Aaron's Code: Meta-Art, Artificial Intelligence, and the Work of Harold Cohen

By Pamela McCorduck

Aaron's Code tells the story of the first profound connection between art and computer technology. Here is the work of Harold Cohen - the renowned abstract painter who, at the height of a celebrated career in the late 1960's, abandoned the international scene of museums and galleries and sequestered himself with the most powerful computers he could get his hands on. What emerged from his long years of solitary struggle is an elaborate computer program that makes drawings autonomously, without human intervention - an electronic apprentice and alter ego called Aaron.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0716721732
• ISBN13: 9780716721734
• Release Date: January 1990
• Publisher: W.H. Freeman & Company
• Length: 225 Pages
• Weight: 1.80 lbs.

Customer Reviews

Excellent source of information about Aaron

This is a very good book. McCorduck is an excellent writer (I also recommend her "Machines Who Think") who tackles the fascinating area of AI art. Information about the art-generating program Aaron is hard to come by and this book is the best source I've encountered so far. The history of Harold Cohen is a fascinating read. I would have liked to have seen coverage of more AI art makers, but perhaps Aaron is the only one worth considering. For more on AI art in general, see Boden's "The Creative Mind."Way to go Pamela!