ArtTech

Sandbox: Protocol Play

In the sandbox metaphor we begin to see an overlap between ways of talking about technology and ways of talking about art. As both a teacher and an artist I’d argue that these overlapping conversations are important clues about doing art and technology, too.

For technologists the notion of sandbox means a place where users can experiment or explore various aspects of some program or the code underneath it without worrying that they’ll screw up a week’s worth of work. Some coders use the word “playground” to mean the nearly the same thing, as in this example from a css3 generator.

Another use of the word refers to a type of application or game that has a gentle learning curve and a forgiving set of rules, so that even complete novices will have a good time exploring the environment. For example, on the wiki maintained by Giant Bomb, a forum for game discussions, key sandbox attributes are described as open mode and open world, which refer to the attitude a gamer might adopt when deciding to play a sandbox game (as compared to a competitive high-stakes game, where an mode of intense stress and fierce concentration might be more appropriate). The programming language Scratch is sometimes referred to as a sandbox environment because it has a low floor (i.e., it’s easy to enter) and high ceilings (i.e., it has nearly unlimited potential for growth).

For an artist these concepts around the sandbox metaphor resonate accurately. In the studio the goal is precisely to play and explore in a free and open environment. This is where the material and cultural protocol, the rules of behavior, can be poked and prodded and pulled apart, torn to shreds, pasted back together, bent and folded, burnt, blown up or buried. The purpose of all this random destruction, of course, is to test the limits of the conversation, and to keep talking until something that you didn't know you knew how to do emerges.

In the sandbox, we are open to a feeling of possibility and experiment, open to play. But not open to just anything, because there are rules here too—for instance, don’t throw sand. That is, the reason the metaphor of the sandbox resonates so strongly is because there are real sandboxes where kids (and their parents) learn valuable lessons about how protocol works. In fact, it’s often in the sandbox (studio) that we first learn to see those rules, their reason for being, and their limits — all of which sets us on the path toward making those rules available as material for more play and conversation.

This work by Jasper Johns, Three Flags, 1958, is an example of this process of protocol play and material exploration. With a little Google image digging we can easily get a glimpse at the multitude of variations he explored during this time period. This is a key idea for our work as technologists today — the process is a reward in itself, and the successful remix is the urge to just keep going.

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