Live coding deautomatizes algorithmic processes for audiences by making the generating code visible

Shklovsky’s ostranenie (‘defamiliarization’) describes how art makes automated perceptions conscious again — describing the familiar as if encountering it for the first time. Wieser applies this to live coding: projecting source code during performance deautomatizes the otherwise invisible algorithmic process. Audiences typically experience computer-generated music without any access to its procedural origins; code projection restores that access, making the generative act visible and estranging the familiar digital sound. This connects TOPLAP’s manifesto emphasis on transparency to a broader aesthetic tradition.

Examples

An algorave projection showing TidalCycles code makes the connection between text and sound explicit. The audience can watch the artist type and hear the result — deautomatizing both the code and the music.

Assessment

Explain Shklovsky’s defamiliarization concept and describe how projecting live code during an algorave set implements it. What would be lost if the code were hidden?