Maddy-Looking Outwards + Sketches
LOOKING OUTWARDS
01. Elektrobiblioteka / Electrolibrary
An electronic book! The video makes the creation process look so INTENSE and DRAMATIC, look at the those arduino code closeups, wow, computers. This was somewhat disappointing in that the book was mainly used as just an HID for the actual program, which was on a computer. I’d love to see a book that is wireless + interactive. (another book spinoff is this circuit sketchbook)
02. Input / Output Paper
More of a tech demonstration than an art piece, input/output paper is a set of two sheets of paper. Fold one and the other mimics its movements. The actuated paper can be made to move, like a tiny paper creature. Adorable! I find memory wire really fascinating and would love to play with that + paper (which is such a flexible medium).
03. Sticker Circuits
This recently launched project on Crowd Supply is a toolkit of stickers that are conductive and can be used as part of electronics projects on non-traditional surfaces like paper, fabric, and even your wall! I know people have been making snap-together electronics kits for a while in a variety of forms, but I think that this more crafts-oriented approach to electronics is more engaging for people who may not be interested in electronics otherwise or find them unapproachable. I like the idea of creating tools with a pedagogical purpose.
IDEAS
01. Origami Robots
I’d like to use muscle wire and small microcontrollers to create self-sustaining origami robots that wander around. I would connect the wire from the bottom of each leg to a point above on the body/head that would create a right angle so I could have each leg “shuffle” forward based on the shrinking/expansion of the wire. I’d like to add simple sensors like a light sensor to enable line following or some sort of other navigation. For microcontrollers I’d use one of the ATtinys for lightweight control, and for power I’d either use a really light battery (think 3V coin cell) or a larger battery that has longer wires (so the creature is tethered but free to move about).
02. Circuit Graffiti Cookbook
A short book that details techniques and schematics for sticker circuits. I’d like to embed a battery in the back cover of the book and actually have demonstrations for things within the book. I could have a internet complement to it which could allow me to upload sketches/schematic files so people could then download them and use them to their own advantage.
bonus. SpaceTime Radio
I’ve been to a couple of artist talks on sound art in the recent past and i’m really fascinated by this genre of soundwalks, where you walk around with a device and it plays sounds based on your GPS location. I think it would be interesting to create a radio (I say radio because I’ve been manufacturing various radio design for a concept studio project, my life is currently fake radios and coding) that only plays when it’s placed in a certain location at a certain time. I’m fascinated with the idea of ritual and cargo cult, esp. in a modern era where there’s often very little understanding of objects we depend on every day (e.g. our cellphones!). The radio would be paired with either vague or nonexistent instructions for spacetime placement, forcing the user to wander and rely on the radio itself for knowledge.