Regularity

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As an aesthetic work, 10 PRINT operates across many layers. When looking at images of the program's visual output of the program, the focus is clearly on the maze-like pattern that is created by combining the regularity of a uniform grid with randomly selected diagonal lines. The motion, however, is of equal or more importance. The fact that the pattern builds and the speed at which this occurs are essential. Beyond the motion, it's essential that 10 PRINT is software. It's not constrained to a static representation or even to a pre-recorded beginning and end like a film or video work. Each visual element of the program is calculated while the program runs; it is a generative real time work that is performed by the C64.

When we look back at the history of the arts in the decades that precede 10 PRINT, relevant works springs to mind. It's interesting that these works are found across many fields including painting, sculpture, sound composition, video art, performance, experimental animation, and dance. Remarkably, many of the strongest references date from the decade prior to the arrival of 10 PRINT. This chapter focuses on aesthetic precedent related to the grid and rhythmic process, while the origin of random (chance) operations is discussed in chapter ??.

We need only remove one character from 10 PRINT to reveal how essential the grid is to its power:

10 PRINT CHR$(205.5+RND(1)) : GOTO 10

[Insert image]

As a vertical string of lines, the maze is not formed and the maze structure that encourages our eyes to dance about the surface to search for a path through is not established.

As mentioned on page ??, the grid revealed through 10 PRINT is not inherent in the program, it's an artifact of the defaults of the C64. Counter to the visual result, the output of 10 PRINT is linear, a one-dimensional stream of diagonal lines that is forced to wrap when there's no room left on screen. After the fortieth character is printed to the screen, the next line is forced to start one line down.