Monorepo for Aesthetic.Computer
aesthetic.computer
fix: convert tabularx to plain tabular in cards (eliminates table overflow)
tabularx resists all runtime patching (def, renewcommand, AtBeginDocument all fail). Solution: cards-convert.mjs now converts tabularx → tabular with p{0.28\linewidth} columns at generation time. The existing adjustbox wrapper on plain tabular handles any remaining overflow by scaling.
Results: sustainability 480pt overflow → 14pt, folk-songs 105pt → 0, whistlegraph 170pt → 0. All table overflows eliminated across the platter. Remaining overflows are paragraph text (long URLs/words).
Also changed source files to use XXX flexible columns (harmless on regular two-column PDFs, helps if anyone builds cards manually).
Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 4.6 (1M context) <noreply@anthropic.com>
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papers/ac-paper-cards.sty
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papers/ac-paper-cards.sty
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\oriendtabular%
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\end{adjustbox}%
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}
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% tabularx can't be wrapped directly in adjustbox (breaks trial typesetting).
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% Instead, wrap the table float so any overflow is caught after typesetting.
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\let\origtablefloat\table
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\let\origendtablefloat\endtable
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\renewenvironment{table}[1][h]{%
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\origtablefloat[#1]%
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% Note: tabularx is converted to plain tabular by cards-convert.mjs at generation time.
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% tabularx resists all forms of runtime patching (\def, \renewcommand, \AtBeginDocument).
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% The adjustbox wrapper on plain tabular handles any remaining overflow.
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% For plain tabular: scriptsize + tight + adjustbox.
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\renewenvironment{tabular}[1]{%
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\scriptsize\setlength{\tabcolsep}{3pt}%
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\begin{adjustbox}{max width=\linewidth}%
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\origintabular{#1}%
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}{%
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\origendtablefloat%
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}
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\RequirePackage{etoolbox}
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\AfterEndEnvironment{tabularx}{%
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\end{adjustbox}%
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}
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\BeforeBeginEnvironment{tabularx}{%
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\footnotesize%
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\begin{adjustbox}{max width=\linewidth,center}%
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\oriendtabular\end{adjustbox}%
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}
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% === HYPERREF ===
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papers/arxiv-ac/ac-cards.tex
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papers/arxiv-ac/ac-cards.tex
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\thispagestyle{empty}
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\vspace*{\fill}
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\begin{center}
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\includegraphics[height=8em]{pals}\par\vspace{0.3em}
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{\acbold\fontsize{20pt}{24pt}\selectfont\color{acdark} \acrandname{} '26}\par
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\vspace{0.3em}
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{\fontsize{10pt}{12pt}\selectfont\color{acpink} A Mobile-First Runtime for Creative Computing}\par
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\vspace{0.8em}
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{\normalsize\color{cyan!70!blue}\textbf{@jeffrey}}\par
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\href{https://papers.aesthetic.computer}{\includegraphics[height=9em]{pals}}\par\vspace{0.1em}
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{\acbold\fontsize{18pt}{22pt}\selectfont\color{acdark} \acrandname{} '26}\par
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\vspace{0.1em}
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{\fontsize{9pt}{11pt}\selectfont\color{acpink} A Mobile-First Runtime for Creative Computing}\par
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\vspace{0.4em}
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{\normalsize\color{cyan!70!blue}\href{https://prompt.ac/@jeffrey}{\textbf{@jeffrey}}}\par
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{\small\color{acgray} Aesthetic.Computer}\par
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{\small\color{acgray} ORCID: \href{https://orcid.org/0009-0007-4460-4913}{0009-0007-4460-4913}}\par
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\vspace{0.8em}
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\rule{0.6\textwidth}{1pt}\par
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\vspace{0.4em}
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{\small\color{acpink!40}\textit{working draft --- not for citation}}\par
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\vspace{0.3em}
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{\footnotesize\color{acgray} March 2026}\par
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\rule{0.5\textwidth}{0.5pt}\par
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\vspace{0.15em}
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\colorbox{yellow!60}{\small\color{red!80!black}\textbf{\textit{working draft --- not for citation}}}\par
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\vspace{0.1em}
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{\footnotesize\color{acgray} March 2026 · \href{https://github.com/whistlegraph/aesthetic-computer/commit/d0a6521c5}{d0a6521c5}}\par
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\end{center}
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\vspace*{\fill}
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\begin{table}[h]
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\small
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\centering
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\begin{tabularx}{\columnwidth}{lX}
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\begin{tabular}{lp{0.28\linewidth}}
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\toprule
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\textbf{Category} & \textbf{Functions} \\
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\midrule
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UI & \texttt{ui.Button}, \texttt{ui.TextInput}, \texttt{cursor} \\
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System & \texttt{screen}, \texttt{jump}, \texttt{store}, \texttt{net}, \texttt{send} \\
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\bottomrule
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\end{tabularx}
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\end{tabular}
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\caption{Piece API categories.}
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\label{tab:api}
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\end{table}
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papers/arxiv-api/api-cards.tex
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papers/arxiv-api/api-cards.tex
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\thispagestyle{empty}
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\vspace*{\fill}
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\begin{center}
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\includegraphics[height=8em]{pals}\par\vspace{0.3em}
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{\acbold\fontsize{20pt}{24pt}\selectfont\color{acdark} From \texttt{setup()} to \texttt{boot()}}\par
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\vspace{0.3em}
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{\fontsize{10pt}{12pt}\selectfont\color{acpink} Processing at the Core of the Piece API}\par
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\vspace{0.8em}
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{\normalsize\color{cyan!70!blue}\textbf{@jeffrey}}\par
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\href{https://papers.aesthetic.computer}{\includegraphics[height=9em]{pals}}\par\vspace{0.1em}
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{\acbold\fontsize{18pt}{22pt}\selectfont\color{acdark} From \texttt{setup()} to \texttt{boot()}}\par
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\vspace{0.1em}
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{\fontsize{9pt}{11pt}\selectfont\color{acpink} Processing at the Core of the Piece API}\par
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\vspace{0.4em}
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{\normalsize\color{cyan!70!blue}\href{https://prompt.ac/@jeffrey}{\textbf{@jeffrey}}}\par
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{\small\color{acgray} Aesthetic.Computer}\par
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{\small\color{acgray} ORCID: \href{https://orcid.org/0009-0007-4460-4913}{0009-0007-4460-4913}}\par
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\vspace{0.8em}
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\rule{0.6\textwidth}{1pt}\par
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\vspace{0.4em}
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{\small\color{acpink!40}\textit{working draft --- not for citation}}\par
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\vspace{0.3em}
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{\footnotesize\color{acgray} March 2026}\par
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\rule{0.5\textwidth}{0.5pt}\par
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\vspace{0.15em}
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\colorbox{yellow!60}{\small\color{red!80!black}\textbf{\textit{working draft --- not for citation}}}\par
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\vspace{0.1em}
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{\footnotesize\color{acgray} March 2026 · \href{https://github.com/whistlegraph/aesthetic-computer/commit/d0a6521c5}{d0a6521c5}}\par
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\end{center}
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\vspace*{\fill}
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\begin{table}[h]
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\small
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\centering
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\begin{tabularx}{\columnwidth}{lXXX}
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\begin{tabular}{lp{0.28\linewidth}p{0.28\linewidth}p{0.28\linewidth}}
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\toprule
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& \textbf{Processing} & \textbf{p5.js} & \textbf{AC} \\
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\midrule
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Logic rate & 60fps & 60fps & 120fps fixed \\
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Scope & global & global/inst. & injected \\
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\bottomrule
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\end{tabularx}
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\end{tabular}
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\caption{Lifecycle comparison. \texttt{\$} denotes destructured API injection.}
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\label{tab:lifecycle}
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\end{table}
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\begin{table}[h]
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\small
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\centering
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\begin{tabularx}{\columnwidth}{lXX}
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\begin{tabular}{lp{0.28\linewidth}p{0.28\linewidth}}
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\toprule
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\textbf{Processing/p5} & \textbf{AC} & \textbf{Notes} \\
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\midrule
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--- & \texttt{paste()} & Buffer compositing \\
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--- & \texttt{form()} & 3D rendering \\
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\bottomrule
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\end{tabularx}
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\end{tabular}
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\caption{Drawing primitive comparison.}
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\label{tab:drawing}
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\end{table}
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papers/arxiv-archaeology/archaeology-cards.tex
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papers/arxiv-archaeology/archaeology-cards.tex
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\thispagestyle{empty}
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\vspace*{\fill}
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\begin{center}
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\includegraphics[height=8em]{pals}\par\vspace{0.3em}
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{\acbold\fontsize{20pt}{24pt}\selectfont\color{acdark} Repository Archaeology}\par
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\vspace{0.3em}
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{\fontsize{10pt}{12pt}\selectfont\color{acpink} Tracing the Evolution of \acrandname{} Through Its Git History}\par
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{\normalsize\color{cyan!70!blue}\textbf{@jeffrey}}\par
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\href{https://papers.aesthetic.computer}{\includegraphics[height=9em]{pals}}\par\vspace{0.1em}
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{\acbold\fontsize{18pt}{22pt}\selectfont\color{acdark} Repository Archaeology}\par
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\vspace{0.1em}
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{\fontsize{9pt}{11pt}\selectfont\color{acpink} Tracing the Evolution of \acrandname{} Through Its Git History}\par
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\vspace{0.4em}
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{\normalsize\color{cyan!70!blue}\href{https://prompt.ac/@jeffrey}{\textbf{@jeffrey}}}\par
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{\small\color{acgray} Aesthetic.Computer}\par
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{\small\color{acgray} ORCID: \href{https://orcid.org/0009-0007-4460-4913}{0009-0007-4460-4913}}\par
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\rule{0.6\textwidth}{1pt}\par
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\vspace{0.4em}
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{\small\color{acpink!40}\textit{working draft --- not for citation}}\par
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{\footnotesize\color{acgray} March 2026}\par
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\rule{0.5\textwidth}{0.5pt}\par
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\vspace{0.15em}
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\colorbox{yellow!60}{\small\color{red!80!black}\textbf{\textit{working draft --- not for citation}}}\par
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\vspace{0.1em}
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{\footnotesize\color{acgray} March 2026 · \href{https://github.com/whistlegraph/aesthetic-computer/commit/d0a6521c5}{d0a6521c5}}\par
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\end{center}
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\vspace*{\fill}
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papers/arxiv-calarts/calarts-cards.tex
