Dave-LOOKINGOUTWARDS-2
The Stone Spray Project by Petr Novikov, Inder Shergill and Anna Kulik is a robot which generates sculptures from sand. The final products it creates look great, but the process of making them are even more mesmerizing. The way it moves seem almost human, and as it slowly carves out every detail, the sculpture grows out in an organic manner. Using sand as a medium is also intriguing, as I always thought of it as a flowing form instead of a solid state.
However, I do feel that if the robot can also make concrete sculptures rather than just generative forms alone, it would have more appeal to larger groups of people. Also I would have enjoyed a longer footage of the robot working.
Its use of sand as material to make 3D objects by a computer reminded me of Markus Kayser’s Solar Sinter Project, although Kayser melts the sand into glass before using it while The Stone Spray Object mixes the sand with substances to make it stabilize.
Oscillate by Daniel Sierra features threads vibrating to the sound of music. I have become a big fan of visualization, and this piece does it exceptionally well by having perfect sync between what is seen and what is heard, thus creating a powerful engrossing atmosphere. He also kept the animations fresh by having different viewpoints and by generating multiple effects, ranging from those similar to slivers of sand to fading flames. The heavier techno section in the middle of the video I feel is the weakest part, as it takes away the ambient atmosphere generated by the rest of the video. The visualization of music with threads and particles is similar to the lyrics video of Madness by Muse, however Oscillate uses a completely different kind of music and only uses abstract shapes instead of typography.
trailers_anemone by John Carpenter allows the audience to interact with an abstract form projected onto a wall. The movement and shape of the form caught my attention because of its color, its glow, and how it uses threads as much of its shape causes it to look electronic, or at least similar to some type of data visualization. But when it starts to move, it becomes organic, as the threads and lights start swimming in patterns reminiscent of schools of fish. I can just stare at its movements for days. However, the video is a bit short, and does not show all the interactive possibilities I would like to see, and I ended up longing for more details on the project. The lighted up organic forms moving as if though they are swimming is similar to Thatgamecompany’s Flow, although the presentation of Flow is very different from trailers_anemone which allows for more direct human interaction.