1980
Seymour Papert
Mindstorms articulates constructionism: children learn computation by building things they care about. Source.
Lineage
Generative art did not start yesterday.
A compact timeline for locating this boot camp inside two linked histories: generative art as a creative field, and Creative Computing as a pedagogy for teaching literacy through making.
Creative Computing — the pedagogy
This boot camp continues a 50-year teaching tradition: students become computationally literate by building things they care about. Generative AI is the newest medium in that Creative Computing lineage, not a replacement for it.
1999
John Maeda
Design By Numbers treats code as a design literacy and makes computational form teachable through a compact language. Source.
2001
Casey Reas and Ben Fry
Processing launches as a teaching tool for creative classrooms, opening creative coding to students at many starting points around the world. Source.
2007
Mitchel Resnick and Lifelong Kindergarten
Scratch launches from the MIT Media Lab Lifelong Kindergarten group, extending constructionist creative learning for young people. Source.
2007
Ira Greenberg
Processing: Creative Coding and Computational Art (friends of ED/Apress, 2007) becomes an early book-length introduction to creative coding for artists, designers, and students at any starting point. Ira Greenberg is the instructor of this boot camp and Director of the Center of Creative Computation and Professor at SMU. Book source; SMU role source.
2010s-
Daniel Shiffman
The Nature of Code and The Coding Train make generative computation widely learnable through clear examples and playful experimentation. Source.
2017
Mitchel Resnick
Lifelong Kindergarten names creative learning as projects, passion, peers, and play. Source.
Generative art timeline
1959
Vera Molnár
Begins algorithmic work that later becomes central to computer-generated art. Source.
1968
Cybernetic Serendipity
ICA London exhibition establishes computer-generated art as a major public field. Source.
1968-70
Manfred Mohr
Paris-based plotter and algorithmic work pushes geometric abstraction through computation. Source.
1973-
Harold Cohen
AARON becomes a decades-long artist and AI collaboration. Source.
1999
John Maeda
Design By Numbers makes computational design teachable through a compact language. Source.
2001
Casey Reas and Ben Fry
Processing launches at MIT Media Lab and reframes code as a design medium, with a parallel role as a pedagogy for creative coding. Source.
2010s-
Daniel Shiffman
The Nature of Code and The Coding Train popularize p5.js and algorithmic teaching. Source.
2017-
Refik Anadol
Machine Hallucinations, Living Archive, and Dataland make data-driven AI installation visible at museum scale. Source.
2017-
Memo Akten
Learning to See makes neural perception visible through live camera reinterpretation. Source.
2019
Holly Herndon
PROTO is built with an AI vocal model named Spawn. Source.
2021
Tyler Hobbs
Fidenza demonstrates curated algorithmic variation at public scale. Source.
2021
Sasha Stiles
Technelegy develops poetry with GPT-2/3 collaboration. Source.
2023-
Contemporary field
AI image, code, text, and installation practices broaden across artists, festivals, classrooms, and museums. Source.