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papers/arxiv-calarts/calarts-cards.tex
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\thispagestyle{empty}
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\vspace*{\fill}
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\begin{center}
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\includegraphics[height=9em]{pals}\par\vspace{0.1em}
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\href{https://papers.aesthetic.computer}{\includegraphics[height=9em]{pals}}\par\vspace{0.1em}
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{\acbold\fontsize{18pt}{22pt}\selectfont\color{acdark} CalArts, Callouts, and Papers}\par
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\vspace{0.1em}
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{\fontsize{9pt}{11pt}\selectfont\color{acpink} Art School as Operating System}\par
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\vspace{0.15em}
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\colorbox{yellow!60}{\small\color{red!80!black}\textbf{\textit{working draft --- not for citation}}}\par
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\vspace{0.1em}
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{\footnotesize\color{acgray} March 2026 · \href{https://github.com/whistlegraph/aesthetic-computer/commit/894fbcb44}{894fbcb44}}\par
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{\footnotesize\color{acgray} March 2026 · \href{https://github.com/whistlegraph/aesthetic-computer/commit/d0a6521c5}{d0a6521c5}}\par
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\end{center}
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\vspace*{\fill}
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papers/arxiv-complex/complex-cards.tex
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papers/arxiv-complex/complex-cards.tex
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\thispagestyle{empty}
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\begin{center}
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\includegraphics[height=8em]{pals}\par\vspace{0.3em}
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{\acbold\fontsize{20pt}{24pt}\selectfont\color{acdark} Sucking on the Complex}\par
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\vspace{0.3em}
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{\fontsize{10pt}{12pt}\selectfont\color{acpink} Platform Hegemony, Critique-as-Content, and the Need for Anti-Environments}\par
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\vspace{0.8em}
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{\normalsize\color{cyan!70!blue}\textbf{@jeffrey}}\par
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\href{https://papers.aesthetic.computer}{\includegraphics[height=9em]{pals}}\par\vspace{0.1em}
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{\acbold\fontsize{18pt}{22pt}\selectfont\color{acdark} Sucking on the Complex}\par
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\vspace{0.1em}
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{\fontsize{9pt}{11pt}\selectfont\color{acpink} Platform Hegemony, Critique-as-Content, and the Need for Anti-Environments}\par
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\vspace{0.4em}
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{\normalsize\color{cyan!70!blue}\href{https://prompt.ac/@jeffrey}{\textbf{@jeffrey}}}\par
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{\small\color{acgray} Aesthetic.Computer}\par
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{\small\color{acgray} ORCID: \href{https://orcid.org/0009-0007-4460-4913}{0009-0007-4460-4913}}\par
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\rule{0.6\textwidth}{1pt}\par
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\vspace{0.4em}
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{\small\color{acpink!40}\textit{working draft --- not for citation}}\par
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\vspace{0.3em}
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{\footnotesize\color{acgray} March 2026}\par
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\rule{0.5\textwidth}{0.5pt}\par
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\vspace{0.15em}
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\colorbox{yellow!60}{\small\color{red!80!black}\textbf{\textit{working draft --- not for citation}}}\par
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\vspace{0.1em}
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{\footnotesize\color{acgray} March 2026 · \href{https://github.com/whistlegraph/aesthetic-computer/commit/d0a6521c5}{d0a6521c5}}\par
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\end{center}
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\vspace*{\fill}
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\subsection{Masking the face}
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\citet{blas2014informatic} developed the ``Facial Weaponization Suite'' (2011--2014): collective masks generated from biometric data that defeat facial recognition. The work has been shown at the ICA London and presented at Tate Modern. It is a powerful metaphor for collective opacity, for the right to not be seen.
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\citet{blas2014informatic} developed the ``Facial Weaponization Suite'' (2011--2014): collective masks generated from biometric data that defeat facial recognition. The work has been shown at the Whitechapel Gallery and presented at Tate Modern. It is a powerful metaphor for collective opacity, for the right to not be seen.
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But the mask is an art object in a vitrine. It is not a tool you can wear. It was designed for the gallery wall, not for the street. The gesture toward resistance is contained by the institution that houses it.
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This pipeline degrades both ends. It makes the feed feel like art---``I saw Paglen's new work on my Instagram''---and it makes the institution feel like a feed---booth after booth of content at Art Basel, photographed and posted before the paint dries. \citet{fraser2005critique} identified this loop in institutional critique three decades ago; platform hegemony is the same structural problem with surveillance capitalism layered on top.
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\citet{ulman2014excellences} scripted a five-month Instagram performance in 2014, manipulating the platform's logic of aspiration and self-display. The work was acquired by the Tate. It is instructive: Ulman's piece succeeded precisely because it was indistinguishable from content. The platform did not know it was being used as material. The behavioral data it generated was identical to that of genuine lifestyle posts. The algorithm does not distinguish critique from endorsement. Paglen's photograph of an NSA facility gets more likes than a landscape painting. Both generate engagement. Both feed the machine.
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\citet{ulman2014excellences} scripted a five-month Instagram performance in 2014, manipulating the platform's logic of aspiration and self-display. The work was exhibited at Tate Modern in 2016. It is instructive: Ulman's piece succeeded precisely because it was indistinguishable from content. The platform did not know it was being used as material. The behavioral data it generated was identical to that of genuine lifestyle posts. The algorithm does not distinguish critique from endorsement. Paglen's photograph of an NSA facility gets more likes than a landscape painting. Both generate engagement. Both feed the machine.
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\section{The Structural Trap}
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\subsection{Aesthetic Computer}
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\ac{} builds its own runtime, its own social network, its own instrument (\np{}.com), its own operating system~\citep{scudder2026ac, scudder2026notepat, scudder2026os}. It is not critique-as-art but infrastructure-as-art. The behaviors are new: memorizable paths instead of feeds, pieces instead of posts, instruments you play instead of profiles you curate. The platform \emph{is} the work. The Whistlegraph project~\citep{scudder2026whistlegraph}, which reached approximately 2.6 million TikTok followers, demonstrated that viral culture could be built on a foundation of drawing and singing rather than algorithmic optimization. The contradiction is real: the anti-environment achieved its largest audience \emph{through} the complex. When TikTok removed the account, the 2.6 million followers vanished overnight---but the underlying creative practice of drawing and singing survived, because it had never been dependent on the platform's infrastructure. The audience was lost. The practice was not.
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\ac{} builds its own runtime, its own social network, its own instrument (\np{}.com), its own operating system~\citep{scudder2026ac, scudder2026notepat, scudder2026os}. It is not critique-as-art but infrastructure-as-art. The behaviors are new: memorizable paths instead of feeds, pieces instead of posts, instruments you play instead of profiles you curate. The platform \emph{is} the work. The Whistlegraph project~\citep{scudder2026whistlegraph}, which reached approximately 2.7 million TikTok followers, demonstrated that viral culture could be built on a foundation of drawing and singing rather than algorithmic optimization. The contradiction is real: the anti-environment achieved its largest audience \emph{through} the complex. When the trio went on hiatus in late 2023, the TikTok account and its 2.7 million followers remained---but the underlying creative practice of drawing and singing continued independently, because it had never been dependent on the platform's infrastructure. The audience is rented. The practice is owned.
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\subsection{Indigenous and decolonial computing}
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papers/arxiv-dead-ends/dead-ends-cards.tex
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papers/arxiv-dead-ends/dead-ends-cards.tex
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\thispagestyle{empty}
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\vspace*{\fill}
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\begin{center}
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\includegraphics[height=8em]{pals}\par\vspace{0.3em}
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{\acbold\fontsize{20pt}{24pt}\selectfont\color{acdark} Vestigial Features}\par
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\vspace{0.3em}
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{\fontsize{10pt}{12pt}\selectfont\color{acpink} Dormant Paths, Evolutionary Branches, and Abandoned Approaches}\par
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{\normalsize\color{cyan!70!blue}\textbf{@jeffrey}}\par
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\href{https://papers.aesthetic.computer}{\includegraphics[height=9em]{pals}}\par\vspace{0.1em}
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{\acbold\fontsize{18pt}{22pt}\selectfont\color{acdark} Vestigial Features}\par
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\vspace{0.1em}
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{\fontsize{9pt}{11pt}\selectfont\color{acpink} Dormant Paths, Evolutionary Branches, and Abandoned Approaches}\par
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\vspace{0.4em}
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{\normalsize\color{cyan!70!blue}\href{https://prompt.ac/@jeffrey}{\textbf{@jeffrey}}}\par
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{\small\color{acgray} Aesthetic.Computer}\par
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{\small\color{acgray} ORCID: \href{https://orcid.org/0009-0007-4460-4913}{0009-0007-4460-4913}}\par
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\vspace{0.8em}
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\rule{0.6\textwidth}{1pt}\par
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\vspace{0.4em}
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{\small\color{acpink!40}\textit{working draft --- not for citation}}\par
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{\footnotesize\color{acgray} March 2026}\par
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\rule{0.5\textwidth}{0.5pt}\par
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\vspace{0.15em}
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\colorbox{yellow!60}{\small\color{red!80!black}\textbf{\textit{working draft --- not for citation}}}\par
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\vspace{0.1em}
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{\footnotesize\color{acgray} March 2026 · \href{https://github.com/whistlegraph/aesthetic-computer/commit/d0a6521c5}{d0a6521c5}}\par
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\end{center}
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\vspace*{\fill}
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\begin{table}[h]
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\small
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\centering
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\begin{tabularx}{\columnwidth}{Xrrr}
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\begin{tabular}{p{0.28\linewidth}rrr}
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\toprule
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\textbf{Category} & \textbf{Count} & \textbf{Contrib.} & \textbf{Revivable} \\
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\midrule
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\midrule
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\textbf{Total} & \textbf{16} & \textbf{50\%} & \textbf{7} \\
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\bottomrule
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\end{tabularx}
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\end{tabular}
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\caption{Vestigial features by category. ``Contrib.'' = fraction that contributed code or insights to surviving features. ``Revivable'' = number that could reactivate under changed conditions.}
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\label{tab:vestigial}
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\end{table}
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papers/arxiv-diversity/diversity-cards.tex
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papers/arxiv-diversity/diversity-cards.tex
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\includegraphics[height=8em]{pals}\par\vspace{0.3em}
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{\acbold\fontsize{20pt}{24pt}\selectfont\color{acdark} Citation Diversity Audit}\par
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{\fontsize{10pt}{12pt}\selectfont\color{acpink} \acrandname{} Paper Series, March 2026}\par
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{\normalsize\color{cyan!70!blue}\textbf{@jeffrey}}\par
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\href{https://papers.aesthetic.computer}{\includegraphics[height=9em]{pals}}\par\vspace{0.1em}
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{\acbold\fontsize{18pt}{22pt}\selectfont\color{acdark} Citation Diversity Audit}\par
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\vspace{0.1em}
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{\fontsize{9pt}{11pt}\selectfont\color{acpink} \acrandname{} Paper Series, March 2026}\par
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\vspace{0.4em}
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{\normalsize\color{cyan!70!blue}\href{https://prompt.ac/@jeffrey}{\textbf{@jeffrey}}}\par
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{\small\color{acgray} Aesthetic.Computer}\par
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{\small\color{acgray} ORCID: \href{https://orcid.org/0009-0007-4460-4913}{0009-0007-4460-4913}}\par
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\vspace{0.8em}
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\rule{0.6\textwidth}{1pt}\par
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\vspace{0.4em}
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{\small\color{acpink!40}\textit{working draft --- not for citation}}\par
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\vspace{0.3em}
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{\footnotesize\color{acgray} March 2026}\par
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\rule{0.5\textwidth}{0.5pt}\par
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\vspace{0.15em}
