The subject of Warren Sack's talk will be The Software Arts, a book manuscript for the MIT Press "Software Studies" series (forthcoming in February 2019). Sack offers an alternative history of software that traces its roots to the step-by-step descriptions of how things were made in the workshops of eighteenth-century artists and artisans. He illustrates how software was born of a coupling of the liberal arts and the mechanical arts and argues that the arts are at the heart of computing. The Software Arts is an invitation to artists and humanists to see how their ideas are already at the very center of software, and an invitation to computer scientists to envision how they are artists and humanists too.
Warren Sack is a media theorist, software designer, and artist whose work explores theories and designs for online public space and public discussion. He is Chair and Professor of Film + Digital Media at the University of California, Santa Cruz where he teaches digital arts and digital studies.
This event is hosted by NYU's Center for Experimental Humanities and is free and open to the public. Please visit the event webpage for more information.
