27 August 2014

AAW-Looking Outwards-1

Yoshi Sodeoka’s 13 Compositions

This project is a series of colorful gifs that are presented on a website as moving paintings in a gallery. It appears that the artist programed colors to create forms and move around in a restricted space. I was drawn to this piece because of the colors and the juxtaposition of the organic movements with the technical aesthetics. The one draw back of this piece is that it can only be viewed from a computer even though it is trying to give the illusion of a gallery on the screen. Therefore I’m a little confused as to whether the artist intended it to be in a gallery or not.

Daniel Rozin’s Mirrors

This project is series of interactive sculptures, made of various materials like wood, fans, plastic, etc, that move when a viewer engages wight he piece. It uses video cameras, motors and computers on board to move the components in order to reflect the viewer. I like this project because of its aesthetically pleasing minimalist and geometric design. I also enjoy how the piece interoperates movement and abstracts it. One critique I have about this piece is that I am not quite sure why one of the materials is fans. I guess it has some cultural reference behind it.

Waterfall

This project has an unknown artist associated with it. This project is a gif that has been coded to move several parallel horizontal lines slightly to create the illusion of vertical waterline movement. I found this the most beautiful thing because of how subtle the changes were in each individual line. It is kind of like a white on white painting. It is difficult to interoperate up close but the overall subtleties had the biggest impact on the overall image. I guess one critique is that is is so simple. It;s just lines moving.

27 August 2014

Looking Outwards: Life From Sound, Interactions, Sound from Life

Nightingale and Canary from Andy Thomas on Vimeo.

Australian artist Andy Thomas has recently created projects which feature computer generated “organisms” by analyzing the sounds of birds. The combination of vibrant colors with the sounds is incredible on its own as it creates a beautiful audio-visual art piece aesthetically. Technically, this piece is just inspiring to think about. Thomas describes multiple different technical software he used for his analysis and creation of his pieces and they just, and to create something so refreshing with those is very nice. This also peaks my interest because It is utilizing some outside force (bird sounds) which are out of Thomas’ control to actually realise the piece itself.

Fluir (2013) from Biopus on Vimeo.

While Biopus is obviously not the first collective to utilize an interactive touch table, the project is inspiring because it forces the audience to be a part of the piece itself. The size of the table (12 meters) also allows large groups to interact with the table all at once. THe emotional response and creations of the participants themselves are inspirational because I aim to get groups to interact with the work that I create and force some type of tactile or indirect interaction. The software interface they created also looks very clean, possibly even too clean. I’m not sure if I would like to create a project that is similar to this project’s scale, but this may be influencing me to design a more clunky interface. I’m not exactly sure.

Passive Sound Recovery System by :

Abe Davis, Michael Rubinstein, Neal Wadhwa, Gautham J. Mysore, Fredo Durand, Wialliam T. Freeman

I first saw this project when it went viral earlier this month. This is a sound recovery tool which analyzes a video and then passively recovers the sound from that video by examining tiny micro movements in the video. Now I don’t believe this software or demonstration was actually meant to be an art piece, but as a first unveiling of a tool, I think it’s fantastic.

It was incredible to imagine that sound could be recovered from silent video. Unfortunately the system is just a tool at this point. I want to see this tool used in some greater context. To examine old silent films or to do some type of playful spying which is later documented as a more in depth art piece. As of now, it is a bit disappointing to see it used in such a limited context.

27 August 2014

First Word, Last Word vs Hype Cycle

According to Michael Naimark, the artwork can be divided into two types of art, first word art and last word art. First Word Art, as described by Naimark, is the art piece that serves as a precursor to all other works that come after it. It is recognized and remembered because it is the first of its kind, meanwhile, Last Word Art is the art made in a genre after all the rules have been fixed, and still manages to standout amongst it’s category. While First Word Art is remembered for being different, I find that Last Word Art is remembered for being better than the rest. I feel that in some ways this can be compared to the Gartner Hype Cycle.

