Software engineering for and with artists

Abstract

The article presents ImproSculpt -a live performance instrument for algorithmic composition and improvised audio manipulation. A custom version of the software has been used within several interactive art installations, one of which (i.e. Flyndre) will be described. Besides the software characteristics and usage modes we present and discuss the software engineering challenges, problems and lessons learned during the development of ImproSculpt. Several methodologies were used in the case study: observing the project through its life cycle; analyzing the software and its documentation; questionnaire with the artist who is also the main developer; two software engineering interventions. The support of high performance, easy modifiability and availability were found to be particularly important. The development of a modular architecture has been identified as a way to satisfy some of the non-functional quality attributes of the software that appeared with the growth of the project. Furthermore, ImproSculpt has been published as open source software in order to increase access to wider public and stimulate input from interested community -software developers and artists.

Information Technology and Art: Concepts and State of the Practice

“…Flyndre [56] is an interactive art installation. It has an interactive sound system that has the artistic goal to reflect the nature around the sculpture.…”

“…Besides, utilization of wiki and Concurrent Versioning System (CVS) introduced by the software engineers was found to be very useful by the artist. A summary of these activities is published in [56].…”