Algorithms and Action

is a nondiegetic machine act, of the kind Galloway refers to as a "disabling act." An interruption and disruption to the flow--and in this case, endless looping--of the program, the disabling act has the power to "define the outer boundaries of aesthetics" and is "the degree zero for the entire medium" (31).

is a nondiegetic machine act, of the kind Galloway refers to as a "disabling act." An interruption and disruption to the flow--and in this case, endless looping--of the program, the disabling act has the power to "define the outer boundaries of aesthetics" and is "the degree zero for the entire medium" (31).

Looking at 10 Print through Galloway's model makes one thing absolutely clear: there is no dromenon. There is no way to "play" the maze while the program is running. This fact has a number of implications, most notably is a radical failure of the ideology of the screen described earlier. Alongside this screenocentric logic another myth of modern computing falls away: interactivity. Or rather, interactivity--the feedback loop between human and machine--isn’t where one would expect to find it. It’s not in the playing of the game, the solving of the maze, it’s in the coding of the program, it’s latent in the beckoning flash of the command line cursor.

Looking at 10 Print through Galloway's model makes one thing absolutely clear: there is no dromenon. There is no way to "play" the maze while the program is running. This fact has a number of implications, most notably is a radical failure of the ideology of the screen described earlier. Alongside this screenocentric logic another myth of modern computing falls away: interactivity. Or rather, interactivity--the feedback loop between human and machine--isn’t where one would expect to find it. It’s not in the playing of the game, the solving of the maze, it’s in the coding of the program, it’s latent in the beckoning flash of the command line cursor.