Comment by cmiles74
4 hours ago
I think this is a stretch, many engineering feats are also been considered works of art. Bridges, homes, office buildings, etc. There is no reason not to consider software code, or the software itself, to be works of art.
Indeed, we have seen many instances of software that are well regarded as being works of art. Is the source code for that software somehow not art?
The 90s demoscene was a fascinating confluence of engineering, art, and informal competition.
If you've ever been to a makerspace, those places tend to be ground 0 for engineering as art.
I would never consider any functional piece of software or its source code art. Something like brainfuck language and programs in it can be art-adjacent to me, but they don't fall under functional.
Some buildings are works of art, but there are plenty that are clearly not. I doubt anyone considers a typical big box store or a commieblock art. To me, all functional software is equivalent to a mass-produced building on art scale.