Daniel Temkin: Forty-Four Esolangs. The Art of Esoteric Code

What happens when programming languages aim not at functionality and efficiency, but at irritation and reflection, or act like poetry? In his publication »Forty-Four Esolangs: The Art of Esoteric Code«, published in 2025 by The MIT Press, artist Daniel Temkin brings together so-called esoteric programming languages –radical experiments at the limits of what code can be.

Temkin’s esolangs challenge programmers to write code based on music, photography, or sculpture, in the form of prayers to the Greek gods, based on biological, geological, or astronomical processes, or as patterns of empty folders. They can be collaborative or poetic inspirations in the tradition of the Fluxus movement. Temkin thus questions conventional definitions of language, code, and computers and highlights the potential of esolangs as conceptual art.

»Forty-Four Esolangs« raises questions about the relationship between code, human creativity, and artificial intelligence, as well as the usefulness of artistic programming languages. It focuses on the agency, materiality, social contexts, and political dimension of programming languages.

Daniel Temkin will present his publication, released in 2025 by The MIT Press, followed by a discussion.

Daniel Temkin (* 1973, Boston) works with photography and computer art. In 2011, he launched the blog and research project »esoteric.codes«, for which he received a grant from ArtsWriters.org from Creative Capital and the Warhol Foundation, as well as a residency at the New Museum. Temkin has been published in magazines such as »Hyperallergic«, »Leonardo«, and »Digital Humanities Quarterly«. He has been artist-in-residence at Pioneer Works, Harvestworks, and Signal Culture, and has exhibited at the Whitney Museum, Museau do Chiado, Haus der elektronischen Künste, and ZKM, among others.