As part of the GW Libraries & Academic Innovation LAI Institute, a professional development and learning opportunity for library faculty and staff, OSPO Director David Lippert and LAI Senior Web Developer Max Turer presented a workshop on Open Source Art.
Though inspired by Turer’s open source art project at the GW Open Source Conference (OSCON) in March, 2025 (more on that later!), the team tackled topics of artistic credit and AI use, how to encourage and include artists in open source projects, and the idea of web art as its own medium. Turer, an active digital artist in her own right, provided attendees with a better understanding of the artistic community, and its innate desire to support and learn from each other.
With this understanding, Turer and Lippert argued that the artistic community already has the mindset of open source; building community, uplifting the work of others, acknowledging inspiration, and giving credit are all already vital in the culture of artists. The workshop highlighted a few examples of digital art created through open source practices, such as this piece about mushrooms that pays homage to Wikipedia and this interactive wind site. As attendees began to grasp the scope of open source in art, the workshop pivoted to a hands-on example.
'It seems like some artists, myself included, are considering that the open source ecosystem has big potential to foster a digital DIY scene in a time when small venues and third places keep disappearing both online and offline... I would like more open source developers to consider that they are participating in a digital DIY scene, that what they are doing is creative, and that participating in open source is the perfect opportunity to share knowledge and form community.'
~Max Turer
Senior Web Developer, LAI
For OSCON 2025, Turer created an open source art project that allowed anyone to contribute art to the conference project repo. This simple process resulted in a wonderful visual of different art bouncing around the screen. Turer used github pages combined with the open source project p5.js, an art coding project which enabled her to change color channel settings, add effects, and control the speed of the piece. This interactive open source art project is a fun way to visualize open source contributions and allows anyone to become a contributor, no matter their technological or artistic skill levels.
After discussing the ways open source can enhance art and opportunities for artists to get involved in the world of open source, Lippert and Turer invited workshop attendees to make their first contribution in real time. Participants followed along on their phones or laptops through the basic steps of forking, adding their changes, and creating a pull request to add their own art (doodles, photos, images, etc.) to the project’s repo. Turer presented the active art piece, allowing everyone to see their contributions and fully visualize the project from behind the scenes to the finished product.
Art is for everyone, and so is open source. Lippert and Turer believe combining open source and art will help expand open source communities and make projects more accessible to a wider range of future contributors. Please consider contributing to open source projects and supporting others that do the same, so our society can take control of its future. Fostering curiosity and creativity, and empowering users through collaboration sets us on a powerful path forward.