Looking Outwards – Arduino/Physical Computing
Space Replay – Julinka Ebhardt, Francesco Tacchini and Will Yates-Johnson
To be honest, I’m still not sure what I’m looking at. Space Replay is a floating ball that records and plays back the sounds it hears, providing a strange memory device to the space it inhabits. the piece was made by three Royal College of Art students working with the IED program, which ‘explores ways to convey information by creating meaningful experiences, through critical visualisation, data manifestation & physical computing, grounded in social & cultural theory.’
It’s just so surreal. The ball floats because whatever gas is inside it means that it’s neutrally buoyant. But this thing does not seem like a ballon, so it’s initially met with confusion. An abstract object doing abstract things in the physical space. I would have to say that, while its two main elements (physical presence and sound presence) are both strong, I don’t see any way in which they connect.
Hyper-Matrix – Jonpasang
Hyper-Matrix is a kinetic landscape created by Jonpasang for the Hyundai Motor Group Exhibition Pavilion in Korea. It consists of 3 walls made out of thousands of small white cubes. These cubes are motorised, allowing them to move in and out of the wall, which creates a massive physical screen.
I find the way that this is able to redefine space in a novel fashion wonderful. It is pure abstraction, inspired by the pixellated abstraction of a compute screen, made manifest. I Do have to say that I don’t like that it is presented s a performance. this destroys the freedom of the viewer to approach this space in their own way, and I think a continually moving set of walls is more interesting.
“Painting with a digital brush” – Teehan+Lax
This piece consists of a projection system that maps ascii characters on a grid. The system reads the hue and value of the space (here a black wall with with white paint) and dynamically assigns characters to the grid based on this. the piece was made partially as an attempt to reclaim ascii as a creative medium.
I enjoy the way that this piece links mediums in a new and interesting way. Seeing it in action is also interesting, in that the drawing have this living hectic quality to it. Although this is an interesting curio, it really seems like a curio more than anything.