256B on the C64 for 8K

Abstract

A tiny program for the big screen; a classic computer driving the latest, cinematic display. My contribution to the Art Exhibition for Creativity & Cognition / Design Interactive Systems 2019 is a 256-byte executable for the Commodore 64, written in 6502 assembly, for the auditorium's 8K display. This non-interactive program will produce graphical effects using only the character-based facilities of the Commodore 64's VIC-II and producing sound via the system's SID. I describe its relationship to my practice and concrete poetry, retrocomputing, sizecoding, the demoscene, and platform studies. The program's output is suitable for presentation as a "short" with other short experimental motion pictures/executable artworks or prior to one or more longer works. Bridging the border of time and different eras of computing, the program will be run on an original hardware NTSC Commodore 64 (not in emulation) with the video output upscaled. Keywords: Concrete poetry; visual poetry; non-interactive; demoscene; sizecoding; retrocomputing; Commodore 64; platform studies and practices; computer history