Constatou-se que muitos profissionais, intitulados \"designers\", possuem pouco ou nenhum conhecimento das tecnologias envolvidas na implementação das interfaces que projetam. Por outro lado, esses mesmos profissionais se limitam a usar alguns poucos softwares comerciais (como por exemplo o Adobe Photoshop) enquanto ferramentas computacionais. Se o designer não conhece as tecnologias envolvidas no projeto (com suas possibilidades e suas limitações), pode acabar propondo soluções tecnicamente inviáveis ou inadequadas. E se o designer limita seu repertório de ferramentas, suas soluções podem ser concebidas mais em função dos recursos disponíveis nas ferramentas do que em função dos requisitos do projeto. Considerando que as ferramentas computacionais ocupam atualmente um papel central na produção, distribuição, e recepção de conteúdo, torna-se importante desenvolver uma postura crítica a respeito do uso da computação em design. E para tanto, faz-se necessário pesquisar as relações entre computação e design. Consultando autores das áreas de comunicação, cibernética, computação, artes, e design, buscou-se identificar os efeitos da computação na sociedade e no pensamento, sua aplicabilidade em outras áreas do conhecimento, e precedentes da arte e do design para uma abordagem computacional do design. Também foram consultados textos (em forma de depoimentos) de designers que trabalham com computação, nos quais relatam seus próprios processos de design. Além disso, foram realizadas entrevistas com 3 designers brasileiros, que ofereceram contribuições valiosas para aqueles que buscam compreender o design computacional de uma perspectiva brasileira. Esta dissertação pretende contribuir para uma maior compreensão das possibilidades e limitações da computação no design. / This research aims to study computational design, exploring the application of computing\'s conceptual tools in the design and the production of dynamic and interactive images. This research was motivated by reflections made by the author throughout his professional experience, designing and developing digital interfaces. It was found that many professionals, entitled \"designers\", have little or no knowledge of the technologies involved in the implementation of the interfaces they design. On the other hand, these same professionals limit themselves to use a few commercial softwares (for example, Adobe Photoshop) as computational tools. If the designer doesn\'t know the technologies involved in the design (with its possibilities and its limitations), he may end up proposing technically unfeasible or inappropriate solutions. If the designer limits his own tool set, his solutions may be conceived more as a function of the features available in the tools than the project\'s requirements. Considering that computational tools currently occupy a fundamental role in production, distribution, and reception of content, it becomes important to develop a critical stance regarding the use of computing in design. Therefore, it becomes necessary to study the relationships between computing and design. Consulting authors in the fields of communication, cybernetics, computing, arts, and design, we sought to identify the effects of computing in society and thinking, its applicability in other fields, and precedents from art and from design for a computational approach to design. Statements and articles from designers who work with computing, describing their own design processes, were also consulted. In addition, 3 interviews with Brazilian designers were conducted; the interviewees offered rich contributions for those who seek to understand computational design from a Brazilian standpoint. This dissertation aims to contribute to a larger comprehension of the possibilities and limitations of computing in design.

