David Gordon – Inspiring Computational Work : Theo Jansen’s Strand

When one thinks of current computational art, one instinctively assumes the presence of electricity and the substantial processing power that comes with it. However, Theo Jansen has made it clear to me that one does not need either to create elegant works of art:

Jansen has single handedly created what he calls “Strand Beasts”: giant walking physical computers made out of nothing but PVC piping, twine, plastic bags, and a few empty water bottles. Using ingenious mechanical logic gates, Jansen programmed his beasts to, powered exclusively by wind, prowl the beaches, avoid water, and even hunker down in the event of a dangerously windy day. In the future, Jansen’s beasts could be entirely autonomous entities, surviving on nothing but wind power and their own decision making. The elegance and efficiency of this project has inspired me profoundly, and introduced to me the idea that the actual method of computation can be a work of art in and of itself.

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Tech Art Inspiration

During my senior year in high school, a tech convention was going on in the hotel across from my school. During the lunch break my friend and I decided to go check it out.  At the convention, I tested a virtual reality hamster ball game.  I admire the fact that this piece forced the user to physically move in order to work the game. This was much different than the kinds of games I had played in the past. This VirtuSphere is a creation of  Ray and Nurulla Latypov.  It has many function such as military training, museum education exhibitions, gaming, etc.  Since I am usually a technology sinic, I fear that this device will have people virtually exercising rather than getting outside and exploring the real world.  

http://www.virtusphere.com

First Word, Last Word and Hype

When a technology or a type of art is introduced, Naimark writes, people are in awe and do not know how to react. On the other hand Schulze explains that people have a surge of blind enthusiasm. In the GHC the middle part is the “Trough of Disillusionment” where there is feigning interest and distrust of said technology, different from FW/LW theory where the middle part is more of the plateau, where there is art that is familiar and art that is comparable. Finally, in the art world a type of art must go out with a bang, something that can’t be compared to anything else after that, while the technologies just blend together and level off in the familiar realm of technology.

I find myself looking at the first art words and the Peak of Inflated Expectations. Maybe its the little optimist in me that likes to see a technology or a type of art at its rawest and brightest time of its life.

Schulze is being resourceful for trying to get away from the hyped up technologies. He is like any stockbroker, buy stocks at their lowest point and sell at their highest. Also, at the Trough of Disillusionment there has been enough trials to find the technology’s shortcomings, and enough hype to see what is good about it.

Critical Engineering 8

8. The Critical Engineer looks to the history of art, architecture, activism, philosophy and invention and finds exemplary works of Critical Engineering. Strategies, ideas and agendas from these disciplines will be adopted, re-purposed and deployed.

Critical Engineering has existed even before the term “Critical Engineer” existed. This point in the manifesto emphasizes that the community should build off each other, and learn from the mistakes of those in the past. The work the Critical Engineer makes should be open source and understandable. More so, there should be recycling of old ideas that were forgotten about or just needed some tweaks. Like every aspect of the critical engineer’s work, he or she must be resourceful and creative, that is what stuck with me about #8 in the manifesto. An example would be if a Critical Engineer sees that the theory of evolution can have influences outside the natural realm, he or she could repurpose the theory to speed up a process, and create computers that can learn. This is seen in the project Evolved Virtual Creatures (1994),  Where the computer was able to learn by a mutating a surviving creature and testing again, just like the theory suggests. This, in turn, can become a springboard for even greater endeavors.

 

OFF: A Surrealist take on the RPG

OFF is unquestionably my favourite video game. It is, essentially, what happens when a Belgian surrealist makes a game.

Off

Interactive narrative is still a fairly young medium, and has relied mainly on more conventional narrative forms as a result. OFF represents a new direction in this field, one that is aware and critical of both the medium and audience, and it’s a damn good game to boot.

The team behind OFF, Unproductive Fun Time, consists of only a handful of people, headed up by Mortis Ghost. Ghost was something of an auteur on the project, although his 2nd did have significnat influence on the final vision.

I see OFF as a herald for a future of greater experimentation in interactive narrative, as creators continuer to develop their understanding of the medium.

http://forum.starmen.net/forum/Fan/Games/OFF-by-Mortis-Ghost

Critical Engineering 2

For me, this tenet is trying to communicate that as more fields in technology are being discovered, more questions and problems are being raised.  This can be because some of the new ideas challenge the old ones or even that the new discoveries ope new doors that have many sub units to discover.  One analogy is a house.  You walk in the front door but have many other doors to open in order to access other rooms within the house. I found this tenet interesting because it seemed to be full of hope and  curiosity.  It got my imagination going thinking about the infinite number of possibilities that comes with discovering, not only the technology field, but any field.  One example of this tenet in practice is sources of energy.  with every new source of energy, new questions are raised on environmental impact and efficiency.