Method of iterating – Written Response

Draft 01

What’s unexpected about this thing you just made?

While working in TouchDesigner, I experienced a striking sense of “loss of control.” Unlike Adobe software, where I am accustomed to precisely manipulating outcomes, TouchDesigner required me to collaborate with algorithms, adjusting parameters iteratively to approximate the weathering process of stone inscriptions. This unpredictability, while challenging, offered new creative opportunities.

What do you understand better or differently about your tool or medium now?

TouchDesigner excels at simulating dynamic, random processes. I realized it favors outcomes that evolve organically rather than those crafted with precision, making it uniquely suited for mimicking natural decay.

Did it pose a particular technical challenge?

Balancing randomness with intentionality was a key difficulty. Ensuring that the procedural effects mirrored realistic erosion required experimentation and refinement.

What kind of output or knowledge does this tool or medium favor?

TouchDesigner favors structured, controlled, and highly precise outputs. Its node-based workflow relies on defined parameters and logical connections, ensuring predictable and consistent results.

What relationship does it have to graphic or communication design?

TouchDesigner shifts graphic design from static visuals to adaptive, real-time systems. It enhances storytelling and engagement by introducing interaction and unpredictability into the design process.

To do list – Plan A

Proposal for Iterative Experiment

For the next phase, I aim to critically examine and subvert the conventional use of TouchDesigner’s TOP (Texture Operators), which are typically used for GPU-based compositing and real-time image manipulation. My goal is to ‘hack’ these operators to simulate the transformation and destruction of a specific character, “伪,” by iteratively experimenting with its appearance over time and through interaction.

Systematic Iterations

I will produce a series of iterations (at least 10 to 20 initially) to track the character’s transformation. Each step will involve adjusting parameters to amplify the effects of decay and unpredictability, creating a temporal narrative of visual destruction.

Interactive Experimentation

In the later stages of the iteration, I will incorporate interactivity using TouchDesigner’s CHOPs (Channel Operators) to introduce external input, such as keyboard interaction. This will allow the audience or myself to directly engage with the character, dynamically altering its appearance in real-time and further disrupting its form. This interactive layer subverts the static nature of traditional image manipulation, making the process more immersive and unpredictable.

Critical Enquiry and Reflection

This iterative process seeks to interrogate the boundaries of TouchDesigner’s functionality, shifting it from a tool for image manipulation to a medium for exploring temporality, destruction, and interaction. It also questions how digital tools reshape our understanding of textual permanence and the evolving nature of meaning over time.

To do list – Plan B

Transform TouchDesigner into a Typography Tool

1. Experiment with using TOPs to simulate static typography layouts.

2. Explore how text and images can be combined and layered for visual composition.

3. Develop a grid system using TOPs to assist with alignment and organization.

4. Introduce randomness or variation into typography through noise and distortions.

5. Create a series of static typographic layouts as outputs.

6. Iterate on the layouts to refine and document the process.

Draft 02

Introduction

Inspired by a reference work that applies glitch art to medieval scripts, I explored how to use TouchDesigner’s TOP components to simulate the weathering and transformation of the Chinese character “伪” through iterative experimentation. Drawing on Pierre Nora’s “lieux de mémoire” (sites of memory) theory, I investigated how digital tools can act as both preservers and re-creators of cultural memory. Nora (1989) suggests that societies transition from collective memory to recorded history through specific media, such as monuments and archives, which both preserve and reshape cultural memory. Notably, the process of preservation also reconstructs memory, altering its original meaning.

Experiment

TouchDesigner, designed for real-time interaction, was repurposed in this experiment as a static recorder of digital weathering. I used it to capture unpredictable transformations over time. What disappears? What remains? What new forms emerge? Following the approach outlined in the Conditional Design workbook (Maurer et al. 2013), I established a set of constraints for the iteration process, as “To work with a plan that is preset is one way of avoiding subjectivity” (Maurer et al. 2013, p.iii).

The experiment was structured with the following constraints: only the Chinese character “伪” was used as input; exclusively TOP components in TouchDesigner were utilized (except for essential keyboard inputs for refreshing); and the character could not be rotated, scaled, or resized.

Contour Expansion: I outlined and disrupted the character’s contour, observing how its edges expanded and layered, creating a cracking effect. The original form persisted, reflecting a “memory of structure” despite distortion.

Adding Context: By incorporating a textured background resembling stone, I aimed to create a narrative of erosion and permanence.

Complete Destruction: Building on this, I fully broke the contour, rendering the character unrecognizable.

Abstract Initial Shapes: I experimented with showing only a rough shape of the character, omitting precise contours and letting it decay further.

Interactive Disruption: Introducing keyboard input, I enabled users to manually trigger the destruction of the image. However, the process quickly became static after repeated interactions, leading me to revert to earlier iterations.

Dynamic Noise Iteration: I adjusted a single noise parameter to accelerate random distortions. Initially, the image remained intact, but it eventually degraded completely. This randomness puzzled me, as identical parameters produced unique results. To capture this unpredictability, I paused the dynamic process every 30 seconds to record static images.