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\colorbox{yellow!60}{\small\color{red!80!black}\textbf{\textit{working draft --- not for citation}}}\par
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\vspace{0.1em}
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{\footnotesize\color{acgray} March 2026 · \href{https://github.com/whistlegraph/aesthetic-computer/commit/d0a6521c5}{d0a6521c5}}\par
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\end{center}
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\vspace*{\fill}
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···
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\begin{table}[h]
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\small
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\centering
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\begin{tabularx}{\columnwidth}{lX}
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\begin{tabular}{lp{0.28\linewidth}}
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\toprule
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\textbf{Paper} & \textbf{Suggested Additions} \\
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\midrule
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\addlinespace
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Archaeology '26 & Brock (Distributed Blackness), Hui (technodiversity) \\
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\bottomrule
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\end{tabularx}
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\end{tabular}
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\caption{Targeted citation additions per paper. Goal: 30\% women, 20\% non-Western.}
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\label{tab:targets}
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\end{table}
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papers/arxiv-folk-songs/folk-songs-cards.tex
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papers/arxiv-folk-songs/folk-songs-cards.tex
···
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\thispagestyle{empty}
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\vspace*{\fill}
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\begin{center}
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\includegraphics[height=8em]{pals}\par\vspace{0.3em}
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{\acbold\fontsize{20pt}{24pt}\selectfont\color{acdark} Playable Folk Songs}\par
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\vspace{0.3em}
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{\fontsize{10pt}{12pt}\selectfont\color{acpink} Oral Tradition Meets the Browser Keyboard}\par
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\vspace{0.8em}
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{\normalsize\color{cyan!70!blue}\textbf{@jeffrey}}\par
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\href{https://papers.aesthetic.computer}{\includegraphics[height=9em]{pals}}\par\vspace{0.1em}
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{\acbold\fontsize{18pt}{22pt}\selectfont\color{acdark} Playable Folk Songs}\par
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\vspace{0.1em}
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{\fontsize{9pt}{11pt}\selectfont\color{acpink} Oral Tradition Meets the Browser Keyboard}\par
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\vspace{0.4em}
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{\normalsize\color{cyan!70!blue}\href{https://prompt.ac/@jeffrey}{\textbf{@jeffrey}}}\par
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{\small\color{acgray} Aesthetic.Computer}\par
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{\small\color{acgray} ORCID: \href{https://orcid.org/0009-0007-4460-4913}{0009-0007-4460-4913}}\par
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\vspace{0.8em}
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\rule{0.6\textwidth}{1pt}\par
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\vspace{0.4em}
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{\small\color{acpink!40}\textit{working draft --- not for citation}}\par
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\vspace{0.3em}
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{\footnotesize\color{acgray} March 2026}\par
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\rule{0.5\textwidth}{0.5pt}\par
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\vspace{0.15em}
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\colorbox{yellow!60}{\small\color{red!80!black}\textbf{\textit{working draft --- not for citation}}}\par
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\vspace{0.1em}
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{\footnotesize\color{acgray} March 2026 · \href{https://github.com/whistlegraph/aesthetic-computer/commit/d0a6521c5}{d0a6521c5}}\par
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\end{center}
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\vspace*{\fill}
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···
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\subsection{Pentatonic (5 notes)}
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\begin{tabularx}{\linewidth}{Xll}
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\begin{tabular}{p{0.28\linewidth}p{0.28\linewidth}p{0.28\linewidth}}
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\toprule
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\textbf{Song} & \textbf{Origin} & \textbf{Range} \\
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\midrule
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Mo Li Hua & Chinese & oct \\
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Swing Low & Spiritual & oct \\
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\bottomrule
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\end{tabularx}
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\end{tabular}
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\subsection{Narrow Range ($<$ octave)}
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\begin{tabularx}{\linewidth}{Xll}
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\begin{tabular}{p{0.28\linewidth}p{0.28\linewidth}p{0.28\linewidth}}
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\toprule
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\textbf{Song} & \textbf{Origin} & \textbf{Range} \\
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\midrule
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London Bridge & English & P5 \\
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Korobeiniki & Russian & oct \\
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\bottomrule
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\end{tabularx}
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\end{tabular}
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\subsection{Modal \& Diatonic}
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\begin{tabularx}{\linewidth}{Xll}
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\begin{tabular}{p{0.28\linewidth}p{0.28\linewidth}p{0.28\linewidth}}
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\toprule
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\textbf{Song} & \textbf{Origin} & \textbf{Range} \\
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\midrule
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Shenandoah & American & 10th \\
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Hava Nagila & Israeli & oct \\
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\bottomrule
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\end{tabularx}
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\end{tabular}
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\section{The Folk Process as Version Control}
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···
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These map directly onto software version control:
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\vspace{0.3em}
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\begin{tabularx}{\linewidth}{lX}
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\begin{tabular}{p{0.28\linewidth}p{0.28\linewidth}}
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\textbf{Continuity} & \texttt{main} branch \\
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\textbf{Variation} & commits, forks \\
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\textbf{Selection} & merge decisions, adoption \\
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\end{tabularx}
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\end{tabular}
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\vspace{0.3em}
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A \np{} song encoding is a URL. Sharing a song is sharing a link. Modifying a song is editing a text string and sharing a new link. The ``oral tradition'' becomes a tradition of URLs---the melody transmits not through memory but through hypertext.
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papers/arxiv-folk-songs/folk-songs.tex
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papers/arxiv-folk-songs/folk-songs.tex
···
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\subsection{Pentatonic (5 notes)}
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\begin{tabularx}{\linewidth}{Xll}
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\begin{tabularx}{\linewidth}{XXX}
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\toprule
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\textbf{Song} & \textbf{Origin} & \textbf{Range} \\
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\midrule
···
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\subsection{Narrow Range ($<$ octave)}
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\begin{tabularx}{\linewidth}{Xll}
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\begin{tabularx}{\linewidth}{XXX}
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\toprule
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\textbf{Song} & \textbf{Origin} & \textbf{Range} \\
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\midrule
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\subsection{Modal \& Diatonic}
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\begin{tabularx}{\linewidth}{Xll}
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\begin{tabularx}{\linewidth}{XXX}
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\toprule
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\textbf{Song} & \textbf{Origin} & \textbf{Range} \\
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\midrule
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These map directly onto software version control:
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\vspace{0.3em}
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\begin{tabularx}{\linewidth}{lX}
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\begin{tabularx}{\linewidth}{XX}
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\textbf{Continuity} & \texttt{main} branch \\
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\textbf{Variation} & commits, forks \\
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\textbf{Selection} & merge decisions, adoption \\
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papers/arxiv-futures/futures-cards.tex
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papers/arxiv-futures/futures-cards.tex
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\thispagestyle{empty}
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\vspace*{\fill}
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\begin{center}
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\includegraphics[height=9em]{pals}\par\vspace{0.1em}
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\href{https://papers.aesthetic.computer}{\includegraphics[height=9em]{pals}}\par\vspace{0.1em}
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{\acbold\fontsize{18pt}{22pt}\selectfont\color{acdark} Five Years from Now}\par
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\vspace{0.1em}
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{\fontsize{9pt}{11pt}\selectfont\color{acpink} What Aesthetic Computer Probably Becomes}\par
···
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\vspace{0.15em}
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\colorbox{yellow!60}{\small\color{red!80!black}\textbf{\textit{working draft --- not for citation}}}\par
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\vspace{0.1em}
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{\footnotesize\color{acgray} March 2026 · \href{https://github.com/whistlegraph/aesthetic-computer/commit/894fbcb44}{894fbcb44}}\par
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{\footnotesize\color{acgray} March 2026 · \href{https://github.com/whistlegraph/aesthetic-computer/commit/d0a6521c5}{d0a6521c5}}\par
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\end{center}
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\vspace*{\fill}
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+12
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papers/arxiv-goodiepal/goodiepal-cards.tex
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-12
papers/arxiv-goodiepal/goodiepal-cards.tex
···
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\thispagestyle{empty}
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\vspace*{\fill}
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\begin{center}
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\includegraphics[height=8em]{pals}\par\vspace{0.3em}
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{\acbold\fontsize{20pt}{24pt}\selectfont\color{acdark} Radical Computer Art}\par
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\vspace{0.3em}
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{\fontsize{10pt}{12pt}\selectfont\color{acpink} Goodiepalian Approaches in \acrandname{}}\par
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\vspace{0.8em}
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{\normalsize\color{cyan!70!blue}\textbf{@jeffrey}}\par
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\href{https://papers.aesthetic.computer}{\includegraphics[height=9em]{pals}}\par\vspace{0.1em}
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{\acbold\fontsize{18pt}{22pt}\selectfont\color{acdark} Radical Computer Art}\par
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\vspace{0.1em}
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{\fontsize{9pt}{11pt}\selectfont\color{acpink} Goodiepalian Approaches in \acrandname{}}\par
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\vspace{0.4em}
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{\normalsize\color{cyan!70!blue}\href{https://prompt.ac/@jeffrey}{\textbf{@jeffrey}}}\par
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{\small\color{acgray} Aesthetic.Computer}\par
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{\small\color{acgray} ORCID: \href{https://orcid.org/0009-0007-4460-4913}{0009-0007-4460-4913}}\par
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\vspace{0.8em}
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\rule{0.6\textwidth}{1pt}\par
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\vspace{0.4em}
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{\small\color{acpink!40}\textit{working draft --- not for citation}}\par
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\vspace{0.3em}
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{\footnotesize\color{acgray} March 2026}\par
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\rule{0.5\textwidth}{0.5pt}\par
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\vspace{0.15em}
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\colorbox{yellow!60}{\small\color{red!80!black}\textbf{\textit{working draft --- not for citation}}}\par
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\vspace{0.1em}
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{\footnotesize\color{acgray} March 2026 · \href{https://github.com/whistlegraph/aesthetic-computer/commit/d0a6521c5}{d0a6521c5}}\par
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\end{center}
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\vspace*{\fill}
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···
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\ac{}~\citep{scudder2026ac} is a mobile-first runtime and social network for creative computing. It is, by conventional standards, a software platform. It has a session server, a KidLisp interpreter, an NFT minting pipeline, and over 350 interactive programs called ``pieces.'' Its score is written in Markdown. Its logo is a pair of eyes called ``Pals.''
