John Maeda: Interview Excerpts from CLOUDS (2014)
Channel: The Frank-Ratchye STUDIO for Creative Inquiry
Date: 2023-04-05

This video presents excerpts of raw interview footage from CLOUDS (2014). Directed by Jae Minard and James George, CLOUDS is an interactive, generative, computational documentary that allows the viewer to explore different perspectives on the intersection of code and culture. Filmed using the RGBD 3D cinema format and created entirely with open-source software, CLOUDS uses a data-driven story engine to present an endless, ever-changing conversation about the role of computational thinking in contemporary arts and design. More information is at cloudsdocumentary.com.

John Maeda (@johnmaeda) led one of the first research groups for computational art at the MIT Media Lab, and is a founding voice for simplicity in the digital age. His programming language, Design by Numbers, was the inspiration for Processing, an open source library invented by his students Casey Reas and Ben Fry during their time at the Media Lab. In 2008, Maeda became President of the Rhode Island School of Design (RISD). [2014 Biography]

00:05 1. technology is made by people
00:50 2. do not resuscitate
01:07 3. thinking about interfaces
01:51 4. playful systems
02:44 5. reactive square
03:20 6. subversion
03:59 7. Inexactitude
04:23 8. Digital meets analog
04:38 9. People
05:06 10. simplicity and complexity
05:32 11. How do computers help us to visualize information?
05:46 12. people are best communicators
06:16 13. Kill the master
06:43 14. last trick
07:36 15. self expression
07:55 16. lost interest in interactivity
08:22 17. Isn't it supposed to be new?
08:54 18. Aesthetics and Computation group
09:32 19. not a big deal
09:51 20. Design by Numbers
10:31 21. Processing
11:11 22. Batman superman
11:50 23. Processing toolkit
12:22 24. ACU part 1
12:33 25. ACU p 2
13:07 26. sharing for collective advancement
13:33 27. passing the baton
13:48 28. mentors
14:12 29. Forever
15:10 30. Glad to be alive
15:23 31. Life in four quarters
16:13 32. I can still draw
16:19 33. How do I balance these personas?
16:48 34. How do you relate to people?
17:31 35. distraction and focus
18:20 36. Design in the foreground
18:44 37. Art is asking questions, design is making solutions
18:51 38. Digital divide
19:44 39. New media
20:05 40. old and new
21:09 41. Digital media evolving
21:15 42. People you're meeting
21:32 43. own the tool
22:38 44. Artist coders coder artists
22:49 45. Constraints
22:59 46. Processing community
23:12 47. applying design to leadership
23:33 48. post digital
23:56 49. All about the why?
24:07 50. Slurpies and pizza
24:34 51. Clouds
24:56 52. recording appalachian music
25:56 53. Coding for humanity

Directors: Jae Minard and James George
Executive Producer: Golan Levin (CMU)
Producer: Winslow Porter
Design Director: Bradley G Munkowitz