Esta pesquisa objetiva investigar o design computacional, explorando a aplicação de ferramentas conceituais da computação no projeto e na produção de imagens dinâmicas e interativas. A realização desta pesquisa foi motivada por observações feitas pelo autor ao longo de sua experiência profissional, projetando e desenvolvendo interfaces digitais. Constatou-se que muitos profissionais, intitulados \"designers\", possuem pouco ou nenhum conhecimento das tecnologias envolvidas na implementação das interfaces que projetam. Por outro lado, esses mesmos profissionais se limitam a usar alguns poucos softwares comerciais (como por exemplo o Adobe Photoshop) enquanto ferramentas computacionais. Se o designer não conhece as tecnologias envolvidas no projeto (com suas possibilidades e suas limitações), pode acabar propondo soluções tecnicamente inviáveis ou inadequadas. E se o designer limita seu repertório de ferramentas, suas soluções podem ser concebidas mais em função dos recursos disponíveis nas ferramentas do que em função dos requisitos do projeto. Considerando que as ferramentas computacionais ocupam atualmente um papel central na produção, distribuição, e recepção de conteúdo, torna-se importante desenvolver uma postura crítica a respeito do uso da computação em design. E para tanto, faz-se necessário pesquisar as relações entre computação e design. Consultando autores das áreas de comunicação, cibernética, computação, artes, e design, buscou-se identificar os efeitos da computação na sociedade e no pensamento, sua aplicabilidade em outras áreas do conhecimento, e precedentes da arte e do design para uma abordagem computacional do design. Também foram consultados textos (em forma de depoimentos) de designers que trabalham com computação, nos quais relatam seus próprios processos de design. Além disso, foram realizadas entrevistas com 3 designers brasileiros, que ofereceram contribuições valiosas para aqueles que buscam compreender o design computacional de uma perspectiva brasileira. Esta dissertação pretende contribuir para uma maior compreensão das possibilidades e limitações da computação no design. / This research aims to study computational design, exploring the application of computing\'s conceptual tools in the design and the production of dynamic and interactive images. This research was motivated by reflections made by the author throughout his professional experience, designing and developing digital interfaces. It was found that many professionals, entitled \"designers\", have little or no knowledge of the technologies involved in the implementation of the interfaces they design. On the other hand, these same professionals limit themselves to use a few commercial softwares (for example, Adobe Photoshop) as computational tools. If the designer doesn\'t know the technologies involved in the design (with its possibilities and its limitations), he may end up proposing technically unfeasible or inappropriate solutions. If the designer limits his own tool set, his solutions may be conceived more as a function of the features available in the tools than the project\'s requirements. Considering that computational tools currently occupy a fundamental role in production, distribution, and reception of content, it becomes important to develop a critical stance regarding the use of computing in design. Therefore, it becomes necessary to study the relationships between computing and design. Consulting authors in the fields of communication, cybernetics, computing, arts, and design, we sought to identify the effects of computing in society and thinking, its applicability in other fields, and precedents from art and from design for a computational approach to design. Statements and articles from designers who work with computing, describing their own design processes, were also consulted. In addition, 3 interviews with Brazilian designers were conducted; the interviewees offered rich contributions for those who seek to understand computational design from a Brazilian standpoint. This dissertation aims to contribute to a larger comprehension of the possibilities and limitations of computing in design.

Breeze: A Meditation into Movement addresses motion-centered thesis works, the titular work Breeze, Ripple, and Small Things. It examines artistic approaches to employ movement, such as materiality, the use of algorithms, and video projection. Under the same subject matter 'wind', these three works demonstrate the infinite and ever-changing movements that are created by wind. Breeze, a kinetic sculpture, introduces materiality and physical wind to create erratic movement and projected real-time animations, Ripple and Small Things use a set of algorithms and live data for nature-inspired movement and scene transition. By creating unobtrusive motion that permeates the real space, these three works aim to share time and space and deliver a contemplative experience to the viewers. / Master of Fine Arts / Breeze: A Meditation into Movement addresses motion-centered thesis works, the titular work Breeze, Ripple, and Small Things. It examines artistic approaches to employ movement, such as materiality, the use of algorithms, and video projection. Under the same subject matter 'wind', these three works demonstrate the infinite and ever-changing movements that are created by wind. Breeze, a kinetic sculpture, introduces materiality and physical wind to create erratic movement and projected real-time animations, Ripple and Small Things use a set of algorithms and live data for nature-inspired movement and scene transition. By creating unobtrusive motion that permeates the real space, these three works aim to share time and space and deliver a contemplative experience to the viewers.

This thesis describes my artistic practice as essentially project-based, site-responsive and hypermediating. Hypermediacy—i.e. the tendency of certain media or objects to keep their various constituents separate from their structure—is to be understood as opaque, juxtaposed and after a recurring contiguity with different kinds of interfaces. Accordingly, and within the context of the various projects that constitute this thesis, it is demonstrated how, in response to the particular places I work and to the various people I collaborate with, different kinds of materials and methodologies are incorporated in broader hybrids that are mediated (interfaced) in miscellaneous ways to this way result in original works of art. Materials and methodologies are shown to be intertwined and interdependent with each other as well as with the different ways in which they are interfaced, which accounts for an explicitly projectbased, rather than artwork-based, approach which, on its turn, de-emphasises the finished artefact in favour of process, performance, research and exploration. Projects are, then, shown to be explicitly site- or situation- responsive, as they are not implementations of preexistent ideas, but rather emerge as my original response to the particular sites, materials, people and the various other constituents that are involved in their very production. Interfaces to such hybrids as well as their very material and methodological elements are also shown to be hyper-mediated. It is finally argued that such an approach essentially accelerates multi-perspectivalism in that a project may spawn a number of diverse, typically medium-specific and/or site-specific, artworks that all exemplify different qualities which are congenital to the particular nature of each project.

