The aesthetics of emergence: Co-constructed interactions

In this article, we describe the aesthetics of emergence, which is our theoretical framework for an aesthetics of interaction and the underpinning of LoFi, an interactive A-life artwork that we are developing. We provide a survey of relevant concepts from the A-life and new media research communities, and we establish threads of commonalities with the HCI research community and especially the subset of that community that emphasizes aspects of user experience other than those that are characterized by performance-based measures. We describe and discuss several exemplar A-life artworks that are drawn from the last decade of jury selections of the annual Vida Art and Artificial Life Competition, conducted by Fundación Telefonica. We conclude with a discussion of issues that are common to the A-life and HCI research communities.

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