For one thing, technology, like art comes in waves and cycles. There is always the first technology, or the Technology trigger—as the cycle describes it as—that works similarly as the first word art. This technology does something different. It can’t be compared to others and thus is remembered for being the precursor for a genre or an age. However, unlike with art, I don’t believe there is or can ever be any form of technology that can be considered or compared to a Last Word Art and that is because of the novelty of technology. Unlike with art where even past works are referenced and remembered and iconic, old technology is left by the wayside, forgotten and rendered irrelevant in the wake of technological advances. This is why I consider the word ‘hype’ in the hype cycle to be so important. Hype implies initial excitement that inevitably dies off and with technology I really think this the case. Because the cycle is never ending there will be no real point when we look at an old piece of technology and think this was the best of what was made in its field. There is no legacy, there is no way to ‘survive the test of time’, there is only what’s next, what’s better and what else. I believe that is why Schulze prefers to work in the Trough of Disillusionment. He likes to look at the pieces of technology that were doing something different during their heyday, that, though forgotten, were unique and memorable.

27 August 2014

CAC Looking Outwards-1

Sharing Faces by Kyle McDonnald:

McDonnald has developed a software that is able to match the face locations of a person looking at a surveillance camera with the images of previously photographed people.
This project provides users with a new way of seeing themselves by seeing another person mirroring their actions. I feel like it gives a sense of unity between humankind and a judge less technology that ignores ethnicity, age, or general appearance and only pays attention to the location of a person and their action.
Although this software was difficult for the artist to develop fully to his vision of it, the idea is quite simple. I like its later application of matching face locations to multiple people instead of just one, this heightens the themes mentioned in the previous bullet. Sharing Faces has been debugged in quality and is continuing to enlarge the library of peoples’ images it has. It’s reach is global. http://

The Abyss Table by Christopher Duffy

This is a super cool coffee table made by Christopher Duffy of a geological cross section of the ocean. Its made of sheets of glass and wood cut to specific shapes.
This project inspires me with its astonishing use of color, existing organic environments, and composition. It feels like youre going to the depths of the ocean yet still looks technical and map-like. Essentially I believe it has good harmony.
I wish this wasn’t just a coffee table only rich people could buy. Its only a decorative piece so I wish it had a better application in terms of concept.
This project was from the beginning meant to be furniture. The artist responsible has impressed many rich people and the potential for this piece seems to just be reproduction for now.

Naomi Kizhners’s Parasitic Powered Jewelry

Naomi Kizhner has created invasive jewelry with the purpose of harvesting energy from our bodies’ natural functions. She developed a three piece jewelry set that attaches to the body with pincers stings and uses the wearer as a human battery.
This is some futurism sci fi cool work. It creates a narrative of a time when energy sources will be found in unconventional places. These parasites are beautifully designed and scary purposeful.
This product is strongly conceptual, it has no practical or desirable use for people of the present. This was a critique I saw from people commenting on the blog post this work was featured in and though I understand this point of view I think what this project says about how the future could be is very captivating and the main purpose.

27 August 2014

Critical Engineering Assignment-01C

After having read the Critical Engineering Manifesto by Julian Oliver, one section I found interesting is the ninth point. Essentially, this point declares that a critical engineer must recognize that code also affects the user socially and psychologically. With that in mind, Oliver believes it is important to deconstruct user constraints and incite social action through digital excavation. Reading this made me think of the new ‘internet activism’ in which social websites such as twitter and facebook work as a medium for social activism. I find it interesting that this aspect is considered even when programing, especially the social context and reactions to it.

27 August 2014

Gaming and Art

I’d be bluffing if I said I knew a lot about art with a capital ‘A’. I’d be lying if I said I knew anything about Art and technology and how those two very different mediums coexist. To be honest, prior to last year, I wasn’t quite sure how computers and technology could even work in tandem to create art. However, whenever I think of a medium in which art and technology seem to meet, I think of video games. Socially, I don’t think most people consider video games an art form and I would agree with that concept but only in the slightest of sense to say that not everything is an art form. I think it takes a certain amount of creativity and thought for anything, be it a painting, a sculpture, a book or a video game, to be considered art.

