#1389: Interactive Mosaics: Youth Creative Computing with ArtAlgo

Interactive Mosaics presents a collection of algorithmic artworks created by rural middle school students using ArtAlgo, a creative computing platform that pairs p5.js coding with Aiko, a conversational AI design partner. Over six workshop sessions, students explored color as a computational medium, transforming HEX values and palette generation into deliberate artistic choices. They built interactive mosaics that respond to touch, sound, and motion through Makey Makey physical computing kits, bridging digital abstractions with tangible, embodied experience. Aiko supported students only when asked, preserving their creative agency while offering responsive scaffolding around color, mood, and structure. The resulting works illustrate how computational thinking and creativity develop together when young people use code as an expressive medium. This collection invites viewers to consider how purposeful human-AI partnership and community-centered design can make computational expression accessible and personally meaningful for youth in under-resourced settings.