/ Software to Software
An Application Programming Interface (API) constitutes a set of protocols and tools that enable different software applications to communicate, access data, and share functionality efficiently. The conceptual foundations of APIs can be traced as far back as the 1940s, when British computer scientists Maurice Wilkes and David Wheeler programmed the Electronic Delay Storage Automatic Calculator (EDSAC) using discrete command-based instructions such as ‘add’, ‘subtract’, ‘print’, ‘load’, and ‘store’. This early form of programmed interaction prefigures the logic of contemporary web APIs, which operate through commands such as ‘add post’, ‘delete user’, or ‘retrieve data’. Today, APIs are integral to software development, facilitating interoperability and system integration on an unprecedented scale.
From a media-theoretical perspective, this technical layer of interface exemplifies a core characteristic of new media as articulated by Lev Manovich: automation. As Manovich argues, the numerical coding and modular structure of digital media objects allow for the automation of creation, manipulation, and access, thereby permitting the partial or complete removal of human intentionality from the process (Manovich, 2001, p. 53). 7 APIs serve as a solid illustration of this principle, functioning without requiring continuous human intervention—effectively automating interaction between systems.
This automation ethos was already present in early interface design, exemplified by the Xerox Star system developed at the Palo Alto Research Center, which aimed to revolutionise office work through graphical user interfaces and iconic representations (Nake, 2019, p. 39). 1 By clicking on images of printers, documents, or calculators, users could initiate complex operations without memorising command-line syntax, thereby integrating human-computer interaction within a seamless, automated environment.
Conceptually, this automation aligns with Frieder Nake’s notion of the computer as an instrumental medium: an entity that is simultaneously a tool to be used and a medium in which we communicate and represent. As Nake suggests, there is a constant oscillation between functional use and communicative representation inherent to computational systems. Even within artistic and curatorial contexts, such as net.art or software-based works, this instrumental dimension remains present through navigation, interaction, and system functions (e.g., ‘save’, ‘open’, ‘print’). This dual capacity is further embodied in the development of creative software systems such as Harold Cohen’s AARON, an AI-based programme designed to autonomously generate artworks. Cohen, who abandoned his traditional painting practice to develop AARON, treated the software as a collaborative entity capable of translating artistic knowledge into code and machine-executed drawings. AARON’s outputs, whether realised through plotters, screens, or live installations, blur the lines between tool, medium, and author, illustrating how automation embeds computational logic into the very fabric of artistic production and exhibition.
In this light, software-to-software communication, epitomised by APIs, becomes a critical, if often invisible, layer of contemporary interface culture. It not only enables automation on a technical level but also instils a computational logic into human creative and curatorial practices, reframing how art is made, encountered, and understood within digital and physical spaces. The relevance of this principle to my archival project lies precisely in its demonstration of how software systems communicate and automate structure.
In practical terms, I have implemented this logic using the backend architecture of the Wix platform. By utilising its structured data capabilities, specifically, the Wix Content Manager, I defined a dataset for the archival entries. This backend structure then automatically generates the individual pages for each artwork, ensuring they are presented with a consistent visual style and layout. This layer of automation is crucial for efficiently building a substantial archive, particularly for a solo curator-developer managing the entire project. It significantly expands the scale and scope of what a single curator can accomplish, allowing intellectual and creative effort to focus on selection, contextualisation, and narrative rather than on repetitive manual coding. Thus, the archival interface itself becomes a performative instance of the automation inherent in the digital interfacial stack.