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This paper argues that the distance between these two projects is smaller than it appears. \ac{}'s design decisions---many of which seem like engineering choices---are better understood as Goodiepalian commitments: philosophical positions about who computing is for, what constitutes a creative instrument, how communities of practice should organize, and what it means for software to address non-human audiences.
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The distance between these two projects is smaller than it appears. \ac{}'s design decisions---many of which seem like engineering choices---are better understood as Goodiepalian commitments: philosophical positions about who computing is for, what constitutes a creative instrument, how communities of practice should organize, and what it means for software to address non-human audiences.
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The scholarly literature on \gp{} remains thin but is growing. Wamberg's ``Art for Aliens''~\citep{wamberg2022artforaliens} situates \gp{} within a ``xenophile posthumanism'' informed by Rudolf Steiner, in which Artificial Intelligence is broadened to a more extensive network of material clusters that \gp{} designates Alternative Intelligence (ALI). A 2017 feature documentary, \emph{The Goodiepal Equation}~\citep{sanpakkila2017equation}, followed \gp{} over several years and multiple reinventions; \emph{In Spite Magazine} characterized the subject as ``renegade, anarchist, genius, trickster''~\citep{inspite2024goodiepal}. In 2020, the SMK (National Gallery of Denmark) devoted six rooms to ``Unboxing: The Goodiepal Collection''~\citep{smk2020unboxing}---one of Europe's largest private collections of sound art and sound objects, including a delay engine, a computer made entirely of glass, salt and water, and a machine which supposedly makes it possible to speak with the dead.
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papers/arxiv-identity/identity-cards.tex
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papers/arxiv-identity/identity-cards.tex
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\vspace{0.15em}
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\colorbox{yellow!60}{\small\color{red!80!black}\textbf{\textit{working draft --- not for citation}}}\par
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\vspace{0.1em}
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{\footnotesize\color{acgray} March 2026 · \href{https://github.com/whistlegraph/aesthetic-computer/commit/f337fc02a}{f337fc02a}}\par
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{\footnotesize\color{acgray} March 2026 · \href{https://github.com/whistlegraph/aesthetic-computer/commit/d0a6521c5}{d0a6521c5}}\par
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\end{center}
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\vspace*{\fill}
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+9
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papers/arxiv-kidlisp-cards/kidlisp-cards-cards.tex
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papers/arxiv-kidlisp-cards/kidlisp-cards-cards.tex
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\thispagestyle{empty}
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\vspace*{\fill}
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\begin{center}
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\includegraphics[height=8em]{pals}\par\vspace{0.3em}
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{\acbold\fontsize{20pt}{24pt}\selectfont\color{acdark} Kid{\color{acpurple}Lisp} Cards}\par
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\href{https://papers.aesthetic.computer}{\includegraphics[height=9em]{pals}}\par\vspace{0.1em}
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{\acbold\fontsize{18pt}{22pt}\selectfont\color{acdark} Kid{\color{acpurple}Lisp} Cards}\par
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\vspace{0.1em}
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{\normalsize\color{cyan!70!blue}\textbf{@jeffrey}}\par
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{\normalsize\color{cyan!70!blue}\href{https://prompt.ac/@jeffrey}{\textbf{@jeffrey}}}\par
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{\small\color{acgray} Aesthetic.Computer}\par
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{\small\color{acgray} ORCID: \href{https://orcid.org/0009-0007-4460-4913}{0009-0007-4460-4913}}\par
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{\small\color{acpink!40}\textit{working draft --- not for citation}}\par
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{\footnotesize\color{acgray} March 2026}\par
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\rule{0.5\textwidth}{0.5pt}\par
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\colorbox{yellow!60}{\small\color{red!80!black}\textbf{\textit{working draft --- not for citation}}}\par
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\vspace{0.1em}
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{\footnotesize\color{acgray} March 2026 · \href{https://github.com/whistlegraph/aesthetic-computer/commit/d0a6521c5}{d0a6521c5}}\par
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\end{center}
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\vspace*{\fill}
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papers/arxiv-kidlisp-reference/kidlisp-reference-cards.tex
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papers/arxiv-kidlisp-reference/kidlisp-reference-cards.tex
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\thispagestyle{empty}
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\vspace*{\fill}
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\begin{center}
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\includegraphics[height=8em]{pals}\par\vspace{0.3em}
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{\acbold\fontsize{20pt}{24pt}\selectfont\color{acdark} KidLisp Language Reference}\par
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\href{https://papers.aesthetic.computer}{\includegraphics[height=9em]{pals}}\par\vspace{0.1em}
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{\acbold\fontsize{18pt}{22pt}\selectfont\color{acdark} KidLisp Language Reference}\par
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{\normalsize\color{cyan!70!blue}\textbf{@jeffrey}}\par
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{\normalsize\color{cyan!70!blue}\href{https://prompt.ac/@jeffrey}{\textbf{@jeffrey}}}\par
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{\small\color{acgray} Aesthetic.Computer}\par
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{\small\color{acgray} ORCID: \href{https://orcid.org/0009-0007-4460-4913}{0009-0007-4460-4913}}\par
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{\small\color{acpink!40}\textit{working draft --- not for citation}}\par
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{\footnotesize\color{acgray} March 2026}\par
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\rule{0.5\textwidth}{0.5pt}\par
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\colorbox{yellow!60}{\small\color{red!80!black}\textbf{\textit{working draft --- not for citation}}}\par
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\vspace{0.1em}
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{\footnotesize\color{acgray} March 2026 · \href{https://github.com/whistlegraph/aesthetic-computer/commit/d0a6521c5}{d0a6521c5}}\par
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\vspace*{\fill}
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···
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\begin{table}[h]
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\small
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\centering
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\begin{tabularx}{\columnwidth}{Xlr}
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\begin{tabular}{p{0.28\linewidth}lr}
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\toprule
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\textbf{Category} & \textbf{Count} & \textbf{Core Functions} \\
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\midrule
···
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\midrule
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\textbf{Total} & \textbf{118} & \\
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\bottomrule
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\end{tabularx}
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\end{tabular}
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\caption{All 118 built-in functions by category.}
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\label{tab:builtins}
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\end{table}
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papers/arxiv-kidlisp/kidlisp-cards.tex
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papers/arxiv-kidlisp/kidlisp-cards.tex
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\thispagestyle{empty}
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\includegraphics[height=8em]{pals}\par\vspace{0.3em}
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{\acbold\fontsize{20pt}{24pt}\selectfont\color{acdark} Kid{\color{acpurple}Lisp} '26}\par
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\href{https://papers.aesthetic.computer}{\includegraphics[height=9em]{pals}}\par\vspace{0.1em}
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{\acbold\fontsize{18pt}{22pt}\selectfont\color{acdark} Kid{\color{acpurple}Lisp} '26}\par
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\vspace{0.1em}
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{\normalsize\color{cyan!70!blue}\textbf{@jeffrey}}\par
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{\normalsize\color{cyan!70!blue}\href{https://prompt.ac/@jeffrey}{\textbf{@jeffrey}}}\par
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{\small\color{acgray} Aesthetic.Computer}\par
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{\small\color{acgray} ORCID: \href{https://orcid.org/0009-0007-4460-4913}{0009-0007-4460-4913}}\par
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{\small\color{acpink!40}\textit{working draft --- not for citation}}\par
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{\footnotesize\color{acgray} March 2026}\par
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\rule{0.5\textwidth}{0.5pt}\par
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\vspace{0.15em}
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\colorbox{yellow!60}{\small\color{red!80!black}\textbf{\textit{working draft --- not for citation}}}\par
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\vspace{0.1em}
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{\footnotesize\color{acgray} March 2026 · \href{https://github.com/whistlegraph/aesthetic-computer/commit/d0a6521c5}{d0a6521c5}}\par
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\end{center}
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\vspace*{\fill}
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···
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\begin{table}[h]
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\small
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\centering
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\begin{tabularx}{\columnwidth}{lrX}
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\begin{tabular}{lrp{0.28\linewidth}}
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\toprule
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\textbf{Category} & \textbf{n} & \textbf{Examples} \\
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\midrule
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\midrule
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\textbf{Total} & \textbf{118} & \\
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\bottomrule
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\end{tabularx}
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\end{tabular}
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\caption{Built-in functions by category.}
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\label{tab:functions}
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\end{table}
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papers/arxiv-network-audit/network-audit-cards.tex
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\includegraphics[height=8em]{pals}\par\vspace{0.3em}
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{\acbold\fontsize{20pt}{24pt}\selectfont\color{acdark} Network Audit}\par
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{\fontsize{10pt}{12pt}\selectfont\color{acpink} Who Uses \acrandname{} and What Do They Make?}\par
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{\normalsize\color{cyan!70!blue}\textbf{@jeffrey}}\par
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\href{https://papers.aesthetic.computer}{\includegraphics[height=9em]{pals}}\par\vspace{0.1em}
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{\acbold\fontsize{18pt}{22pt}\selectfont\color{acdark} Network Audit}\par
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{\fontsize{9pt}{11pt}\selectfont\color{acpink} Who Uses \acrandname{} and What Do They Make?}\par
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{\normalsize\color{cyan!70!blue}\href{https://prompt.ac/@jeffrey}{\textbf{@jeffrey}}}\par
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{\small\color{acgray} Aesthetic.Computer}\par
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{\small\color{acgray} ORCID: \href{https://orcid.org/0009-0007-4460-4913}{0009-0007-4460-4913}}\par
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{\footnotesize\color{acgray} March 2026}\par
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\colorbox{yellow!60}{\small\color{red!80!black}\textbf{\textit{working draft --- not for citation}}}\par
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{\footnotesize\color{acgray} March 2026 · \href{https://github.com/whistlegraph/aesthetic-computer/commit/d0a6521c5}{d0a6521c5}}\par
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\begin{table}[h]
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\small
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\centering
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\begin{tabularx}{\columnwidth}{Xr}
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\begin{tabular}{p{0.28\linewidth}r}
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\toprule
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\textbf{Metric} & \textbf{Count} \\
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\midrule
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Clocks & 333 \\
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Physical prints ordered & 20 \\
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\bottomrule
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\end{tabular}
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\caption{Platform census as of March 2026.}
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\label{tab:census}
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\begin{table}[h]
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\small
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\centering
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\begin{tabularx}{\columnwidth}{Xrr}
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\begin{tabular}{p{0.28\linewidth}rr}
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\toprule
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\textbf{Activity} & \textbf{Users} & \textbf{\% of Handles} \\
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Wrote KidLisp & 59 & 2.1\% \\
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Published a piece & 19 & 0.7\% \\
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\bottomrule
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\caption{Creator participation rates.}
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\label{tab:creators}
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papers/arxiv-notepat/notepat-cards.tex
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papers/arxiv-notepat/notepat-cards.tex
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\includegraphics[height=8em]{pals}\par\vspace{0.3em}
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{\acbold\fontsize{20pt}{24pt}\selectfont\color{acdark} notepat{\color{acpurple}.}{\color{acpink}com}}\par
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{\fontsize{10pt}{12pt}\selectfont\color{acpink} From Keyboard Toy to System Front Door}\par
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{\normalsize\color{cyan!70!blue}\textbf{@jeffrey}}\par
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\href{https://papers.aesthetic.computer}{\includegraphics[height=9em]{pals}}\par\vspace{0.1em}
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{\acbold\fontsize{18pt}{22pt}\selectfont\color{acdark} notepat{\color{acpurple}.}{\color{acpink}com}}\par
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{\fontsize{9pt}{11pt}\selectfont\color{acpink} From Keyboard Toy to System Front Door}\par
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{\normalsize\color{cyan!70!blue}\href{https://prompt.ac/@jeffrey}{\textbf{@jeffrey}}}\par
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{\small\color{acgray} Aesthetic.Computer}\par
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{\small\color{acgray} ORCID: \href{https://orcid.org/0009-0007-4460-4913}{0009-0007-4460-4913}}\par
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{\small\color{acpink!40}\textit{working draft --- not for citation}}\par
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{\footnotesize\color{acgray} March 2026}\par
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\colorbox{yellow!60}{\small\color{red!80!black}\textbf{\textit{working draft --- not for citation}}}\par
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{\footnotesize\color{acgray} March 2026 · \href{https://github.com/whistlegraph/aesthetic-computer/commit/d0a6521c5}{d0a6521c5}}\par
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% ============================================================
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\section{Introduction}
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Creative coding platforms are typically evaluated at the system level: language design, editor affordances, community size~\citep{reas2007processing,mccarthy2015p5js,resnick2009scratch}. Even within digital musical instrument research, the unit of analysis is usually the instrument class or interaction paradigm rather than the evolution of a single artifact over years~\citep{magnusson2010designing,marquez2018dmi}. This paper takes a narrower and longer lens: one piece---\texttt{notepat}---inside \ac{}, studied across 20 months of active development.
