The c/c/c studio (code/creativity/culture) is a research group within the School of Computing & School of Cybernetics. Our goal is to create spaces for talking, thinking and making about the way that code (software), creativity (especially the arts) and culture (life) intersect in the modern world.

Why c/c/c?

The fact that code, creativity and culture do intersect is hopefully not controversial in 2023; the challenge is to create opportunities to talk about it that make people care enough to pay attention. Musical livecoding (for examples, check out Ben’s vimeo page or LENS, the ANU laptop ensemble) is one example of the public display (and hopefully discussion) of code, but different intersections will interest different folks, so this is a challenge we need to address from multiple angles.

It’s also really important that we ask the deeper questions about the artefacts that we build, especially as computer scientists—even multi-disciplinary ones. Programmers are writing the rules which govern (literally in some cases) the way that society works, and we’re long past the point where we can say “what people do with this stuff isn’t my problem”. Code, creativity and culture are bleeding into one another more and more, and we’re excited about starting conversations about how it all works and what it means.

The c/c/c studio isn’t for luddites or techno-chauvinists; what we want to do is give everyone a reason to start talking about these code/creativity/culture intersections, and to raise the level of discourse about the opportunities and challenges. Media enquiries are welcome; email media@anu.edu.au and ask to be put in touch with the c/c/c studio within CECS (although you could cc Ben and/or Charles as well).

Learn with us

Members of the c/c/c studio run several courses each year at the ANU focused on creative computing: we teach coding and creative practice together, and these courses are open to computing students as well as any student at the ANU.

If you’re a current ANU student, or will be soon, think about taking either (or both of):

  • COMP1720/6720: Art and Interaction Computing (course website, programs and courses) is a course about creating expressive and interactive art with code. In COMP1720/6720 you’re an artist and your canvas is the web browser with javascript and p5.js.

  • COMP3710/6470: Laptop Ensemble (course website) is a course about creating new musical instruments and performances with computers. You’ll learn about music computing, digital synthesis, algorithmic composition and musical interface design. You’ll work with a ensemble of laptop musicians to compose and perform new music with Pure Data and the live coding system SuperCollider.

If you’re a student in the ACT high-school system going into year 11 in 2023, check out:

  • EXTN1019: ANU Extension Creative Computing (course website, programs and courses) is a two-year ANU Extension course where ACT Year 11 & 12 students learn the fundamentals of computer programming through the creative process of making music and visual art. As well as creating and performing your own new works of code-based art & music, this course contributes towards your ATAR and you receive course credit if you choose to study at ANU.

If you’re a later year undergraduate or coursework master’s students, we can supervise individual research projects. In general our project students have taken either Art and Interaction Computing or Laptop Ensemble (or both) before starting an individual project course. So if you’re early on in your ANU undergraduate degree and want to do an awesome research project with the c/c/c studio later on, you should plan to take one (or both) of those courses—you won’t regret it ☺

The c/c/c studio is always looking for PhD or Master’s research students who have experience in a creative practice and computing and want to push the boundaries of code, creativity and culture. This could be you, so have a look around the website and reach out to one of our group members.

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