Something That Inspired Me.

Pulsu(m) is a project in which a plant’s response to certain stimuli, such as light or touch, is generated into sound. This sound can be perceived as a certain form of communication of plants, and the tangibility of bioprocesses which are otherwise invisible to us. The intersection of art and biology appeals to me quite a bit, and I found this project to be an exploratory representation of how plants are much more alive and complex than we realize.

Something That Surprised Me.

Aerosol is a kinetic sculpture which explores particle systems, and consists of an undulating stretch of fabric over of 16 motors, with iron balls moving along its surface. I was immediately drawn to this project, as I found the fabric’s movement to be quite beautiful, along with this random, converging and diverging movement of the the balls.

Something That Disappointed Me.

Ignite Light is an interactive light fixture that is sensitive to its environment, and responds to the vibrations of touch and wind. The project was inspired by natural light sources, such as a candle which moves along in response to air. However, this project disappointed me, in that while I enjoyed the idea of an artificial light source that acts quite naturally in a space, the visual composition was a let down.  I found the string in which the fixture hung from to be garish, and the pieces surrounding the LEDs were almost too boring in their geometric simplicity.

Solar Sinter by Markus Kayser

The Solar-Sinter is the most inspirational and coolest project I’ve seen in a long time. This video presents it beautifully. (Please watch the video, you wont be disappointed.) The Solar-Sinster uses ReplicatorG software, an open source 3D printing program. Using the sun’s rays as a laser and sand as material it produces glass objects. With the world desperately turning to technology to solve the energy crisis this has enormous potential, being that it uses almost inexhaustible resources. Oh, and this solar-powered machine was made by Kayser as a masters project at Design Products.

heliOscillator by by Noel Murphy and Jamie Salmon in collaboration with Professor Róbertus von Fáy-Siebenbürgen and PhD student Nabil Freij

Each module is embedded with light dependent resistors, allowing the light of the projector hitting the screen to be measured in 42 different points over its surface, each sensors measurement is then used to control the pitch of an oscillator.

The projection itself is a data visualisation based around observations of individual sunspots. Each hexagon section represents one sunspot, and the color and shading of its subsections reflect the change in size and darkness of that spot over time. The 6 sub sections match up with the light sensors, so every change in color and intensity is measured and reflected in sound.

 The Kernels of Chimaera by Stefan Schwabe

The machine contains living bacteria that produce layers of cellulose. These grown layers are automatically harvested and penetrated by a syringe in order to be inflated with air. The entire kernel is then dried out by a stream of air, then it it light enough to fly up into a second chamber. This was very intriguing because it takes living things and processes them in a mechanical way, not like the way that it happens everyday (food production, chia pets, ect.) but it is reminiscent of a biological factory.

The blog would not let me insert media so i apologize for this boring post.

DRoPS

“Organically shaped illuminated objects are deployed in the darker, rather dodgy corners of the city. Left alone, the objects calmly breathe light. As people approach a DRoP, the DRoPbecomes nervous, speeding up its luminous breath to a state of hyperventilation.”  I believe that this project is a failure because it claims to play with the safety of urban areas, however, it provides no real safety.  One way it could be improved is if it contained cameras that monitored urban activities or if a call box was imbedded in it that was a direct line to public safety officials.  However, it is simply a spastic light that adds paranoia to already spooked pedestrians.

 

ToDo by Chris Eckert

“A sculpture  that frenetically writes an endless to-do list. It’s a numerically controlled art machine that randomly merges various elements from my life – names, places, etc. – into an insurmountable pile of chores. It is controlled by an Arduino Uno.”  I believe this is the most successful because it combines the physical aesthetic of the past wight he technology of the future.  It is a reminder of the past because of the choice of typography and the cold metal mechanics.  This allows this piece to become timeless, thus, keeping the viewers unrestricted from the concept of frantic time management.

Foto Trigger Experiment

“The basic approach is of course simple. There will be a water balloon wrapped around the model. Then he will focus his camera. The light will be switched off. Once the light is off he will trigger his camera. Then the balloon will be poked from behind the model.” “As soon as some water is between the needles some small current will flow. This will decrease the voltage at the analog pin which will then trigger the flash. ”  I really enjoy this idea of the project because it has great potential in creating interesting images in the fashion industry.  Based on this “blog post” it appears that this artist went through a heavy process in order to discover the best way to trigger this flash.  It is successful in that it was able to capture the shaped water clearly.  However, it can be improved as a photograph immensely.  The composition, lighting, makeup, model, and the intricacy of the water balloon could all be improved to make the final images more visually intriguing.

Project that Surprised Me – Hyper-Matrix by Jonpasang

The Hyper_Matrix by Jonpasang really surprised me at the time. It is a kinetic 3D matrix landscape that is created by the Jonpasang, a media artist group based in Korea funded by the Hyundai motor group in 2012. The installation consists of motors that control small blocks which creates shapes and landscapes.