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Creative coding platforms are typically evaluated at the system level: language design, editor affordances, community size~\citep{reas2007processing,mccarthy2015p5js,resnick2009scratch}. Even within digital musical instrument research, the unit of analysis is usually the instrument class or interaction paradigm rather than the evolution of a single artifact over years~\citep{magnusson2010designing,marquez2018dmi}. I take a narrower and longer lens: one piece---\texttt{notepat}---inside \ac{}, studied across 20 months of active development.
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\texttt{notepat} is a melodic keyboard instrument. It is directly addressable as \texttt{aesthetic.computer/notepat} and through the branded domain \texttt{notepat.com}. As of March 2026, it is the most complex piece in the system, the default boot piece on bare-metal hardware, and the primary subject of performance testing infrastructure. None of this was planned at the outset. The instrument grew, and the platform grew around it.
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\begin{table}[h]
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\centering
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\begin{tabularx}{\columnwidth}{l r}
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\begin{tabular}{l r}
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\toprule
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\textbf{Metric} & \textbf{Value} \\
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Files mentioning ``notepat'' in repo & 159 \\
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Age (first commit) & June 27, 2024 \\
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\caption{notepat scale indicators (March 8, 2026).}
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\label{tab:scale}
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papers/arxiv-open-schools/open-schools-cards.tex
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{\acbold\fontsize{18pt}{22pt}\selectfont\color{acdark} Get Closed Source Out of Schools}\par
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\colorbox{yellow!60}{\small\color{red!80!black}\textbf{\textit{working draft --- not for citation}}}\par
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{\footnotesize\color{acgray} March 2026 · \href{https://github.com/whistlegraph/aesthetic-computer/commit/894fbcb44}{894fbcb44}}\par
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{\footnotesize\color{acgray} March 2026 · \href{https://github.com/whistlegraph/aesthetic-computer/commit/d0a6521c5}{d0a6521c5}}\par
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papers/arxiv-os/os-cards.tex
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{\acbold\fontsize{20pt}{24pt}\selectfont\color{acdark} AC Native OS '26}\par
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{\fontsize{10pt}{12pt}\selectfont\color{acpink} A Bare-Metal Creative Computing Operating System}\par
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{\normalsize\color{cyan!70!blue}\textbf{@jeffrey}}\par
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{\acbold\fontsize{18pt}{22pt}\selectfont\color{acdark} AC Native OS '26}\par
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{\fontsize{9pt}{11pt}\selectfont\color{acpink} A Bare-Metal Creative Computing Operating System}\par
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{\normalsize\color{cyan!70!blue}\href{https://prompt.ac/@jeffrey}{\textbf{@jeffrey}}}\par
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{\small\color{acgray} Aesthetic.Computer}\par
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{\small\color{acgray} ORCID: \href{https://orcid.org/0009-0007-4460-4913}{0009-0007-4460-4913}}\par
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{\footnotesize\color{acgray} March 2026 · \href{https://github.com/whistlegraph/aesthetic-computer/commit/d0a6521c5}{d0a6521c5}}\par
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Meanwhile, the consumer computing market produces a constant surplus of functional machines. Corporate lease cycles retire millions of laptops every 3--5 years. Retail overstocks, cancelled orders, and cosmetic defects generate warehouse inventories. E-waste recyclers receive machines with years of useful life remaining. These surplus computers---ThinkPads, EliteBooks, Latitudes---are available for \$30--80 with modern processors, 8--16\,GB RAM, WiFi, keyboards, and screens.
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\acos{} takes the opposite approach from OLPC: instead of designing custom hardware, we design a custom operating system that transforms \emph{any} commodity x86\_64 machine into a dedicated creative computing instrument. The entire OS is a single file. Flashing it onto a USB drive takes under a minute. The machine boots in 7.3 seconds into a musical instrument, a drawing tool, or a programming environment---with the owner's name on the screen and their voice greeting them by name.
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\acos{} takes the opposite approach from OLPC: instead of designing custom hardware, I design a custom operating system that transforms \emph{any} commodity x86\_64 machine into a dedicated creative computing instrument. The entire OS is a single file. Flashing it onto a USB drive takes under a minute. The machine boots in 7.3 seconds into a musical instrument, a drawing tool, or a programming environment---with the owner's name on the screen and their voice greeting them by name.
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This paper describes the system architecture~(\S\ref{sec:architecture}), the personalization model~(\S\ref{sec:personalization}), the surplus hardware thesis~(\S\ref{sec:surplus}), the OTA update system~(\S\ref{sec:ota}), comparisons with existing approaches~(\S\ref{sec:related}), and implications for creative computing access~(\S\ref{sec:implications}).
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I describe the system architecture~(\S\ref{sec:architecture}), the personalization model~(\S\ref{sec:personalization}), the surplus hardware thesis~(\S\ref{sec:surplus}), the OTA update system~(\S\ref{sec:ota}), comparisons with existing approaches~(\S\ref{sec:related}), and implications for creative computing access~(\S\ref{sec:implications}).
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% ============ 2. ARCHITECTURE ============
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{\acbold\fontsize{20pt}{24pt}\selectfont\color{acdark} Pieces Not Programs}\par
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{\fontsize{10pt}{12pt}\selectfont\color{acpink} The Piece as a Unit of Creative Cognition in \ac{}}\par
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{\normalsize\color{cyan!70!blue}\textbf{@jeffrey}}\par
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{\acbold\fontsize{18pt}{22pt}\selectfont\color{acdark} Pieces Not Programs}\par
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{\fontsize{9pt}{11pt}\selectfont\color{acpink} The Piece as a Unit of Creative Cognition in \ac{}}\par
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{\small\color{acgray} ORCID: \href{https://orcid.org/0009-0007-4460-4913}{0009-0007-4460-4913}}\par
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{\footnotesize\color{acgray} March 2026 · \href{https://github.com/whistlegraph/aesthetic-computer/commit/d0a6521c5}{d0a6521c5}}\par
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\begin{table}[h]
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\centering
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& \textbf{Program} & \textbf{Piece} \\
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Forking metaphor & Fork (git) & Cover (music) \\
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Done when & Tests pass & Never (only abandoned) \\
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\caption{Program vs.\ piece as creative units.}
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\label{tab:comparison}
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\end{table}
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papers/arxiv-plork/plork-cards.tex
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{\acbold\fontsize{18pt}{22pt}\selectfont\color{acdark} PLOrk'ing the Planet}\par
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{\footnotesize\color{acgray}\href{https://papers.aesthetic.computer/plorking-the-planet-26-arxiv-da.pdf}{Dansk} · \href{https://papers.aesthetic.computer/plorking-the-planet-26-arxiv-es.pdf}{Español} · \href{https://papers.aesthetic.computer/plorking-the-planet-26-arxiv-zh.pdf}{{\accjk 中文}} · \href{https://papers.aesthetic.computer/plorking-the-planet-26-arxiv-ja.pdf}{{\accjk 日本語}}}\par
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{\small\color{acgray} ORCID: \href{https://orcid.org/0009-0007-4460-4913}{0009-0007-4460-4913}}\par
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{\acbold\fontsize{20pt}{24pt}\selectfont\color{acdark} Who Pays for Creative Tools?}\par
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{\fontsize{10pt}{12pt}\selectfont\color{acpink} Funding, Burnout, and Survival in Open-Source Creative Computing}\par
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{\footnotesize\color{acgray} March 2026 · \href{https://github.com/whistlegraph/aesthetic-computer/commit/d0a6521c5}{d0a6521c5}}\par
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\begin{tabular}{p{0.28\linewidth}p{0.28\linewidth}p{0.28\linewidth}}
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\textbf{Creator} & \textbf{Institution} & \textbf{Years} \\
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\midrule
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Hernando Barrag\'an & U. de Los Andes & 20+ \\
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John Maeda & MIT Media Lab & 12 \\
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\caption{Academic positions subsidizing creative tool development.}
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\label{tab:academic}
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\begin{table}[h]
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\textbf{Creator} & \textbf{Patron} & \textbf{Duration} \\
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Matz & NaCl/Heroku & 28+ years \\
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Evan Czaplicki & NoRedInk & 7+ years \\
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\caption{Corporate patronage arrangements.}
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\label{tab:corporate}
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\begin{table}[h]
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\textbf{Tool} & \textbf{Created} & \textbf{Gap (years)} \\
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\midrule
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TempleOS & 2003 & --- (creator died 2018) \\
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Aesthetic Computer & 2021 & 5+ (ongoing) \\
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\caption{Gap between creation and first sustainable funding. ``---'' indicates no sustainable funding achieved.}
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\label{tab:gap}
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\end{table}
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papers/arxiv-sustainability/sustainability.tex
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\textbf{Creator} & \textbf{Patron} & \textbf{Duration} \\
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\textbf{Tool} & \textbf{Created} & \textbf{Gap (years)} \\
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papers/arxiv-ucla-arts/ucla-arts-cards.tex
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\thispagestyle{empty}
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\includegraphics[height=9em]{pals}\par\vspace{0.1em}
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\href{https://papers.aesthetic.computer}{\includegraphics[height=9em]{pals}}\par\vspace{0.1em}
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{\acbold\fontsize{18pt}{22pt}\selectfont\color{acdark} Two Departments, One Building}\par
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{\fontsize{9pt}{11pt}\selectfont\color{acpink} Funding and Administration in UCLA Arts}\par
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\colorbox{yellow!60}{\small\color{red!80!black}\textbf{\textit{working draft --- not for citation}}}\par
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{\footnotesize\color{acgray} March 2026 · \href{https://github.com/whistlegraph/aesthetic-computer/commit/894fbcb44}{894fbcb44}}\par
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{\footnotesize\color{acgray} March 2026 · \href{https://github.com/whistlegraph/aesthetic-computer/commit/d0a6521c5}{d0a6521c5}}\par
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% ============================================================
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\section{Introduction}
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Casey Reas co-created Processing in 2001 at MIT. He joined UCLA's Department of Design~|~Media Arts in 2004~\citep{dmahistory}. He chaired the department from 2007 to 2009. He co-founded the Processing Foundation as a 501(c)(3) in 2012. He receives zero dollars from the Foundation---per every IRS 990 filing on record.
