Assignment-02-Lewitt

Drawing this was frustrating. Or, if frustration is too strong a word, then perhaps my senses were dominated by irritation that rendering this drawing is arduous and repetitive yet somehow still challenging. In fact, this brings me right down to the reason we write code. We invented computers to do long, boring calculations for us, and to do them faster than we ever could. We invented them to be accurate and to eliminate human error. This was more evident than ever when trying to execute Sol LeWitt’s “code”: one could choose to either act like Python and try to execute each instruction or set of instructions as they were encountered, or one could try to put brackets around the various sets of instructions to try and make sense of them. I am sure I made a mistake, as it is very easy to do. On the other hand, I am sure that for this particular piece there is “correct” way to complete it. The instructions were very precise, measurements were proportionally exact, and the only room for error was human error. Again, I find this frustration, and again, this is why we use computers. “Quadrangle” could well be a code but lacks a compiler able to run it methodically, and as humans fail to fit into such a category, the code is for all intents and purposes useless (unless the purpose is conceptual, as in to point out how humans differ in terms of thinking style etc.). This is the beauty of programming: a compiler will produce consistent, reliable results with preprogrammed outcomes. As humans, thinking different ways and finding different interpretations is enjoyable – and this is why we invented machines.

02-01

Interpreting Lewitt’s Quadrangle

Lewitt Drawing

Drawing Lewitt’s quadrangle was a struggle. After reading and rereading the instructions, I ended up typing them out word for word in a text editor, then breaking them up using operator words (“a point halfway between”, “and”, etc.) and indentation/whitespace. That alone wasn’t enough; in the end, I needed a more succinct way to represent any point on the screen, so I created a grid ranging from (-2, -2) to (2, 2) and started referring to points that way. That helped immensely (hence the title of this post.)

Lewitt’s drawing instructions are code, I think, strange as it is. It is a code using English syntax rather than that the syntax of a programming language, but it is precisely describing a set of actions to execute in a very code-like way. That said, one long English sentence is not a nice coding language to work with. Turning it into pseudocode seemed to be the only way to deal with it. I guess that’s an interesting part; to execute code, as a human, I have to turn it into pseudocode (higher level), while a computer would have to translate something lower level.

Lewitt Pseudocode

Rectification

Test Subject Uno Test Subject Uno
  1. Fold the page into two and crease. The fold can be diagonal. Unfold the page.
  2. Draw a rectangle of any size such that only one point touches the crease.
  3. Repeat. In the case that another rectangle will overlap another rectangle, do not cross your line over the other rectangle. Instead, pass over it and continue drawing on the outside of the rectangle.
  4. If your rectangle makes an acute angle with another rectangle, “shade” in between the rectangles with lines that touch both rectangles.
  5. End when you think the crease is covered.
So here was my take on my own instructions…

 

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When I first wrote these instructions, I knew there would be some confusion over rules 3 and 4. However, my hope was that the parts with the most confusion would provide the most insight about the individual artists. So on my quest to find some test subjects, I found very different people–all non-art majors.

One thing that surprised me was that most people refused to fold their paper diagonally. They just liked hamburger or hotdog style. I was also surprised that the definition of “shading” translated directly into “close scribbles” for most people. That was probably a vague word to use in my instructions. I was happy when one person started to think that they were drawing something cool. But most people were a little too focused on making perfect rectangles or following the instructions without any fun. If I could redo this whole project, I would want to make sure the artist is having fun when following instructions and not worrying about “getting things right”.

Test Subject Dos

Test Subject Tres

 

Test Subject Cuatro

Circle Games [Instructional Drawing]

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I originally intended to use arbitrary numbers picked by the artist at the beginning of the instructions, but felt that referring back to the numbers was too complicated. Were I to rewrite my instructions, I’d have them generate variables at the beginning as I originally intended.

 

ems2-instr-003I was a bit worried when I received my first drawing. I had intended for circle packing to occur within one, larger circle, but this person clearly did not interpret the instructions that way!

ems2-instr-002This was most in line with what I had envisioned a completed drawing to be. I was intrigued by the fact that this artist decided to created shapes as opposed to nets with the straight lined option.

ems2-instr-001

 

I felt bad for this artist, she spent a long time creating very small circles, only to find that she had to fill them in! Preventing the artists from seeing the future steps led to more interesting circle packing shapes, of which I’m pleased with. Overall the instructions created three very different pieces, while still maintaining a common aesthetic.