Thesis (MA(VA))--Stellenbosch University, 2014. / ENGLISH ABSTRACT: This thesis entails a practice-led theoretical discussion on generative art production within an ecological framework. It is based on my work in Eyemvelo Kosbos (2010- ), an interdisciplinary collaborative project geared toward food production within ecologically sound parameters. Acting in my capacity as live-in curator of this agroecological space, I have subsequently formulated a series of biological generative artworks known as Ecological Concept Objects (2011- ), which serve as the main practical component of this research. By establishing philosophical realism as the main theoretical premise, I formulate an understanding of my art practice as a collaboration with the world. Core philosophical sources such as Graham Harman, Bruno Latour and Manuel DeLanda are cited to elucidate the theoretical underpinnings of my work. A case is made for aesthetics to be understood in its classical sense – as a discourse of sense perception, as opposed to visual taste or beauty. By discussing relevant examples from contemporary generative art, along with the theoretical insights of many practicing artists, key concepts such as emergence and self-organisation are identified as pivotal to generative practice. A definitive understanding of generative art is fomented whereby the artist willingly relinquishes creative agency and decision-making to impersonal forces. An historical context is provided which shows a precedent for similar art practices. The world is accordingly posited to be a vast interdependent network of real autonomous entities coming into relations with other real autonomous entities. This conception furthermore challenges a mutually-exclusive dichotomy of ‘Nature’ and culture, by suggesting that these two supposed binaries are so entangled that any separation thereof is a blatant form of idealism, if indeed ‘Nature’ can even be said to exist at all. An integrated ecological practice is nonetheless encouraged throughout as a central theme or primary conceptual parameter for both this dissertation and its accompanying practical body of work. Permaculture, a systems-based design science geared towards sustainability, is identified and adopted as a working example of an ecological practice which consolidates ‘human care’ with ‘earth care’, as the latter naturally encompasses the former. The goal of this research is then to investigate a practice where the artist, despite being restricted to linear action in the world, works in such a way as to allow the non-linear dynamics of emergent potential to reveal itself on its own terms. Such a methodology stands in stark contrast to an anthropocentric mastery of predictable matter, where little provision is made for anomalies, accidents or emergent forms. Generative art, on the other hand, is shown to make such provisions as it affords self-organisation to its medium, as entities are given time and space to express themselves in unique assemblages. / AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: Hierdie tesis behels 'n praktyk-geleide teoretiese bespreking oor generatiewe kunsproduksie binne 'n wyer ekologiese raamwerk. Dit is gebaseer op my werk in Eyemvelo Kosbos (2010 - ), 'n interdissiplinêre gesamentlike projek wat daarop gemik is om voedsel binne ekologies verantwoordelike perke te produseer. In my hoedanigheid as inwonende kurator van hierdie agri-ekologiese projek, het ek 'n reeks biologiese generatiewe kunswerke geformuleer wat bekend staan as Ecological Concept Objects (2011- ), wat dien as die primêre praktiese komponent van hierdie navorsing. Met die vestiging van filosofiese realisme as die kern teoretiese uitgangspunt, formuleer ek 'n begrip van my kunspraktyk as 'n ‘samewerking met die wêreld.’ Die teoretiese fondasies van my werk word uitgelig deur verwysing te maak na kern filosofiese bronne soos Graham Harman, Bruno Latour en Manuel DeLanda, onder andere. 'n Argument word geformuleer waarvolgens die term estetika in sy klassieke sin verstaan moet word - as 'n diskoers oor sintuiglike persepsie, in teenstelling tot ‘n bespreking oor visuele smaak of skoonheid. Sleutelkonsepte soos opkoms (emergence) en self-organisasie word geïdentifiseer as deurslaggewend vir ‘n sinvolle bespreking van generatiewe praktyke. By die bespreking van relevante voorbeelde van kontemporêre generatiewe kuns, saam met die teoretiese insigte van verskeie praktiserende kunstenaars, word 'n werkende begrip van generatiewe kuns ontwikkel waarvolgens die kunstenaar kreatiewe agentskap en besluitneming vrywillig afstaan aan onpersoonlike kragte. 