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The Eli and Edythe Broad Art Center at UCLA houses two departments that share hallways, elevators, and a dean but operate with fundamentally different financial architectures. The Department of Art---founded in 1939---is funded by the art market: collectors, gallerists, and philanthropists who participate in a pricing system for objects. The Department of Design~|~Media Arts (\dma{})---split from Art in 1988~\citep{dmahistory}---is funded by research grants, cross-institutional partnerships, and the invisible subsidy of faculty salaries applied to unpaid software work.
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Lauren McCarthy created p5.js in 2013. She joined \dma{} as faculty. She spent the next decade maintaining it for 10--20 uncompensated hours per week on top of her teaching load~\citep{mccarthy2023making}. She also receives zero dollars from the Processing Foundation.
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This paper traces that divergence. Both departments sit within UCLA's \sofa{}, which operates on an approximately \$70 million annual budget across four departments~\citep{uclaarts2025about}. Both benefit from the same \$52 million building, funded in part by a \$23.2 million gift from the Broad Foundation~\citep{broadfoundation2006}. But Art has attracted \$22.5 million in targeted philanthropic gifts for its own infrastructure, while \dma{}'s most widely used outputs---open-source creative tools used by millions---are funded by no one's budget.
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Both are tenured professors. Both are paid by UCLA to teach and do research. The tools they built---used by millions---are subsidized by those salaries in a way that appears nowhere in any budget line. This is the model I described in ``Who Pays for Creative Tools?''~\citep{scudder2026sustainability} as \emph{academic subsidy}: the university pays for one thing, and the faculty member does another thing on top of it, and the second thing is what changes the world.
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Newfield~\citep{newfield2009budget} documents how humanities and arts programs within public universities face a structural funding crisis that other disciplines avoid: they cannot point to patents, licensing revenue, or industry partnerships to justify their budgets. Manovich~\citep{manovich2013software} argues that software has become the universal cultural medium---that contemporary art, design, and media are inseparable from the tools that produce them. The tension between these two observations is the subject of this paper: the department that produces cultural objects has a market to fund it; the department that produces cultural \emph{tools} does not.
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This paper is about the institution that provides that subsidy. Not UCLA as a monolith, but two specific departments within one school---Art and \dma{}---that sit in the same Richard Meier building, report to the same dean, draw from the same \$70 million school operating budget, and operate with fundamentally different financial architectures.
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I am writing this as an outsider. I was invited to UCLA's Social Software lab as an Author in Residence for Spring 2026~\citep{scudder2026ac}. I build \ac{}, a creative computing platform, without the institutional umbrella that shelters Processing, p5.js, Scratch, Sonic Pi, and every other comparable tool in the field. Understanding how that umbrella works---and who holds it---is not academic curiosity. It is survival research.
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I am writing this from a particular vantage point. I was invited to UCLA's Social Software lab as an Author in Residence for Spring 2026, and I build \ac{}~\citep{scudder2026ac}, a creative computing platform developed outside the university system. The companion paper~\citep{scudder2026sustainability} surveys 28 tool authors and their funding histories. This paper looks at the institutional side: what does the shelter actually look like from inside?
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\section{Two Departments}
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\subsection{Art (1939--)}
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The Department of Art is the older sibling. Founded in 1939 within the College of Applied Arts, it was the first time students could major in art at UCLA. It moved through the College of Fine Arts (1960) and into the School of the Arts (1991, later \sofa{}). Its focus is studio fine art: painting, drawing, sculpture, photography, ceramics, printmaking, new genres, interdisciplinary studio.
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The Department of Art was founded in 1939 within the College of Applied Arts---the first time students could major in art at UCLA~\citep{uclaarts2025about}. It moved through the College of Fine Arts (1960) and into the School of the Arts (1991, later \sofa{}). Its focus is studio fine art: painting, drawing, sculpture, photography, ceramics, printmaking, new genres, interdisciplinary studio.
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Its faculty roster reads like a museum collection catalog. Catherine Opie (photography), Andrea Fraser (interdisciplinary studio, current chair), Barbara Kruger (new genres, Distinguished Professor), Lari Pittman (painting, Distinguished Professor). These are artists whose work sells at auction, hangs in permanent collections, and defines entire movements.
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Its faculty includes Catherine Opie (photography, inaugural Resnick Endowed Chair), Andrea Fraser (interdisciplinary studio, current chair), Barbara Kruger (new genres, Distinguished Professor), and Lari Pittman (painting, Distinguished Professor). These are artists whose work circulates in galleries, auction houses, and permanent museum collections.
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\subsection{Design~|~Media Arts (1988--)}
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\dma{} split from Art in 1988 as the Department of Design. The original focus was ceramics, textiles, industrial design, and graphic design. Rebecca Allen became chair in 1996 and pivoted toward media. In 2000 the department renamed itself Design~|~Media Arts. Erkki Huhtamo and Christian Moeller joined the faculty. Casey Reas arrived in 2004.
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\dma{} split from Art in 1988 as the Department of Design, initially focused on ceramics, textiles, industrial design, and graphic design~\citep{dmahistory}. Rebecca Allen became chair in 1996 and pivoted toward media and technology---her own work at the intersection of artificial life and virtual environments~\citep{allen2005emergence} set the direction. In 2000 the department renamed itself Design~|~Media Arts under Victoria Vesna, whose scholarship on database aesthetics~\citep{vesna2000database, vesna2007database} theorized the cultural implications of data-driven art. Erkki Huhtamo brought media archaeology; Peter Lunenfeld brought critical theory of digital culture~\citep{lunenfeld2011secretwar}; Eddo Stern brought game art and the critical study of play~\citep{stern2002medieval, stern2017howtoplay}. Casey Reas arrived in 2004, bringing Processing---a programming environment he had co-created with Ben Fry at MIT~\citep{reas2006processing, reas2001thesis}.
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Today \dma{} covers creative coding, graphic design, games, VR/AR, digital fabrication, and media theory. Its faculty builds software that runs on millions of machines. Its graduates work at Google, Apple, and Pixar---but also at small studios, nonprofits, and independent practices.
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Today \dma{} covers creative coding, graphic design, games, VR/AR, digital fabrication, and media theory. Its faculty publishes with MIT Press~\citep{reas2014processing, lunenfeld2011secretwar}, Princeton Architectural Press~\citep{reas2010formcode}, and university presses~\citep{vesna2007database}. Its outputs include open-source tools (Processing, p5.js), experimental games (UCLA Game Lab), and art-science collaborations (Art|Sci Center). These are not side projects---they are the department's primary scholarly contribution.
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\subsection{Same Building, Different Worlds}
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\begin{table}[h]
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& \textbf{Art} & \textbf{DMA} \\
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Grant sources & NEA, foundations & NSF, Getty, Rockefeller \\
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Software output & Minimal & Processing, p5.js, Game Lab \\
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\caption{Structural comparison of UCLA Art and \dma{}.}
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\label{tab:comparison}
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\end{table}
···
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\subsection{The Leavin Gift}
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In 2016, gallerist and alumna Margo Leavin donated \$20 million to UCLA's Department of Art---the largest single gift by an alumna to the arts in University of California history. The money funded the Margo Leavin Graduate Art Studios: a 48,000 square foot campus in Culver City, designed by Johnston Marklee, opened in 2019. MFA students now work in purpose-built studios with natural light, fabrication shops, and exhibition space.
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In 2016, gallerist and alumna Margo Leavin donated \$20 million to UCLA's Department of Art---the largest single gift by an alumna to the arts in University of California history~\citep{leavin2016gift}. Leavin had earned her BA in psychology from UCLA in 1958, then ran one of Los Angeles's most influential galleries for over 40 years before closing in 2012~\citep{leavinmemorial}. The gift funded the Margo Leavin Graduate Art Studios: a 48,000 square foot adaptive reuse of a former wallpaper factory in Culver City, designed by Johnston Marklee, opened in 2019.
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This is how fine art departments get funded. A gallerist who built her career selling the work of artists who teach at the school gives money back to the school that produces the next generation of artists whose work she might sell. The loop is closed. The incentives are aligned. The money is real.
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This is a closed loop. A gallerist who built her career exhibiting and selling the work of artists who teach at the school gave back to the school that produces the next generation of artists. The incentives are aligned. The money is real. And it went to Art, not \dma{}.
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\subsection{The Resnick Endowment}
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Lynda and Stewart Resnick (Wonderful Company, FIJI Water, POM Wonderful) gave \$2 million to endow the Lynda and Stewart Resnick Endowed Professorship in Art---the department's first endowed chair. Catherine Opie was the inaugural holder. They also gave \$500,000 to renovate the undergraduate photography lab.
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Lynda and Stewart Resnick gave \$2 million to endow the Lynda and Stewart Resnick Endowed Professorship in Art, plus \$500,000 for an undergraduate photography lab renovation~\citep{resnickchair2019}. Catherine Opie was named the inaugural holder. The UCLA General Catalog lists only four endowed chairs across the entire \sofa{}---none in \dma{}~\citep{uclaendowedchairs}.
