Arf Magna

“Arf Magna” sings the praises of the canine, not the divine, elaborating on the virtues of man’s best friend. The piece is based on the system of Ramón Llull’s Ars Magna, published in 1305 and including a paper wheel, or volvelle, to allow readers to produce different propositions about God by combining sixteen dignities. “Arf Magna” is also a simple, interactive, verbal machine, with Llull’s volvelle unrolled onto an implicit grid on the computer’s screen. As the user moves the mouse horizontally and vertically to produce propositions, colors shift and notes sound. The entire artwork is contained in a single page of HTML and is free/libre/open-source software, offered under a permissive license.