A few years ago, I stumbled upon a game that really opened my eyes to the concept of video games being an art form, and that game was the Unfinished Swan. I’ve never played the game, which, I suppose may take away from my credibility when it comes to discussing it—I don’t know—but for some reason, it holds a special place in my heart.

The game is about a little boy, chasing a mystical swan that leads him to an unfinished kingdom, a kingdom where the player is essentially, the creator, throwing paint balls to reveal the world around them. This game just feels so magical. It’s so quiet and simple, which surprised me, especially considering the fact that I’ve always been, and am, a graphics girl when it comes to playing video games. It just has this ethereal quality about it that stirs something inside me that I can’t quite pinpoint. Maybe it’s a longing for childhood, or simplicity, whatever it is this game just makes me feel, something that is rare to find in any medium really, not just in video games.

How many people were involved in making it? How did they organize themselves to achieve it?

A Studio named Giant Sparrow created the game which, started off as a graduate student project led by Ian Dallas, a graduate student, and a team of four others from the University of Southern California. Ian created the demo and entered it to a contest, somewhere along the way the demo was posted on YouTube and Sony representatives picked it up. After that the game ended up being developed by a team of 12 people. Interestingly enough, when Dallas described his experience working with the creative tools, he talked about how though he understood how the tools worked, in reality he need to be fluent in them in order to bend—and no I don’t mean avatar style bending—but bend in the sense of making the tools do things they weren’t supposed to do. I think that notion really underlies how I consider art and technology working together. When you use computers to make art, work with the tools in ways that bend and twist them against how they were supposed to work.

What opportunities or futures does the project point, if any?

I don’t know if it points to any opportunities or futures. However, I think this game shows that as a medium, video games, and inherently, technology, should, could and can be considered as an art form.

Here, take a look at it for yourself.

Further Reading: How the Unfinished Swan Moved From a Student Project to a PSN Game

27 August 2014

First Words, Last Words and Hype.

As technologies emerge, the creator and first adopters of those technologies could be said to have had the “first word” on those technologies. They have shown what they’re product can do (or is intended to do) but it is originally received with both excitement and novelty. Yet as this technology makes it’s way around the Gartner Hype Cycle, it’s novelty factor should be lessened as new uses are discovered for it until it reaches its peak. The few who have then utilized the inventions for projects which have become popular in mainstream society, regardless of originality in their work, should be said to have the last word on those technologies.

This all can happen before these technologies reach the “trough”, however once a technology is in the “trough” it’s use in a project can be pleasantly unexpected. Rather than allowing a user to think “Oh, they used ‘that’ again, the trough can be an interesting place to re-imagine an item.

Personally, my interests fall along the entire spectrum. In the 2014 version of the Gartner Hype Cycle, I am particularly interest in interactivity themed technologies such as translation, user interface, and virtual reality technologies.

27 August 2014

INForm Morphing Table by MIT Students

A few years ago I discovered this link that amazed me and inspired me to design things that think outside the box. This project, run by the Tangible Media Group in MIT (founded and led by Professor Hiroshi Ishii), is a table made up of hundreds of little square beams that move up and down at the command of a computer that is reading visual 3d information via a Kinect Sensor. Essentially it maps out a hand or basket or whatever you put under the Sensor, and recreates that shape in real time on the table’s beams by moving them into place. This way you can move objects, create shapes and much more. See the video to understand what I’m talking about and how awesome it really is.

I love the simplicity of the idea, how well it’s been implemented, and the potential for an even more accurate version by making the square beams smaller and smaller, possibly creating an infinitely accurate 3D scape/recreation. Sort of like pixels- it has a low resolution now but will only get better.

For full project information, credits, and more, check out their site here.

27 August 2014

The Critical Engineering Manifesto

“1. The Critical Engineer considers any technology depended upon to be both a challenge and a threat. The greater the dependence on a technology, the greater the need to study and expose its inner workings, regardless of ownership or legal provision.”