'n Historiese konteks word verder verskaf wat 'n presedent aandui vir soortgelyke kunspraktyke. Die wêreld word dan daarvolgens geposisioneer as 'n groot netwerk van werklike outonome entiteite wat verhoudings met ander werklike outonome entiteite aanknoop. Hierdie opvatting daag verder 'n wedersyds-eksklusiewe dualisme van 'Natuur' en kultuur uit, deur voor te stel dat hierdie twee veronderstelde binêre teenstrydighede sό verstrengel is dat enige skeiding daarvan inderdaad voorkom as 'n blatante vorm van idealisme. 'n Geïntegreerde ekologiese praktyk word egter aangemoedig om deurgaans as 'n sentrale tema of primêre konseptuele riglyn vir beide hierdie tesis en die gepaardgaande praktiese werk te dien. Permaculture, 'n stelsels-georiënteerde ontwerpwetenskap gerig op volhoubaarheid, word geïdentifiseer en aanvaar as 'n werkende voorbeeld van 'n ekologiese praktyk wat ‘sorg van mense’ met 'sorg van die planeet" vereenselwig, aangesien laasgenoemde daarvolgens die eersgenoemde insluit . Derhalwe, is die doel van hierdie navorsing om ondersoek in te stel tot 'n praktyk waar die kunstenaar, ten spyte daarvan dat sy beperk is tot lineêre aksie, in so 'n manier te werk gaan dat die nie-lineêre dinamika van ontluikende potensiaal geopenbaar kan word. So 'n metode staan in kontras met 'n eenrigting antroposentriese bemeestering van voorspelbare materie - waar daar min voorsiening vir ongerymdhede, ongelukke of ontluikende vorms gemaak word. Daar word egter bevind dat generatiewe kunspraktyk wel hierdie voorsienings maak, aangesien dit self-organisasie aan die medium toe staan, sodat entiteite tyd en ruimte verskaf kan word om hulself uit te druk in unieke samestellings.

A presente pesquisa pretende examinar a imagem digital decorrente da aproximação das artes visuais com as tecnologias CAD/CAM e os sistemas biológicos de criação. Essa imagem de base computacional e de característica emergente encontra na fabricação digital a oportunidade de se materializar tendo em vista a compatibilidade tanto no sentido da concretização da complexidade da forma quanto da possibilidade de sua singularização seriada. Mais especificamente, pretende-se abordar como os processos e as técnicas de produção digital, ao viabilizarem a geração e materialização da imagem complexa, têm interferido no modus operandi do artista visual, ampliando as formas de operar e representar no campo das Artes ao servirem como instrumento para o desenvolvimento e a representação de novas poéticas. Por meio da referência teórica, da leitura de obras e dos trabalhos práticos experimentais, pretende-se explorar de que forma o artista se apropria dos meios de produção digitais e dos processos generativos de criação, explorando-os como uma linguagem inovadora, que por sua vez amplia e potencializa, a níveis antes insuspeitáveis, as formas de expressão e execução de sua obra. Intenta-se avaliar de que maneira o processo de caráter numérico pode interferir no processo criativo e poético do artista visual de modo a promover novas possibilidades expressivas e, dessa forma, explorar potenciais até então pouco usuais no campo das artes. A tese usa como principais fundamentações teóricas para lançar as bases para o entendimento da relação cada vez mais estreita entre arte e tecnologia as discussões de Taylor (2014), Machado (1997b), Couchot (2003), Lévy (1996), Laurentiz (1991), Moles (1990) e Plaza & Tavares (1998), que investigam a introdução do numérico no campo artístico. Já as discussões de Manovich (2010), Galanter (2010), Couchot (2010), Johnson (2001), Whitelaw (2006) e McCormack (2014) abordam teorias a respeito da complexidade da imagem e esclarecem processos e modelos de sistemas naturais passíveis de emergência. Para apresentar a tecnologia de fabricação digital e seu potencial criativo, a tese se apoia nos autores Kolarevic (2001), Mitchel & McCullough (1995), McCullough (1996), Todd & Latham (1992) e Ganis (2004). Reflexões a respeito da convergência entre os conceitos de emergência e de fabricação baseiam-se nas discussões de Labaco (2013), Whitelaw (2006; 2015) e Moura (2013). / This research aims at examining the digital image that originates from the proximity of the visual arts with CAD/CAM technologies and the biological systems of creation. Such computer-based image, that is emergent, can be materialized in the digital fabrication owing to the compatibility both in the sense of making the complexity of the form concrete and of enabling its serial singling. More specifically, we intend to approach how the digital manufacturing processes and techniques have interfered with the visual artist´s modus operandi as they enable the generation and the materialization of the complex image, thus enlarging the ways to operate and represent in the arts field because they work as instruments to develop and represent new poetics. By means of theoretical reference, work reading and experimental practical works, we intend to explore how the artist takes over the means