Slowing the Process: Reducing the speed and intensity of two noise components resulted in finer textures and more scattered edges, emphasizing subtle details in the decay.

Blur Parameter Exploration: Adjusting blur parameters enhanced edge layering, gradually transforming the visual texture from stone-like to water-like.

Extreme Parameter Combinations: Maximizing the settings for blur transformed the image into sharp, jagged fragments.

Under the constraints, I randomly adjusted the parameters of the Blurred and Noise components and documented the changes in the shapes.

At the end of the iterations, I analyzed the images and noticed that some resembled Latin letters. By repeatedly refreshing and observing the process, I curated a set of outputs resembling an alphabet.

Critical Reflection

This iterative process explores how digital erosion can offer new perspectives on cultural heritage, making long-term decay perceptible within a compressed timeline. As Maurer et al. (2013, p.iv) states, “modern design born in the age of mechanical reproduction […] has been nothing if not an exercise in communicating intentions” through predefined frameworks. Rather than manually crafting outcomes, I hacked TouchDesigner to function as an autonomous system, allowing iteration to dictate form while I became an observer. Instead of simply preserving an artifact, this process reveals what disappears, what remains, and what emerges through erosion, shifting the focus from documentation to transformation. By embedding randomness within a structured system, TouchDesigner becomes an active agent in memory reconstruction, challenging authorship and questioning whether iteration itself reshapes how we perceive cultural change.

Reference

Maurer, L., Edo Paulus, Puckey, J. and Roel Wouters (2013). Conditional design workbook. Amsterdam: Valiz.

Nora, P. (1989) ‘Between Memory and History: Les Lieux de Mémoire’, Representations, 26, pp. 7–24. University of California Press. ‌

Draft 03

Inquiry

In my previous iterations, I emphasized that digital tools are not merely cultural “storage devices” but active agents in reinterpreting and reconstructing memory. By following pre-defined constraints rather than subjective choice, they construct an alternative framework for shaping memory—one that appears neutral yet remains influenced by its constraints.

Pierre Nora (1989, p.13) argues that “Modern memory is, above all, archival. It relies entirely on the materiality of the trace, the immediacy of the recording, the visibility of the image.” Instead of treating cultural heritage solely as an archival record, this experiment subjects it to repeated cycles of digital deterioration, simulating physical decay in the real world. Each iteration alters the artifact in unpredictable ways, prompting the question: how does this continuous transformation shape contemporary perceptions of heritage and memory?

Methodology

To explore how digital media shapes the perception and preservation of cultural heritage—particularly inscribed stone texts, I analyzed how we recall text carved in physical materials. The memory of such inscriptions functions on three levels: we visually recognize the carved text, associate it with its pronunciation, and interpret its meaning within its historical and cultural context.

Inspired by Queneau’s (1998) experiments with linguistic and narrative variations in shaping perception, this project investigates how shifts in sensory dimensions (visual, auditory, and semantic memory) reshape memory in a digital context.

Iterations followed predefined rules, using only the character “伪” as input and TOP components as output, with no alterations to size or rotation.

Visual Dimension

I recorded digital weathering, fragmented the results into 3×3 grids, and reassembled them in TouchDesigner. This process constructs visual memory, examining whether the emergence of new forms through decay distorts our recollection of the original text and whether consistent fragments can serve as anchors for reconstruction.

Auditory Dimension

I mapped textual erosion onto the pronunciation of “伪” allowing decay to distort its pitch and tone. The altered sounds were then analyzed in TouchDesigner, producing geometric shapes that represent the extent of erosion, turning sonic decay into a visual system.

Semantic Dimension

Instead of allowing the character “伪” to erode, I replaced its form with semantic content, preserving meaning beyond its shape. This process questions whether cultural memory can persist through interpretation alone, without relying on physical representation.

Critical Reflection

This project challenges the notion that digital preservation is about maintaining an artifact’s original state. Here, iteration itself becomes the act of memory reconstruction, where each cycle of erosion and reinterpretation reshapes what is remembered and what is lost. Rather than erasing meaning, destruction generates new forms of cultural continuity.

As Maurer et al. (2013, p.v) state, “Contemporary designers make tools that enable others to use design, they create systems to engage the intrinsic complexity of technology and life.” Rather than simply using TouchDesigner as a visualization tool, I hacked its functionality, repurposing it as a system for recording and iterating decay. Instead of refining visuals, I introduced unpredictable disruptions, revealing how digital tools actively mediate memory rather than passively preserving it. If iteration continuously reshapes what is preserved, can digital archiving ever be neutral?

Iteration here is not about refining a fixed outcome but a process of ongoing reinterpretation. By embracing hacking as a way of challenging the tool’s intended purpose, this project repositions TouchDesigner not as a tool of control, but as an agent of cultural evolution.

Reference

Nora, P. (1989) ‘Between Memory and History: Les Lieux de Mémoire’, Representations, 26, pp. 7–24. University of California Press.

Queneau, Raymond, (1998) Exercises in style, London: John Calder [1947] 1998

Maurer, L., Edo Paulus, Puckey, J. and Roel Wouters (2013). Conditional design workbook. Amsterdam: Valiz.

Written Response and First Attempt at Iterative Media