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An endowed chair is perpetual funding. The principal generates interest; the interest pays a salary supplement and research funds; the professor holds the title for life or until they leave. It is the most stable form of academic funding that exists.
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An endowed chair is perpetual funding. The principal generates interest; the interest pays a salary supplement and research funds; the professor holds the title for life or until they leave. It is the most durable form of academic funding that exists. That Art has one and \dma{} does not is not a judgment---it reflects the fact that the art market produces the kind of wealth that endows chairs, while the software ecosystem does not.
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\subsection{The Pattern}
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\subsection{The Processing Foundation}
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The Processing Foundation is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit incorporated in Brooklyn, New York. It is not a UCLA entity. It receives no UCLA funding. Its board includes Reas and McCarthy, but the Foundation is institutionally independent.
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\begin{table}[h]
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\textbf{Year} & \textbf{Revenue} & \textbf{Expenses} & \textbf{Assets} \\
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2020 & \$273K & \$182K & \$156K \\
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2021 & \$10.9M & \$430K & \$10.6M \\
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2022 & \$751K & \$647K & \$10.7M \\
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2023 & \$513K & \$1.23M & \$10.4M \\
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2024 & \$649K & \$1.52M & \$9.5M \\
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\caption{Processing Foundation financials (IRS 990 filings via ProPublica).}
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\label{tab:pf-financials}
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\end{table}
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The Processing Foundation---a 501(c)(3) nonprofit in Brooklyn, institutionally independent of UCLA---coordinates development of Processing and p5.js~\citep{processingfoundation990}. Its three co-founders receive \$0 in compensation. The Foundation's financial history (a near-death operating budget through 2020, a \$10.9 million crypto-donation windfall in 2021, and a current drawdown at \$1.5M/year) is documented in detail in the companion paper~\citep{scudder2026sustainability}.
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The 2021 spike---from \$273K to \$10.9 million in one year---was almost entirely cryptocurrency donations from generative artists during the NFT boom. Major donors included Erick Calderon (Art Blocks founder), Tyler Hobbs, Casey Reas himself, Monica Rizzolli, and Dmitri Cherniak. This was not a funding model. It was a weather event. It will not repeat.
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What matters for this paper is simpler: the Foundation is not a UCLA entity, and UCLA does not fund it. The tools that DMA is best known for---the ones cited in textbooks~\citep{montfort2021exploratory, soon2020aesthetic}, taught in classrooms worldwide~\citep{greenberg2012creative}, and used by millions---exist outside the university's financial architecture. They are sustained by faculty salaries that were budgeted for teaching, not for maintaining open-source infrastructure~\citep{yin2022oss}.
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The Foundation is now spending approximately \$1.5 million per year against \$650K--\$970K in revenue, drawing down the 2021 reserves. At current burn rate, leadership estimates a 12--13 year runway. Reas, Fry, and Shiffman---the three co-founders---have received \$0 in compensation from the Foundation in every year on record.
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\section{Objects vs.\ Tools}
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\subsection{The Invisible Subsidy}
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The funding divergence maps onto a deeper difference in what each department produces and who values it.
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Here is what actually funds Processing and p5.js: UCLA pays Reas and McCarthy salaries. Those salaries buy them time. They spend some of that time---uncompensated, untracked, invisible to any budget---maintaining software used by millions. The Foundation exists to receive donations and coordinate development. UCLA exists to pay the salaries that make the unpaid work possible.
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Art produces \emph{objects}. Paintings, sculptures, photographs, installations. These objects enter a market with established infrastructure: galleries, auction houses, collectors, museum acquisitions committees, art fairs. The market assigns prices. Prices generate wealth. Wealth flows back as philanthropy.
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This is the same pattern I documented across 28 tool authors in ``Who Pays''~\citep{scudder2026sustainability}. The university is the umbrella. The tool is the rain. The umbrella does not know it is holding off rain; it thinks it is employing a professor.
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\section{What the Art Market Funds vs.\ What Grants Fund}
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\dma{} produces \emph{tools and experiences}. Processing~\citep{reas2006processing} is not an object you can hang on a wall. p5.js~\citep{mccarthy2015p5js} is not an edition of 45. The UCLA Game Lab's experimental games~\citep{stern2017howtoplay} are not sold at Art Basel. Vesna's Art|Sci collaborations are funded by NSF, not by collectors. Lunenfeld's cultural theory~\citep{lunenfeld2011secretwar} is published by MIT Press at academic prices. The output is scholarship, software, and pedagogy---free, open-source, used by millions, priced by no market.
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The distinction between Art and \dma{}'s funding models maps onto a deeper difference in what each department produces and who values it.
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Art produces \emph{objects}. Paintings, sculptures, photographs, installations. These objects enter a market with established infrastructure: galleries, auction houses, collectors, museum acquisitions committees, art fairs. The market assigns prices. Prices generate wealth. Wealth flows back as philanthropy. Opie's photographs sell. Kruger's installations are commissioned. The department's prestige attracts donors who want their names on buildings and chairs.
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\dma{} produces \emph{tools and experiences}. Processing is not an object you can hang on a wall. p5.js is not an edition of 45. The UCLA Game Lab's experimental games are not sold at Art Basel. The output is software---free, open-source, used by millions, valued by no market. When Reas's artwork sells (his generative pieces are in the V\&A, LACMA, Centre Pompidou), that is his art practice, not his software practice. The two are related but financially separate.
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The art market can fund art departments because it can price art. No equivalent market prices open-source creative tools. The \$10.9 million that arrived at the Processing Foundation in 2021 came from a temporary speculative bubble in digital art, not from a sustainable market for the tools themselves.
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Peppler and Kafai~\citep{peppler2009creative} argue that creative coding connects art to computing through constructive programming experience---that the tools themselves are pedagogically valuable. Greenberg et al.~\citep{greenberg2012creative} demonstrate this in CS1 classrooms. Soon and Cox~\citep{soon2020aesthetic} build an entire textbook around p5.js as a lens for software studies. The tools matter. But the funding structures of universities are not designed to reward tool-building. Strasser et al.~\citep{strasser2022funding} document ten rules for funding scientific open-source software and note that novelty is a poor metric---maintenance, governance, and community-building matter more, yet they are precisely what funders least want to pay for.
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\section{Administration}
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Both departments offer 4--5 year funding packages for incoming MFA students, currently approximately \$30,000 per year plus tuition (combination of fellowships and TAships). Art's students work in the Leavin studios in Culver City. \dma{}'s students work in the Broad Art Center. The funding level is comparable; the physical infrastructure is not---Leavin's purpose-built facilities are a direct product of the \$20 million gift.
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\section{Implications for \ac{}}
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\section{Discussion}
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The UCLA case is instructive not because it is broken but because it works. Both departments are functional, prestigious, and producing significant scholarship. The Art department's philanthropic model and \dma{}'s grant-based model each sustain a faculty, a student body, and a body of work.
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What neither model addresses is the gap between the tools a department produces and the funding those tools receive. \dma{} faculty have built tools that are cited in hundreds of papers~\citep{reas2006processing}, taught in thousands of classrooms~\citep{greenberg2012creative, peppler2009creative}, and used by millions of people. The tools are the department's most visible contribution to the field. They are also the contribution least reflected in any budget.
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This is not unique to UCLA. Yin et al.~\citep{yin2022oss} find that open-source software sustainability depends on institutional governance structures that most academic departments are not designed to provide. Strasser et al.~\citep{strasser2022funding} argue that funding bodies systematically undervalue maintenance relative to novelty. The result is a structural gap: universities fund faculty, faculty build tools, tools become infrastructure, and no one funds infrastructure maintenance.
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\subsection{The Foundation Governance Crisis}
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In October 2023, Ben Fry---co-creator of Processing---publicly resigned from the Processing Foundation board, stating that the Foundation had spent approximately \$800,000 the previous year with ``\$0 of that going to Processing~4'' development~\citep{fry2023resignation}. He wrote that the project ``deserves better, and needs a better home than the `Processing' Foundation.'' Casey Reas publicly disagreed, stating that Fry had been offered resources and declined them. The three co-founders all departed the board; it was reconstituted with new leadership~\citep{pfboardtransition2023}.
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The details of the dispute are beyond this paper's scope. What matters here is what the crisis reveals about the institutional structure: UCLA had no role in it. The Foundation is not a UCLA entity. When the governance of \dma{}'s most visible software contribution fractured publicly, the university had no mechanism to intervene, mediate, or support. The tools that appear on \dma{}'s website, that are taught in \dma{} classrooms, that define \dma{}'s reputation in the field---these tools are governed by a Brooklyn nonprofit whose internal conflicts are invisible to the school's administration.
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I build \ac{} without any of this. No UCLA salary. No NSF grants. No Processing Foundation reserves. No Margo Leavin writing a \$20 million check. No endowed chair generating perpetual interest. The companion paper~\citep{scudder2026sustainability} documents the full economic history.
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This is the cost of institutional distance. The university benefits from the prestige of Processing and p5.js without bearing responsibility for their governance. When governance works, this arrangement is efficient. When governance breaks down, the university has no fallback.
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The UCLA model shows what institutional shelter looks like at its best: tenured faculty with time to build, research labs with named directors, external grants that fund specific projects, a school-level budget that keeps the lights on. It also shows the fragility: the Processing Foundation's reserves are finite, the grants are time-limited, the initiatives depend on specific people, and the open-source tools that reach the most users are the least funded part of the entire system.
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The question is not whether UCLA should have intervened in the Foundation's governance. It is whether UCLA should develop institutional capacity to support the open-source tools its faculty create---through dedicated funding lines, maintenance fellowships, or governance partnerships---before the next crisis makes the question urgent.
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The question for \ac{} is not ``how do I get a UCLA salary?''---I don't, and probably won't. The question is whether the model that works for Processing and p5.js (invisible academic subsidy + a nonprofit foundation + a one-time crypto windfall) can be replicated, adapted, or replaced by something that doesn't require being a tenured professor at a research university.
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\subsection{Outside the University}
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So far, the answer is: not obviously. But the attempt is the project.
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For projects built outside the university system---like \ac{}~\citep{scudder2026ac, scudder2026os, scudder2026kidlisp}---the question is not how to replicate the UCLA model but whether alternatives exist. The companion paper~\citep{scudder2026sustainability} surveys 28 tool authors and finds that the median gap between a tool's creation and its first sustainable funding is 8 years. UCLA's model fills that gap with faculty salaries. Whether other models can fill it remains open.