of digital production and the generative processes of creating and he/she explores them as an innovative language, which, in turn, amplifies and potentiates the forms of expression and accomplishment of his/her work to levels unimaginable before. We intend to evaluate how the numerical character process can interfere with the visual artist´s creative and poetic process to promote new expressive possibilities, thus exploring the potential which has been unusual in the arts field so far. The main theoretical support to launch the bases to understand the ever closer relation of art to technology was derived from the discussions by Taylor (2014), Machado (1997b), Couchot (2003), Lévy (1996), Laurentiz (1991), Moles (1990) and Plaza & Tavares (1998). Those researchers investigate the introduction of the numerical in the artistic field. The discussions by Manovich (2010), Galanter (2010), Couchot (2010), Johnson (2001), Whitelaw (2006) and McCormack (2014) bring information of theories related to the complexity of the image, since in those discussions the processes and models of natural systems that are liable to emergence are elucidated. To present the digital manufacturing technology and its creative potential, the theoretical support was derived from Kolarevic (2001), Mitchel & McCullough (1995), McCullough (1996), Todd & Latham (1992) and Ganis (2004). The concepts about the convergence of the concepts of emergence and manufacturing reflect the discussions by Labaco (2013), Whitelaw (2006; 2015) and Moura (2013).

A presente pesquisa pretende examinar a imagem digital decorrente da aproximação das artes visuais com as tecnologias CAD/CAM e os sistemas biológicos de criação. Essa imagem de base computacional e de característica emergente encontra na fabricação digital a oportunidade de se materializar tendo em vista a compatibilidade tanto no sentido da concretização da complexidade da forma quanto da possibilidade de sua singularização seriada. Mais especificamente, pretende-se abordar como os processos e as técnicas de produção digital, ao viabilizarem a geração e materialização da imagem complexa, têm interferido no modus operandi do artista visual, ampliando as formas de operar e representar no campo das Artes ao servirem como instrumento para o desenvolvimento e a representação de novas poéticas. Por meio da referência teórica, da leitura de obras e dos trabalhos práticos experimentais, pretende-se explorar de que forma o artista se apropria dos meios de produção digitais e dos processos generativos de criação, explorando-os como uma linguagem inovadora, que por sua vez amplia e potencializa, a níveis antes insuspeitáveis, as formas de expressão e execução de sua obra. Intenta-se avaliar de que maneira o processo de caráter numérico pode interferir no processo criativo e poético do artista visual de modo a promover novas possibilidades expressivas e, dessa forma, explorar potenciais até então pouco usuais no campo das artes. A tese usa como principais fundamentações teóricas para lançar as bases para o entendimento da relação cada vez mais estreita entre arte e tecnologia as discussões de Taylor (2014), Machado (1997b), Couchot (2003), Lévy (1996), Laurentiz (1991), Moles (1990) e Plaza & Tavares (1998), que investigam a introdução do numérico no campo artístico. Já as discussões de Manovich (2010), Galanter (2010), Couchot (2010), Johnson (2001), Whitelaw (2006) e McCormack (2014) abordam teorias a respeito da complexidade da imagem e esclarecem processos e modelos de sistemas naturais passíveis de emergência. Para apresentar a tecnologia de fabricação digital e seu potencial criativo, a tese se apoia nos autores Kolarevic (2001), Mitchel & McCullough (1995), McCullough (1996), Todd & Latham (1992) e Ganis (2004). Reflexões a respeito da convergência entre os conceitos de emergência e de fabricação baseiam-se nas discussões de Labaco (2013), Whitelaw (2006; 2015) e Moura (2013). / This research aims at examining the digital image that originates from the proximity of the visual arts with CAD/CAM technologies and the biological systems of creation. Such computer-based image, that is emergent, can be materialized in the digital fabrication owing to the compatibility both in the sense of making the complexity of the form concrete and of enabling its serial singling. More specifically, we intend to approach how the digital manufacturing processes and techniques have interfered with the visual artist´s modus operandi as they enable the generation and the materialization of the complex image, thus enlarging the ways to operate and represent in the arts field because they work as instruments to develop and represent new poetics. By means of theoretical reference, work reading and experimental practical works, we intend to explore how the