My interpretation of this excerpt from the manifesto pertains to the threat of cyber terrorism. When a piece of technology becomes integrated throughout society, the risk of its exploitation becomes far more consequential. This is because the impact of infiltrating, or manipulating said technology is greater when more people use it in daily life. Therefore, it’s important for people to test the limits of dependent technology (finding bugs, glitches, flaws in security) so that safer, more efficient versions can be developed. Additionally, it’s important to study and expose the inner workings of dependent technology in order to discover new opportunities and benefits for its utilization in society.

27 August 2014

Looking Outwards – CSB – Christine Borland & Brody Condon, NewHive, Jon Rafman

I don’t know if I admire it profoundly, but I like the methodological approach of Christine Borland’s and Brody Condon’s 2013 installation, Daughters of Decayed Tradesmen. The work sits in a decaying watch tower in Edinburgh, built in the early 1800’s to prevent grave-diggers from excavating and selling the cadavers of dead tradesmen to a nearby anatomy school for dissection purposes. Hanging on the ceiling are pink punch cards (machined by the artists but read with the obsolescent Jacquard loom) that the artists encoded with oral histories of the daughters of the region’s defunct tradesmen (their maladies ranging from unemployment to death). The surrounding area is filled with gravestones marked with the specific specializations of the dead tradesmen who once inhabited the area. In my eyes, it discursively explores a number of contemporary issues from the hyper-specialization of the job market/academia to the afterlife and objecthood of defunct technologies to the historical changes [or stagnancies] in the taboos surrounding dead human bodies (btw described beautifully in what I’ve read thus far Knausgård’s hyped super-novel My Struggle).

Daughters of Decayed Tradesmen, 2013 from Brody Condon on Vimeo.

Disclaimer: Clickbait. Yeah, so there’s this new website called NewHive and yeah I had to look at Molly Soda gifs, but there’s also some good work there too :p. Highly customizable webpages for artists to dump/design their contents. Just drag and drop! You remember YTMND, dumpfm, tumblr, artstack [& i like weebly for its plethora of conspiratorial masterworks]. Maybe you also remember to be, which to be honest seems like the closest recent site to NewHive that I know of. Oh and my friend Rachel Pincus just told me about the now-defunct, TANG or Tight Artists, a splinter group from dumpfm created by Mary Rachel. I love the popping up of new surfing clubs / sharing networks, with my mind and my mouse, and the development of their interfaces to allow more open and easily manipulable tools/layouts. Sharing should be faster, easier, [more PC / less PC?]. It’s logical conclusion is more a game than a form of communication, although I think we all know that. Check it out; sign up; become an otaku; deactivate your account; live a little.

NewHive

We all recognize the youtube comment: “Dude I ‘m in the weird part of youtube again!” Jon Rafman’s 2014 video, Mainsqueeze, released through Dis Magazine is an effectively disturbing, yet calm meditation of the status of image-objects, american youth culture, and specifically what I think he believes are symbols/artifacts from the dark parts of the internet (cue rule 34 dementors gif). His curation of images/videos from the web is actually good aesthetically and conceptually, and some of the combinations of audio and video are chilling, evoking combined feelings of net alienation and cultural disgust I think we’re all used to feeling rather separately. That’s the success. The framing choice of night time suburban domestic backdrops for the bright videos in front is also an appropriate and clever one, but I think it could go further, shoving in your face the weird physical/sociological realities of teen net surfing in the bedroom/cinema/sexshopbooth. I mean, even less fleshed out is the narration, vaguely referencing the possibility of objects’ feelings/sentience while showing gooey 3d animations referencing high levels of abstraction and [maybe?] scientific visualization (once again illuminating many artists’ limp engagement with and appropriation of Object-Oriented Philosophy). I love certain things about the video, mainly in a self-induglent way, but instinctively I know it could use a lil workshopping/revision.

Trigger Warnings: Animal Cruelty, Nihilistic Bullshit, Hentai

Mainsqueeze, 2014 from jonrafman on Vimeo.