Hexi – responsive wall from Thibaut Sld on Vimeo.

HEXI // THIBAUT SID

Hexi by Thibaut Sld is a responsive wall system that utilizes sensory input from a depth camera and outputs to an array of wall mounted servos.  The wall responds to various human behaviors by moving each individual panel in the array.  The panels are coordinated in such a way that a fluid rippling effect is exhibited by the wall.  The fabrication for this installation is quite streamlined and clean.  Everything from the panel’s polished appearance, to the tremendously accurate tolerance of the servo hardware creates an extremely fluid execution.  Although the interaction between people and the installations very playful and energetic, I think this specific installation would be a very compelling way to display information of some kind.  The object and it’s interaction appears to exist in it’s own vacuum of space, and could possibly benefit from reaching out further into the world.  The exact sources of inspiration for this project are difficult to track down, however upon close examination pieces like Tessel and Versus from David Lettelier come to mind.  Both use similar interaction typologies coupled with very smooth mechanical action to create engaging experiences.

Breaking The Surface [Interaction Test / Tracking Software / Collision detection] from Bjørn Gunnar Staal on Vimeo.

BREAKING THE SURFACE // BJORN GUNNAR STAAL (SCANDINAVIAN DESIGN GROUP)

Breaking the surface by Bjørn Gunnar Staal is an interactive installation that uses a large array of suspended acrylic tubing to create an implied dynamic surface.  The surface directly responds to inhabitants below it.  The actuation system uses a combination of motors, wheels and a depth camera.  This installation is impressive in the level of immersion it can reach with a participant.  Once in the center of the installation, outward views are easily compromised.  The data processing ability and general agility of the installation is very impressive as well.   It sits as a very complete and visually impactful piece, however I think the nature of the actuated tubes was a bit of a missed opportunity.  The combination of some more advanced geometry coupled with dynamic lighting could have made the piece a lot more engaging.  The lineage of Staal’s pieces are very interesting in that they seem to stand out from many other artists that perform at an environmental scale.  The open frameworks apps that was written serves as both a simulation tool through the design process, as well as the controlling software for the physical installation. To me this a fairly new idea and would love to track down more examples like it.  The thematic interaction typology is very similar to other projects performed by Staal and Scandinavian Design Group, although it’s very unique in its very aggressive kinetics.

I wasn’t under the impression that we had a theme for this week’s LO, here are two projects I like, theme-less.

Jerry’s Place is a virtual reality environment inspired by (television character) Jerry Seinfeld’s apartment. The project was made by Greg Miller, using Blender and Unity. One aspect of the project that inspires me is that the project was completed by a single developer as a personal project. Just using 2 dimensional screenshots, he was able to create a 3 dimensional space that can be explored. Having access to an oculus rift, I am excited about the opportunity to turn my own 2 dimensional works into a space for exploration. This project showed me that with some experience in blender and unity, I can create my own virtual reality. This also brings me to my critique of the project: because Seinfeld is based in reality, they use real props, and rooms have real lighting and texture, which can be especially hard to replicate in blender, especially at hobby level. I would love to see how a cartoon world could be translated.

http://jerrysplacevr.com/

Walking City is an animation which features a walking figure, which is gradually and continuously changing forms throughout the 7:45 video. This project stood out to me due to my interest in animation. The use of texture throughout the video was particularly interesting, especially due to the lack of color. The importance of sound in animation was made very apparent in this video, which relied on sound to define abstract forms. The animation uses the familiar motion of a walk cycle to emphasize the similarities between different forms and materials. This was an effective approach because the motion is so common, but it also felt like an easy/obvious choice. According the its creators, Universal Everything, the animation is inspired by design, animation, sculpture, fashion, and architecture. After seeing the video, I would say that this is fairly clear.

http://prix2014.aec.at/prixwinner/12662/

Random Darknet Shopper (2014)

The “Random Darknet Shopper” is a bot that buys a random item from the Agora marketplace once a week, and has the item mailed to the !Mediengruppe Bitnik art collective, who display the item in a gallery space. The bot is given an allowance of $100 a week to make its purchases.

I was initially drawn to this project by this article on Motherboard, which details just the “best things” that the bot purchased. There’s something comical about the way it’s covered by Motherboard; the bot is heavily anthropomorphized and given a personality by way of the products it purchases and a hypothesized reason or backstory for the purchases. It doesn’t seem like this was intentional on the part of the authors, but raises an interesting set of questions regarding agency and legality. Specifically, at what point would a robot be considered to have agency on its own? At what point would an illegal action, such as purchasing drugs, be attributable to the robot and not to the creator?

The authors do not say much about their intention, but they seem focused on giving tangibility to the dark web and describing its idiosyncrasies. Several of their descriptions for the products focus on the quality of product or service, such as “Shipment took 2 weeks,” and “Ordered from the U.S. – arrived from Singapore.” These descriptions remind us that real people and systems are on the other end of the transaction.

The “Random Darknet Shopper” is influenced by the Random Shopper by Darius Kazemi, which makes random purchases on Amazon. Darius’ intentions were to break out of algorithmic profiling. Both bots seem are conceptually similar to other bots, such as twitter bots, but with a very specific method of agency.

2015 Interaction Awards: Flutter from Interaction Design Association on Vimeo.

Flutter – by Alex Rothera, Ivor Williams, Jacopo Atzori, and Aaron Gillett

Flutter is a mobile application designed for grieving adolescents to help them express themselves and give form to their feelings. The user taps on the screen to define base notes and then can place objects above or around the note to modulate it.  This project is particularly interesting to me for two reasons: the goal of empowering creativity and the design process. When I think of interactive art, one of the main things that comes to mind is designing interaction from the user’s perspective and allowing them to explore and create on their own. Regarding the design process, it’s just great to hear them talk about how they used contextual design and see the process I’m learning at CMU in action.

I thought the parts that worked especially well were the end, “captured” musical result and the simplicity of interaction and control. However, the abstraction of musical control seems a bit simplistic, almost like bad Instagram filters. Maybe the abstractions just grate against my mental model of electronic music and would work well for the intended audience.

They don’t say what their specific influences are, but there are many generative music applications.  In particular, Flutter reminds me of the Brian Eno application Bloom, as both have a down-tempo, subdued musicality.