artist takes over the means of digital production and the generative processes of creating and he/she explores them as an innovative language, which, in turn, amplifies and potentiates the forms of expression and accomplishment of his/her work to levels unimaginable before. We intend to evaluate how the numerical character process can interfere with the visual artist´s creative and poetic process to promote new expressive possibilities, thus exploring the potential which has been unusual in the arts field so far. The main theoretical support to launch the bases to understand the ever closer relation of art to technology was derived from the discussions by Taylor (2014), Machado (1997b), Couchot (2003), Lévy (1996), Laurentiz (1991), Moles (1990) and Plaza & Tavares (1998). Those researchers investigate the introduction of the numerical in the artistic field. The discussions by Manovich (2010), Galanter (2010), Couchot (2010), Johnson (2001), Whitelaw (2006) and McCormack (2014) bring information of theories related to the complexity of the image, since in those discussions the processes and models of natural systems that are liable to emergence are elucidated. To present the digital manufacturing technology and its creative potential, the theoretical support was derived from Kolarevic (2001), Mitchel & McCullough (1995), McCullough (1996), Todd & Latham (1992) and Ganis (2004). The concepts about the convergence of the concepts of emergence and manufacturing reflect the discussions by Labaco (2013), Whitelaw (2006; 2015) and Moura (2013).

Machine learning is increasingly involved in both our production and consumption of video. One symptom of this is the appearance of automated video editing applications. As this technology spreads rapidly to consumers, the need for substantive research about its social impact grows. To this end, this project maintains a focus on video editing as a microcosm of larger shifts in cultural objects co-authored by artificial intelligence. The window in which this research occurred (2010-2015) saw machine learning move increasingly into the public eye, and with it ethical concerns. What follows is, on the most abstract level, a discussion of why these ethical concerns are particularly urgent in the realm of the moving image. Algorithmic editing consists of software instructions to automate the creation of timelines of moving images. The criteria that this software uses to query a database is variable. Algorithmic authorship already exists in other media, but I will argue that the moving image is a separate case insofar as the raw material of text and music software can develop on its own. The performance of a trained actor can still not be generated by software. Thus, my focus is on the relationship between live embodied performance, and the subsequent algorithmic editing of that footage. This is a process that can employ other software like computer vision (to analyze the content of video) and predictive analytics (to guess what kind of automated film to make for a given user). How is performance altered when it has to communicate to human and non-human alike? The ritual of the iterative frame gives literal form to something that throughout human history has been a projection: the omniscient participant observer, more commonly known as the Divine. We experience black boxed software (AI's, specifically neural networks, which are intrinsically opaque) as functionally omniscient and tacitly allow it to edit more and more of life (e.g. filtering articles, playlists and even potential spouses). As long as it remains disembodied, we will continue to project the Divine on to the black box, causing cultural anxiety. In other words, predictive analytics alienate us from the source code of our cultural texts. The iterative frame then is a space in which these forces can be inscribed on the body, and hence narrated. The algorithmic editing of content is already taken for granted. The editing of moving images, in contrast, still requires a human hand. We need to understand the social power of moving image editing before it is delegated to automation. Practice Section: This project is practice-led, meaning that the portfolio of work was produced as it was being theorized. To underscore this, the portfolio comes at the end of the document. Video editors use artificial intelligence (AI) in a number of different applications, from deciding the sequencing of timelines to using facial and language detection to find actors in archives. This changes traditional production workflows on a number of levels. How can the single decision cut a between two frames of video speak to the larger epistemological shifts brought on by predictive analytics and Big Data (upon which they rely)? When predictive analytics begin modeling the