Some remarks on aesthetics and computer science

Abstract

In this work, resorting to a literature review, we walk through the points of contact between two apparently far and distinct disciplines, computer science and aesthetics, with the aim of showing how one may instead provide theoret-ical grounding and new exciting research problems to the other and vice versa. Computer science, in fact, has evolved from being the discipline concerned with the design and implementation of hardware and software components, exclu-sively meant for the execution of computing tasks, to a multifaceted area of science which deals with information systems at large, including the study of the interfaces and algorithms capable of extending/interacting with the hu-man senses, perceptions and brain capabilities. Aesthetics, on the other hand, provides a well-established framework which may very well serve the purpose of analysing and discussing the existing and rising relationships among human beings, computer systems and the physical environment.