As I was watching Casey Reas’ talk, I kept thinking back to the artists we’re talking about in Understanding Interactive Media. His instructions for his art reminded me of Ben Patterson’s ‘Paper Music’ and Sol LeWitt’s ‘Wall Drawing’, both are examples of art where you have a set of instructions, but each performance or art piece differs based on how the artists and performers interpret the instructions. I feel like both these works are also perfect examples of the idea of both order and chaos coming together. Elements of randomness and control are in use at the same time; you have control in the set of instructions, but you also have randomness in the way the performer will interpret these rules. Works like this make me think that a balance is essential, but what the ratio between order and chaos is rather vague. I believe it depends on the work, so the optimal balance shouldn’t be generalized, but on a case-by-case basis. You have works like Jean Arp’s collages, which are based on the law of chance, which I would say rely mostly on randomness. I don’t believe control would make much sense there.
On the other hand, if I think of my most recent work for this week’s task, I would say randomization would make it better. I could randomize the different colors of the design on the coffee cup, but I’d need to control the color combinations and the colors to choose from. So this would be an example of where control is necessary while also maintaining an element of randomness. Ultimately, I think the amount of chaos and order that goes into one’s work depends on their intention with the work and what experience they want the watcher to have.