Talk / Atrium · E14, 3rd floor
Recho: A Lighter Way to Code with Creativity
With Bairui Su@subairui24
AtriumE14, 3rd floor · MIT Media Lab
Why do we still code when AI can generate code for us? Through Recho, a free, open-source reactive editor for algorithms and ASCII art, I’ll reflect on coding and toolmaking as ways to learn, explore ideas, and develop a personal creative practice.
Recho—short for “Reactive Echo”—echoes results directly inside the editor as comments, making computation visible in place. Through live demos of ASCII animations, text-based shaders, and interactive sketches, I’ll show how this immediate feedback can invite experimentation and make programming more approachable and fun. I’ll also share what building Recho taught me about learning through making tools, and invite a conversation about hands-on coding in the age of AI.
Recho was presented as a poster at CHI 2026 and has been accepted as a full paper at UIST 2026.
About the presenter
Bairui Su is a Chinese creative toolmaker, digital artist, programmer, and researcher based in New York City. Bairui originally trained in computer science, which led to a career in data visualization at Ant Group as a software engineer, where he led the development of AntV G2 5.0, an open-source framework for authoring interactive visualizations.
He later studied at New York University's Interactive Telecommunications Program, shifting his practice toward creative coding, experimental interfaces, and human-computer interaction. He is currently an ITP/IMA Post-Doctoral Fellow at NYU.