I hope it is not rude to scribble on other peoples' pages here, but you might be interested in this video:
http:/www.tate.org.ukonlineeventsarchiveharold_cohen/
http:/www.tate.org.ukonlineeventsarchiveharold_cohen/cohen.ramA talk with an artist who successfully gained symbiosis with computing. He didn't mention this explicitly, but Harold reminds me that machines are varied and surround us; yet computer people focus on automating the thinnest subset. When will we catch up with artists and learn to desire a fuller pallette? If we can't express many ideas, what is the point of having them?
Another talk is with Brian Eno, who plays with emergent behavior:
http:/murl.microsoft.comLectureDetails.asp?443
This was influential to me, in that we love emergent behavior in computing; that is one half the magic of machines. Yet some wish to push us towards staying in those safe harbors where only competely understood behaviors exist. Some artists are really helpful when we've lost our way and can't trust others in our fields.
Maps when you lose your way... -TayssirJohnGabbour
I just checked out the first link you sent on Cohen - it was very inspiring. I've seen a couple of artists attempting to use computers to essentially "generate" beautiful things. In particular I've seen AI people try to design houses using particular architectural styles (a la Wright, for instance). Cohen's work is a step beyond, I must say, and sort of lets the mind wander a bit!
The thing that strikes me is that artists can use computers to do beautiful things, but that programmers are stuck using them for boring stuff. Maybe the output of what we do is beautiful, but because there's so much STUFF between the act of programming, and the act of appreciating the output, it seems like the output (or beauty thereof) is hardly the point. Perhaps I have artist-envy. In any case, it seems as though this workshop might be a way to bring beauty to the act of programming. Often sculptures don't end up looking beautiful (conventionally), but regardless, the process itself is quite beautiful just because it's the ultimate man-versus-nature battle. Maybe we can bring forward the aesthetics of that same battle to programming...