I actually had the chance to be at the exhibition in 2012 so this was very surprising to me at the time. The seemingly pixelated patterns were abstract but it was new and interesting in its own ways. This blocks and motors had redefined the space and it transformed the place into a whole different place.

Project that Inspired Me – Petting Zoo by Minimaforms

I was inspired by the Petting Zoo by Minimaforms, which is a experimental architecture and design studio. The Petting Zoo is speculative life like robotic environment. The artificial intelligence creatures have developed to learn and explore the behaviour through the interaction with the participants.

The idea that this creatures the so called ‘pets’ develop their own behaviours as they interact more with the participants was really inspiring and intriguing idea to me, since almost every living creature learn as they experience over time. This broke my ideas of robots and rather gave me a second chance to think about it. Also I think the interaction between the two makes people feel intimacy and curiosity at the same time.

Project that could have been better – Turn Signal Biking Jacket

This project was not done by a group of artist but rather one person who was figuring out a way to bike a little more safer at night. When the biker turns left or right she can tell the person behind where they are going. Since it was not a big scale project and rather a personal project there are limitation compared to other projects but I think this has potential in becoming something useful to daily life.

Plantas Nomadas (Nomadic Plants) by Gilberto Esparza, 2011.

Plantas Nomadas is an artifical lifeform that is powered by solar and microbial fuel cells. It moves around with multiple legs and recharges its energy supply by slurping up bacteria-rich polluted water in nearby ponds. From an engineering standpoint, I found this piece to be impressive due to its clever use of self-recharging energy supply; longetivity of power is a severe limiting factor in the development of modern robotics, and most environment-friendly power sources simply do not provide enough juice to get larger machines moving. From an artistic standpoint, the robot truly is alive – it needs to eat to survive, it actively seeks new sources of food, and it directly affects the environment around it in an automated fashion.

Vimeo: https://vimeo.com/18853622

Official Site: http://plantasnomadas.com/

The Abovemarine by Adam Ben-Dror.

The AboveMarine is a above-water omnidirectional rover base that is controlled by the position of a brightly colored fish in a glass bowl. The fish simply positions itself in the direction it wants the machine to go, and a camera sitting at the top of the fishbowl detects the position of the fish using color tracking, and the rover moves in that direction. I thought this piece was funny – many humans may believe they are the only animals capable of controlling vehicles for travel in forbidding environments, but the Abovemarine is evidence of the contrary: it appears as though fish can control Abovemarines just as well as humans can control submarines. Whether the fish can control the device in an intelligent fashion showing intent of traveling to a particular destination is a story for another time.

Vimeo: https://vimeo.com/104899925

inFORM by MIT Tangible Media Group.

The inFORM project is a physical display platform that records depth data from a Kinect and transforms it into a real-life 3 dimensional physical display of the recorded depth by controlling the positions of array of solenoids. The resulting dislay can also physically move small objects on its bed without much difficulty. It is an interesting concept for a 3D depth display without having to wear any kind of head gear, but I think it still kind of lies in the realm of 2.5D, rather than full 3D. The range of the length and width is great, but the depth feels somewhat flat in respect. In addition, the fact that there is no way to show objects that have side-depth rather than top-depth is somewhat disappointing, but even so, it is a interesting device that shows good execution of a novel concept.

Vimeo: http://tangible.media.mit.edu/project/inform/

So this is pretty:

FLOE from Ozgun Kilic on Vimeo.

Honestly the reason I’m posting this one is because it’s really visually appealing, and a lot of what I’m sort of worried about as we get into working with robotic kinda stuff and 3D material is that I’m going to have trouble applying my usual aesthetic to it. The fact that artwork like this -which in the end, is very simple yet still elegant in its own way -is able to be made with arduino makes me a lot more comfortable with the idea of working with it.

 

YEARS from Bartholomäus Traubeck on Vimeo.

Ok this one is really incredible though. I don’t know how to judge the levels of complexity in creating things like this, but I think what’s being done here is absolutely gorgeous. Pretty much it’s taking a slice of a tree and using the patterning of the rings to make music. It’s literally translating the entire life of a tree into music. Firstly, that’s just a fascinatingly cool idea. Second, the music actually sounds kinda good, which is pretty neat. It’s a kind of a cool way to make generative audio art (if not an environmentally unfriendly one, unfortunately). I just think this is super inspired and hauntingly pretty.

 

And now for my grand finale

Nikola Tesla in Sound and Light from Marco Tempest on Vimeo.

Real talk: watch this video, because beyond the cool sleight of hand combined with the projected animations, it’s about Nikola Tesla, who is easily one of the coolest scientific historical figures on the face of the earth. Seriously if you don’t think Tesla is cool then you don’t know enough about him. He tried to build a death ray. That should be enough to get you interested in him.

