What is art? Prior work in this corpus has addressed the question from the receiver's side: art as a neuroplastogen that reshapes cortical connectivity through prediction-error dynamics (WP0081, WP0113), and aesthetic stimuli as compressible forms that afford efficient model-matching in the observing agent (WP0091). This paper attacks the complementary and more fundamental question — what is an agent doing when it makes art? — and argues for a unified KT definition grounded in algorithmic information theory. We propose: art is compressed structured experience, packaged for transmission to self or others. More precisely, an agent A A produces art when its Planning Engine selects actions whose output is a structured artifact X X such that: (i) X X encodes a fragment of A A's Modeling Engine — it is a partial projection of the agent's world model, carrying both compressive structure and a valence signature; (ii) X X is engineered to induce structured experience in a receiver (including the agent itself in the degenerate case of self-directed art); and (iii) the act of encoding is positively valenced for the producer — creation is rewarded when the artifact successfully externalizes an internal model state. This framing dissolves the producer/consumer asymmetry of earlier accounts and unifies them under a single communicative compression act. The definition accommodates the full range from solitary artistic practice (self-packaging) to cultural transmission (other-packaging), and applies equally to biological and algorithmic agents. We connect the account to the emotion tuple E

( Model , Valence , Plan ) E=(Model,Valence,Plan) (WP0085), the Compressible-Form Hypothesis (WP0091), and the plasticity-window account of art reception (WP0081). Implications are drawn for the KT theory of culture, for AI as artist (WP0084, WP0108), and for the design of therapeutic algorithmic-art platforms (ENAKD/Tx).

WP0169 offers the first KT-grounded definition of art from the producer's side. Art is compressed structured experience packaged for self or others: the artist's Planning Engine externalizes a Modeling Engine fragment as a valenced artifact engineered to induce structured experience in a receiver. This unifies the receiver-side accounts of WP0081 and WP0091 under a single communicative compression act, connects to the emotion tuple of WP0085, and opens the question of the algorithmic agent as artist in both biological and AI contexts.

Proposed WP stub Title: The Algorithmic Agent as Artist: Art as Compressed Structured Experience Authors: Francesca Castaldo (lead), Giulio Ruffini Suggested pillar(s): P8 · Art & Science Studio + P4 · Philosophy & Ethics Suggested layer(s): L6 · Brains, L7 · Interacting Agents / Societies Draft Abstract What is art? Prior BCOM work has addressed art from the receiver's side: art as a neuroplastogen (WP0081) and aesthetic stimuli as compressible forms that afford efficient model-matching (WP0091). This paper attacks the complementary question — what is an agent doing when it makes art? — and argues for a unified KT definition. We propose: art is compressed structured experience, packaged for transmission to self or others. More precisely, an agent A A produces art when its Planning Engine selects actions whose output is a structured artifact X X such that: X X encodes a fragment of A A's Modeling Engine — it is a partial projection of the agent's world model, carrying both structure (compressibility) and valence signature. X X is engineered to induce structured experience in a receiver (including the agent itself in the degenerate case of self-directed art). The act of encoding is valenced positively for the producer — creation is rewarded when the artifact successfully externalizes an internal model state. This framing dissolves the producer/consumer asymmetry of earlier accounts and unifies them under a single communicative compression act. It connects naturally to the emotion tuple E

( Model , Valence , Plan ) E=(Model,Valence,Plan) (WP0085), the Compressible-Form Hypothesis (WP0091), and the plasticity-window account (WP0081). We discuss implications for the KT theory of culture, for AI as artist (WP0084, WP0108), and for the design of therapeutic algorithmic-art platforms (ENAKD/Tx). Proposed structure § Title Core move 1 What is art? The question Survey of definitions; why KT should have an answer 2 Art as compressed structured experience Formal definition in KT notation 3 Self-directed vs. other-directed art The packaging target changes the OF term; solitary vs. communicative creation 4 The producer's valence Why making art feels good: externalizing a model fragment as positive-valence act 5 Receiver side: reconnecting to WP0081 & WP0091 How the definition aligns with the receiver accounts already in the corpus 6 The algorithmic agent as artist Instantiation in KT agent architecture: which modules are active? 7 Implications: culture, AI art, therapeutics WP0058 (Darwinian/Lamarckian), WP0084 (agent authorship), ENAKD/Tx Key anchors in the existing corpus WP0081 — art as temporal prediction-error shaper (receiver side) WP0091 — aesthetic affordance as spatial compressibility (receiver side) WP0085 — emotion tuple E E; structured experience formalism WP0074 — structured experience of LLMs (AI-as-artist angle) WP0084 — agent authorship; the question of whether AI can be an artist is already live WP0108 — ALGA Engine; concrete algorithmic-art production machinery