 

Ralph-Assignment-02-Reverse

1. Scatter several straight lines of any length at any angle throughout a blank piece of paper.

2. Choose any line and draw a straight line approximately perpendicular to it. The new line should start from the other line and terminate before or when it reaches another line.

3. Repeat step 2 until an interesting composition arises.

ralph

IFTTT

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I think IFTTT is useful to a point–it’s great for cross-posting things/quickly hauling a specific subset of information from one place to another without any desire to apply any transformations to it. In terms of accessibility I think it trumps a straight API, but I think APIs provide a wider variety of options for how to use the data inputted. The Jer Thorp article debunking the perceived difficulty of creating/using an API was inspirational to me, I’ve been interested in using APIs in the past but have been too intimidated to actually go through with using them. I’d love to work with and potentially even create APIs this semester and beyond.

Jim Campbell’s Formula for Computer Art acts as a provocation. Interactive media art tends to follow Campbell’s formula–interesting sensor data is taken and then mysteriously mapped to an aesthetically pleasing output. Campbell wants to see artists break away from the formula and attempt new and innovative things.

One of the things I love about being in Pittsburgh is how accessible the arts are in comparison to my hometown (this feeling is mostly fueled by the awesome free bus fare/museum pass combination Carnegie Mellon provides). This recipe pulls RSS feed entries from OMG!PGH and emails the content to me. My email goes to my phone so I can add the things that interest me to my calendar, so I won’t forget to attend! Eventually, I’d like to get around to setting up an RSS feed that pulls events from the various museums/galleries in the area, but for right now I feel like this is a good selection of events that would interest me.

 

Ralph-Assignment-02-IFTTT

Untitled

This recipe is called the “Bad Hemingway Generator”.
“For sale: baby shoes, never worn.” is a supposed flash fiction or free verse poetry often misattributed to Hemingway. This particular poem has been passed around thanks to its association with a famous name and the novelty of its brevity, but it lacks much substance. The intent behind the poem seems to be to convey as much subtext and emotional connotation with as few words as possible.
I created a recipe to mimic this poem, so that every time a new post is created on the results page for “never used”, a new tweet is created in the template “For sale: {{PostTitle}}, never used.” In this way, I am able to create a series of free verse poetry with no effort and convey an implied narrative that underlies each Craigslist post.

“For sale: Dresser and night stand better homes and garden (Allison park) $400, never used.”
“For sale: blue point plasma cutter, never used.”

IFTTT epitomizes the interaction between different programs that Jer Thorp discusses in his blog. The trigger acts as the input and IFTTT acts as the API which transforms the information into an output. This sort of series of interactions is also the subject of Jim Campbell’s “Formula for Computer Art”. There exist innumerable arbitrary combinations of different inputs and outputs, and Campbell wanted to show that meaningful art does not automatically arise from every combination, just as every combination of IFTTT interactions does not necessarily result in useful or interesting recipes.

twitter – my new tool for procrastination

September, 2nd 2013 I have a twitter account. Everybody who knows me will be surprised,  Joanna and social media…?

Killing my time with “research” – two hours reading messages some are interesting some redundant. Thank you for this wonderful tool for procrastination.

Anyway I stumbled upon one tweet:

What shall I say, I was somehow pumped and I didn’t want to believe it. But it’s true and most of these military bases are in Germany.

Wall Drawing & Hair Tearing

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Sol Lewitt’s Wall Drawing was quite an experience. While the curiosity of what the shape would look like was a great driving factor, it could not trump the frustration that came with having to keep track of my progress through the guide given. I found myself having to open up a word document breaking down his instructions bullet point by bullet point, parsing things into sizeable more logical chunks. I also had to clear out the sentences from the original instructions as I progressed in order to not be confused about which ‘points’, ‘halfways’ and ‘midpoints’ I was drawing. Maybe it’s just me taking on the role of a program trying to follow exactly what the rule tells me, following it in the order with which its presented.

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In essence, the Wall Drawing can be considered a form of code, albeit one that is not so elegantly formatted for efficiency both on the part of its execution, and for the review of the user.