This paper discusses the role of models in the development of an interactive artwork made as the result of interdisciplinary collaboration. A variety of different types of model were used, each with different functions and status to the team.

The authors present an introduction to the new interdisciplinary area of aesthetic computing and proceed to define this area with examples from each of their own disciplines, practices and research. While several decades of publication and work have resulted in significant advancements in art as implemented through technology, less emphasis has been placed on studying the converse issue of art's effect on computing, or “aesthetic computing.” The authors present their individual work in this area and then follow with brief criticism of one another's work to elucidate different perspectives on the idea. By approaching the topic of aesthetic computing in this manner, the paper serves as an introduction to and survey and analysis of the field.

This paper focuses on the real-time 3D version of the artificial-life art piece TechnoSphere , a collaborative project by the author, Mark Hurry and Gordon Selley. It begins by positioning TechnoSphere's simulated landscapes in relationship to the English landscape and its tradition in painting and problematizes ideas of “the natural.” The TechnoSphere creatures are evaluated as both artificial wildlife and domesticated animals before the authors consider the relationship between creature and environment. This is followed by a comparison of the Internet and real-time versions of TechnoSphere and concludes by outlining the work-in-progress—a merging of the two systems.