Cultivating curiosity in creative coding with Matthew Ragan

Cultivating curiosity in creative coding with Matthew Ragan

Update: 2025-09-26
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Description

In this podcast you will learn why curiosity matters more than technical skill.  

In this interview, Matthew Ragan explores coding as a practice of sculpting and rehearsal, showing how collaboration with technology leads to more fluid and sustainable creative outcomes.Matthew Ragan is a California-based creative technologist, educator, and co-founder of SudoMagic. He has an MFA in interdisciplinary digital media and performance. His TouchDesigner tutorials are used by creatives worldwide.

Listen to this podcast to learn about:

  • Why curiosity and patience matter more than technical skill in creative coding
  • What Matthew Ragan’s circus training revealed about working with technology as a collaborator rather than an obstacle.
  • Why “slow coding” offers a sustainable counterbalance to the culture of instant results.

Chapters

(00:00:00 ) Introduction and host's acknowledgment

(00:00:48 ) Guest introduction: Matthew Ragan

(00:01:15 ) The importance of curiosity in creative coding

(00:02:31 ) Exploring noise algorithms and sculpting

(00:05:08 ) Lessons from circus performance to coding

(00:07:17 ) Balancing creative and commercial projects

(00:09:15 ) Matthew's journey into coding

(00:22:03 ) Choosing the right tools and languages

(00:24:03 ) Advice for newcomers and final thoughts

(00:30:55 ) Conclusion and call to action


About Matthew Ragan

Matthew Ragan is a California-based creative technologist, educator, and artist whose work bridges performance and technology. With a background in acting, dance, and circus arts, he brings embodied lessons of rehearsal and collaboration into his creative coding practice. He has shaped a generation of artists through his widely used TouchDesigner tutorials, and professionally he has led large-scale projects at Obscura Digital and the Madison Square Garden Company, including Art on theMart and the MSG Sphere. He is the co-founder of SudoMagic, a boutique software and design studio.

Links from the podcast with Matthew Ragan

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Cultivating curiosity in creative coding with Matthew Ragan

Cultivating curiosity in creative coding with Matthew Ragan

Robin Petterd