Urbit [1] is a real software effort that many have considered a deliberate performance art.

Beautiful Code [2] is a well-known book that attempts to examine the development of some successful software projects from the perspective of the lead developers, and how they came to design decisions.

Beautiful Architecture [3] is a similar book focusing on large-scale project design.

[1] https://urbit.org/

[2] http://shop.oreilly.com/product/9780596510046.do

[3] http://shop.oreilly.com/product/9780596517984.do

This is a good book, though a few years old now: Beautiful Architecture: Leading Thinkers Reveal the Hidden Beauty in Software Design (http://shop.oreilly.com/product/9780596517984.do) Disclaimer: I'm the lead developer for one of the featured projects (though wasn't at the time).