Date of Award

5-2015

Degree Type

Thesis

Degree Name

Departmental Honors

Department

Art and Design

Abstract

This paper establishes a philosophical link between Constructivism, open source code practices, and interactive artworks. Although the traditional way to teach art can be considered highly constructivist in nature, there are very few published papers that provide a direct link. My motivation for writing this paper is to provide that direct link, as well as to point out how open source code practices can be though of with a constructivist viewpoint by artists. I first describe and define Constructivism, open source code, and interactive sculpture. Then using constructivist terms and ideas I describe the design and programming with open source code of the three microcontroller powered sculptures that were included for display at my Bachelor of Fine Arts capstone project, the Senior BFA Show. This will provide the reader with insight into the interconnected processes of scientific and artistic thinking that made each project possible. As all of my work is open source (meaning that it is copyright under a creative commons share-and-share-alike policy), the appendix includes the full code for each piece, and video of each sculpture. Through my own experience I show how attempting to understand how to adapt open source code can be difficult without a More Knowledgeable Other or Community of Practice to rely on.

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Faculty Mentor

Ryoichi Suzuki

Departmental Honors Advisor

Sarah Urquhart