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\section{Conclusion}
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UCLA's School of the Arts and Architecture houses two departments that represent two financial logics of contemporary creative practice. Art is funded by the art market---by collectors, gallerists, and philanthropists who participate in a pricing system for objects. \dma{} is funded by research grants, cross-institutional partnerships, and the invisible subsidy of faculty salaries applied to unpaid software work.
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UCLA's \sofa{} houses two departments that represent two financial logics of contemporary creative practice. Art is funded through the art market---collectors, gallerists, and philanthropists who participate in a pricing system for objects~\citep{leavin2016gift, resnickchair2019}. \dma{} is funded through research grants, cross-institutional partnerships~\citep{dmahistory}, and the published scholarship of its faculty~\citep{reas2006processing, vesna2007database, stern2002medieval, lunenfeld2011secretwar}.
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Both models work, in the sense that both departments are functional and prestigious. Neither model funds open-source creative tools directly. Processing exists because Casey Reas has a UCLA salary and donates his own money to the Foundation he co-founded. p5.js exists because Lauren McCarthy has a UCLA salary and spends her evenings maintaining code. The \$10.9 million windfall that temporarily stabilized the Foundation came from a speculative bubble, not a sustainable market.
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Both models sustain serious work. Neither model directly funds the open-source tools that may be the field's most enduring contribution. That gap---between what institutions produce and what institutions fund---is worth studying, not because it represents a failure, but because understanding it is the first step toward closing it.
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The building is beautiful. The hallways are shared. The money flows through different pipes.
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papers/arxiv-whistlegraph/whistlegraph-cards.tex
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papers/arxiv-whistlegraph/whistlegraph-cards.tex
···
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\thispagestyle{empty}
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\vspace*{\fill}
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\begin{center}
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\includegraphics[height=8em]{pals}\par\vspace{0.3em}
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{\acbold\fontsize{20pt}{24pt}\selectfont\color{acdark} Whistlegraph}\par
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\vspace{0.3em}
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{\fontsize{10pt}{12pt}\selectfont\color{acpink} Drawing, Singing, and the Graphic Score as Viral Form}\par
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\vspace{0.8em}
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{\normalsize\color{cyan!70!blue}\textbf{@jeffrey}}\par
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\href{https://papers.aesthetic.computer}{\includegraphics[height=9em]{pals}}\par\vspace{0.1em}
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{\acbold\fontsize{18pt}{22pt}\selectfont\color{acdark} Whistlegraph}\par
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\vspace{0.1em}
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{\fontsize{9pt}{11pt}\selectfont\color{acpink} Drawing, Singing, and the Graphic Score as Viral Form}\par
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\vspace{0.4em}
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{\normalsize\color{cyan!70!blue}\href{https://prompt.ac/@jeffrey}{\textbf{@jeffrey}}}\par
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{\small\color{acgray} Aesthetic.Computer}\par
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{\small\color{acgray} ORCID: \href{https://orcid.org/0009-0007-4460-4913}{0009-0007-4460-4913}}\par
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\vspace{0.8em}
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\rule{0.6\textwidth}{1pt}\par
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\vspace{0.4em}
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{\small\color{acpink!40}\textit{working draft --- not for citation}}\par
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\vspace{0.3em}
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{\footnotesize\color{acgray} March 2026}\par
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\rule{0.5\textwidth}{0.5pt}\par
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\vspace{0.15em}
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\colorbox{yellow!60}{\small\color{red!80!black}\textbf{\textit{working draft --- not for citation}}}\par
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\vspace{0.1em}
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{\footnotesize\color{acgray} March 2026 · \href{https://github.com/whistlegraph/aesthetic-computer/commit/d0a6521c5}{d0a6521c5}}\par
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\end{center}
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\vspace*{\fill}
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···
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``I'm a butterfly. Flapping for you guys. It's just a costume. I put on in my room.'' A hand draws a butterfly on paper while a voice sings these words. Each wing is a line; each line is a lyric; the finished drawing is a score that anyone can perform by tracing the lines and singing the words. The video is 15 seconds long. It was posted on TikTok in early 2020. Millions of people watched it.
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This is a whistlegraph: a memorizable hybrid of drawing, singing, and poetry in which every mark corresponds to a sung syllable, producing a graphic score that is simultaneously artwork, song, and instruction manual for its own reproduction~\citep{dirt2023whistlegraph}. The format was invented by the author in 2019, developed into a trio practice with Alex Freundlich and Camille Klein during the COVID-19 pandemic, scaled to 2.6 million TikTok followers, exhibited at the New Museum and on Feral File, and then---after the trio separated in November 2023---fed directly into the design of \ac{}.
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This is a whistlegraph: a memorizable hybrid of drawing, singing, and poetry in which every mark corresponds to a sung syllable, producing a graphic score that is simultaneously artwork, song, and instruction manual for its own reproduction~\citep{dirt2023whistlegraph}. I invented it in 2019, developed it into a trio practice with Alex Freundlich and Camille Klein during the COVID-19 pandemic, scaled it to 2.6 million TikTok followers, exhibited it at the New Museum and on Feral File, and then---after the trio separated in November 2023---it fed directly into the design of \ac{}.
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This paper is not a retrospective. It is documentation of a form that emerged from the intersection of several practices---Radical Digital Painting~\citep{scudder2017manifesto}, Goodiepal's Radical Computer Music~\citep{goodiepal2012elcamino}, constraint-based art, and short-form social video---and that continues to inform the author's current work. The whistlegraph is the bridge between the author's painting practice and the creative computing platform.
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This paper is not a retrospective. It is documentation of a form that emerged from the intersection of several practices---Radical Digital Painting~\citep{scudder2017manifesto}, Goodiepal's Radical Computer Music~\citep{goodiepal2012elcamino}, constraint-based art, and short-form social video---and that continues to inform my work. The whistlegraph is the bridge between my painting practice and the creative computing platform.
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\section{The Form}
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···
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\subsection{Radical Digital Painting}
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The whistlegraph emerged from the author's Radical Digital Painting (RDP) practice, active since 2016~\citep{scudder2017manifesto}. RDP treated digital painting not as a supplement to traditional painting but as its next material ground: ``Painting is just a kind of picture message.'' Over 65 lecture-performances across the US and Europe---including a 2018 European tour with Goodiepal \& Pals and a presentation at the 35th Chaos Communication Congress~\citep{scudder2018rdp35c3}---developed a format in which painting, speaking, and performing were fused into a single act.
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The whistlegraph emerged from my Radical Digital Painting (RDP) practice, active since 2016~\citep{scudder2017manifesto}. RDP treated digital painting not as a supplement to traditional painting but as its next material ground: ``Painting is just a kind of picture message.'' Over 65 lecture-performances across the US and Europe---including a 2018 European tour with Goodiepal \& Pals and a presentation at the 35th Chaos Communication Congress~\citep{scudder2018rdp35c3}---developed a format in which painting, speaking, and performing were fused into a single act.
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The whistlegraph formalized what the RDP lectures did informally: synchronized the act of making with the act of narrating. Where an RDP lecture was improvised and unrepeatable, a whistlegraph was composed, memorizable, and reproducible. The shift from improvisation to composition---from lecture to score---was the key innovation.
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\subsection{COVID-19 and the Trio}
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In 2020, during the COVID-19 lockdown, the author formed a trio with Alex Freundlich and Camille Klein in a cabin in Ashland, Oregon. The pandemic eliminated the possibility of live performance and lecture tours. TikTok, which had exploded in popularity during lockdown, offered a platform for short-form video that matched the whistlegraph's natural duration.
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In 2020, during the COVID-19 lockdown, I formed a trio with Alex Freundlich and Camille Klein in a cabin in Ashland, Oregon. The pandemic eliminated the possibility of live performance and lecture tours. TikTok, which had exploded in popularity during lockdown, offered a platform for short-form video that matched the whistlegraph's natural duration.
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The trio posted musical drawing tutorials: a hand draws while a voice sings, the camera captures both, and the result is a 15-second video that teaches the viewer to reproduce the whistlegraph themselves. The format was natively suited to TikTok's duet and stitch features, which allowed viewers to perform alongside the original video. The whistlegraph was not just content to be consumed; it was a score to be performed.
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\begin{table}[h]
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\small
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\centering
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\begin{tabularx}{\columnwidth}{Xlr}
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\begin{tabular}{p{0.28\linewidth}p{0.28\linewidth}p{0.28\linewidth}}
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\toprule
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\textbf{Institution} & \textbf{Work} & \textbf{Year} \\
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\midrule
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SMK (Denmark) & Ten Minute Painting & 2018 \\
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Rhizome ArtBase & Permanent accession & 2022 \\
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\bottomrule
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\end{tabularx}
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\end{tabular}
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\caption{Institutional exhibitions and collections.}
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\label{tab:institutions}
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\end{table}
···
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\section{Separation and Continuation}
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In November 2023, the trio separated due to a conflict in future goals. The author took sole access to the group's social media platforms, including the 2.6-million-follower TikTok account. The @whistlegraph handle now posts \ac{} content.
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In November 2023, the trio separated due to a conflict in future goals. I took sole access to the group's social media platforms, including the 2.6-million-follower TikTok account. The @whistlegraph handle now posts \ac{} content.
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The separation ended the trio but not the form. The whistlegraph's core properties---reproducibility, mark-melody correspondence, the graphic score as instruction manual---directly informed the design of \ac{}:
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papers/arxiv-whistlegraph/whistlegraph.tex
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papers/arxiv-whistlegraph/whistlegraph.tex
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papers/cards-convert.mjs
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papers/cards-convert.mjs
···
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"arxiv-ucla-arts": { base: "ucla-arts", title: "Two Departments, One Building", siteName: "ucla-arts-funding-26-arxiv" },
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};
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// Convert tabularx to plain tabular for cards (adjustbox handles the scaling).
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// tabularx resists all runtime patching, but plain tabular wrapped in adjustbox works.
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function convertTabularxToTabular(body) {
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// Replace \begin{tabularx}{...}{colspec} with \begin{tabular}{colspec}
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// Convert X columns to p{0.3\linewidth} for wrapping
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return body.replace(
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/\\begin\{tabularx\}\{[^}]*\}\{([^}]*)\}/g,
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(match, colspec) => {
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// Replace X with p{} columns, keep l/r/c as-is
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const newSpec = colspec.replace(/X/g, "p{0.28\\linewidth}");
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return `\\begin{tabular}{${newSpec}}`;
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}
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).replace(/\\end\{tabularx\}/g, "\\end{tabular}");
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}
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function extractFromTex(content) {
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// Extract pdftitle
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const pdftitleMatch = content.match(/pdftitle\s*=\s*\{([^}]+)\}/);
···
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${abstractCard}% ============================================================
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% BODY
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% ============================================================
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${parsed.mainBody}
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${convertTabularxToTabular(parsed.mainBody)}
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\\end{document}
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`;