world of moving images, how will our own understanding of the world change? In the practice-based section of this thesis, I explore how these shifts will change the way in which actors might approach performance. What does a gesture mean to AI and how will the editor decontextualize it? The set of a video shoot that will employ an element of AI in editing represents a move towards ritualization of production, summarized in the term the 'iterative frame'. The portfolio contains eight works that treat the set was taken as a microcosm of larger shifts in the production of culture. There is, I argue, metaphorical significance in the changing understanding of terms like 'continuity' and 'sync' on the AI-watched set. Theory Section In the theoretical section, the approach is broadly comparative. I contextualize the current dynamic by looking at previous shifts in technology that changed the relationship between production and post-production, notably the lightweight recording technology of the 1960s. This section also draws on debates in ethnographic filmmaking about the matching of film and ritual. In this body of literature, there is a focus on how participant observation can be formalized in film. Triangulating between event, participant observer and edit grammar in ethnographic filmmaking provides a useful analogy in understanding how AI as film editor might function in relation to contemporary production. Rituals occur in a frame that is dependent on a spatially/temporally separate observer. This dynamic also exists on sets bound for post-production involving AI, The convergence of film grammar and ritual grammar occurred in the 1960s under the banner of cinéma vérité in which the relationship between participant observer/ethnographer and the subject became most transparent. In Rouch and Morin's Chronicle of a Summer (1961), reflexivity became ritualized in the form of on-screen feedback sessions. The edit became transparent-the black box of cinema disappeared. Today as artificial intelligence enters the film production process this relationship begins to reverse-feedback, while it exists, becomes less transparent. The weight of the feedback ritual gets gradually shifted from presence and production to montage and post-production. Put differently, in cinéma vérité, the participant observer was most present in the frame. As participant observation gradually becomes shared with code it becomes more difficult to give it an embodied representation and thus its presence is felt more in the edit of the film. The relationship between the ritual actor and the participant observer (the algorithm) is completely mediated by the edit, a reassertion of the black box, where once it had been transparent. The crucible for looking at the relationship between algorithmic editing, participant observation and the black box is the subject in trance. In ritual trance the individual is subsumed by collective codes. Long before the advent of automated editing trance was an epistemological problem posed to film editing. In the iterative frame, for the first time, film grammar can echo ritual grammar and indeed become continuous with it. This occurs through removing the act of cutting from the causal world, and projecting this logic of post-production onto performance. Why does this occur? Ritual and specifically ritual trance is the moment when a culture gives embodied form to what it could not otherwise articulate. The trance of predictive analytics-the AI that increasingly choreographs our relationship to information-is the ineffable that finds form in the iterative frame. In the iterative frame a gesture never exists in a single instance, but in a potential state. The performers in this frame begin to understand themselves in terms of how automated indexing processes reconfigure their performance. To the extent that gestures are complicit with this mode of databasing they can be seen as votive toward the algorithmic. The practice section focuses on the poetics of this position. Chapter One focuses on cinéma vérité as a moment in which the relationship between production and post-production shifted as a function of more agile recording technology, allowing the participant observer to enter the frame. This shift becomes a lens to look at changes that AI might bring. Chapter Two treats the work of Pierre Huyghe as a 'liminal phase' in which a new relationship between production and post-production is explored. Finally, Chapter Three looks at a film in which actors perform with awareness that footage will be processed by an algorithmic edit. / The conclusion looks at the implications this way of relating to AI-especially commercial AI-through embodied performance could foster a more critical relationship to the proliferating black-boxed modes of production.