Anyway as far as I can tell, what’s going on with the arduino is I think it’s mapping separate animations to various parts of the pop-up book as the pages are turned. I have no idea how simple or complicated this is, but there’s a making-of video if anyone’s curious (http://createdigitalmotion.com/2012/06/pop-up-video-tesla-synesthetic-hallucination-and-augmented-book-science/)

Anyway, I think this is a fantastic combination of animation, 3D art, and stage magic. Rock on, dude.

SOMETHING THAT INSPIRED ME
Auto Auction by Chris Eckert

Auto Auction is the realization of what has long been a pipe dream of the marketing world: a product that sells itself. When turned on, the Auto Auction will automatically open an online auction for itself. For every new bid that is placed, a disembodied hand will sound a bell, and the current bid price is displayed by tumblers on the front of the object. I find this piece profoundly inspiring on multiple fronts. One, the craftsmanship is impeccable. The representation of the online auction house with obsolete symbols such as the auction bell and number tumblers triggers nostalgia within me for a time which was far before my birth. But the aesthetics exist with a separate purpose in mind: increasing the objects value in the online market.
Realize that the very act of turning on this work of art results in its sale to another individual. Without some shifty bidding wars with yourself, the Auto Auction can only be used once per owner, during which time both the value of the object and the next owner are constantly in flux. Chris Eckert’s use of the Arduino to create such a conceptually strong work of art inspires me to look beyond simply creating something that is “beautiful”, “functional” and/or “interesting”.

SOMETHING THAT DISAPPOINTED ME
Daily Stack by Anders Hojmose

Daily Stack takes a stab at physically representing your workflow through stacking color coded blocks. The base of the stack hooks up to a computer, which displays a timer. For each block placed on the base, the computer program runs a timer, during which the user is doing the activity associated with the color of the current block (blue = work, orange = procrastination, etc.). While stacking modular forms in different orders to create a variation of a digital program is a promising idea, the simplicity of the variation and the inherent flaws in the core concept of Daily Stack ruins it. Firstly, the only difference between a “work” timer and a “procrastinate” timer is the color, which takes no advantage of the interactivity being provided with this stack of blocks. Secondly, one rarely ever sets a block of time aside for procrastination, nor is a procrastinator likely to work all the way through a predefined span of work time. Representing workflow with a stack of color coded blocks is far too rigid to be accurate.

SOMETHING THAT SURPRISED ME
Thesis_Light_3 by Hyeonmin Jun

When I clicked this video, I was expecting a two dimensional piece, based on the thumbnail image. Instead, I was thrust into Hyeonmin Jun’s Digital Media Design thesis, Computational Distortion Environment with Shape-shifting Methodology. In this particular facet of the project, Jun experiments with attempting to create breathing sculptures. The leaf-like topographic object will slowly rise and fall, giving the illusion of breath. When Jun approaches the leaf, it quickly exhales and closes up. The effects of this interactivity are more significantly conveyed when the lights are turned off, and the sole light source comes from within the leaf. When the leaf breaths in, the gaps between its layers reveal light, and when it breaths out, the light disappears. A room full of these would be wonderful. Only the area near the viewer would be dark, while the rest of the room would undulate with breathing light fixtures.

I was inspired by “ToDo” by Chris Eckert.

“ToDo” is a sculpture by Chris Eckert which uses an Arduino Uno to “numerically control” a mechanical arm which meticulously writes a never-ending todo list. By merging random aspects of his life together, Eckert manages to de-personalize small endeavors of his own by bringing them into this public sphere. Aside from the personal aspect of the list, something about the handwriting of this machine intrigues me. I love the way that it has it’s own, unchanging personality separate from it’s creators which is identifiable.

“Cube Pix” by Xavi’s Lab was a bit dissapointing.

Cubepix Demo Test – by Xavi’s Lab from Glassworks Barcelona on Vimeo.

“Cubepix” by Xavi’s lab and Glassworks is an interactive installation which allows viewers to control the display itself. It had the potential to be a wonderfully interactive display which married physical motion with projected imagery, however the means by which it takes user input is too exaggerated. It relies on major body movements to actuate the cubes which are overused. I would have like to see the display integrate subtle movements if at all possible rather than these cliche hand wavy gestures.

“Linyl” by Ishac Bertran, Natalia Echevvarria, and Shruti Ramiah was pretty cool but it left me wanting.

Linyl from Ishac Bertran on Vimeo.

“Linyl” is a project which converts photographs into colored disks which can be read to create ambient lighting. I think that the idea behind the technology of Linyl is awesome. Condensing one form of a data, a photograph which contains multiple compositional elements into a single dimension of color is fascinating to me. In turn, taking this condensed form and utilizing it as a light source is a subtle way of transferring that image to the people in a room through some sort of “osmosis”. I feel that the strict integration of this project with sound takes away from it’s potential however. The light itself, without sound, should be able to speak for each image it represents.