My experience with this device was fun and informative. I felt at ease and calm during my drawing sessions. I think it would be a great de-stressing tool I can use for the future. I like the way the building turned out.
Electronic Media Studio: Introduction to Interactivity and Computation
60-210 • Spring 2021 • Prof. Golan Levin
My experience with this device was fun and informative. I felt at ease and calm during my drawing sessions. I think it would be a great de-stressing tool I can use for the future. I like the way the building turned out.
In this bitsy game, the user interacts by pressing the right arrow button. The user experiences a story with each button pressed. The dialogue is a narration of this story. Each scene has an image for the corresponding dialogue.
In my experience making this, I wanted to make compositions filled with different objects, but I resorted to simply making one or two objects per room. When I decided to narrate a story, I wanted images and scenes rather than interaction like a game. That is why I drew images in the rooms. There are times when I felt restricted by the story but I think I was able to go outside the box and add my own aesthetic into the storyline.
Write an answer to the following: In our upcoming in-class critique, what would be helpful for you to get feedback on? What decisions did you make that you’re not sure about?
I’m looking for critique on how to add more interaction and animation into each scene. I want the viewer to interact more with the game. I am also unsure of whether it is too short. I also think I would like feedback on the design and layout of each room. Some rooms feel bare or unfinished.
I found this game because I was hungry and it sounded cool.
Just kidding.
As I began playing, I found this game genuinely intriguing and fun. I think we need more breaks during our day to go to bitsy and play mindless games like this. I like the interactive quality when the character bumps into other characters and stuff like “hey watch it” comes up. Using the direction keys, the player can move around the environment and go into different hallways or rooms. These areas have different purposes or figures. The goal of the game is to find the cafeteria and acquire a delicious breakfast. It took me a good amount of time to find the cafeteria but I think a part of that was because I was interested in the responses of the characters I was bumping into.
I think this game would be super fun if it generated a new map or a variety of combination of maps.
(Couldn’t screenshot during the game, so these are bad iphone quality photos)
This is an acrylic painting done using a cardboard stamp that I made in my 3D studio last semester. The pattern of this stamp was inspired by the Mongolian ger home skeleton. Using the three colors of the Mongolia flag, I randomly printed these patterns around the canvas. I really liked the result of the randomness. Then I used photoshop to invert the image I took of the painting. I think I was a little concerned with someone owning the original uninverted artwork but I actually like this version more. I like the contrast between the blue and yellow and the range of lightness of the colors.
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This is a still-life of a mixed media collage I did for my 2D studio last semester. I really liked this piece I did because it was so messy of a composition that it doesn’t appear to be a still-life. I think the unifier of the piece is the concept of a spiral. The target symbol at the center represents movement and that is where my title came from. Although I like this piece, I think others would enjoy it more so that’s why I decided to mint this piece.
Artists are guaranteed copyright and moral protection over their artwork and identity. A problem that people aren’t aware of concerning NFT’s is that there is a network of investors who are paying with soft money and buying crypto-power. It is interesting how the money that was used to buy Beeple’s work was a result of doing business with other pieces of his work. It makes me wonder whether people are buying artwork for its purpose and artistry or for capital gain. The relationship between NFT’s and the real world are a bit hard to discern at the moment.
In the system, there is something called proof of work that is like a little puzzle that the computer solves. The process of “mining” is like a competition of trying to solve puzzles and get a “coin” through mining. There is no federal oversight for the amount of energy consumed by these “mining” endeavors. NFT’s are also not protected as intellectual property. It seems like NFT’s are a danger to many parties but the whole idea of making money off cryptocurrency is a fast and easy gain that people turn to. Furthermore, people don’t try to understand the hidden networking behind it and participate without much conviction.
Before reading these articles, I felt indifferent toward cryptocurrencies because it seemed too difficult for me to understand and something I would never participate in anyway. However, the problems seen in these articles make me wary of the mysterious and unregulated system of cryptocurrencies. I think I would still participate in currencies that are more environmentally friendly, but other factors also concern me such as the deep networking behind the money and use of artists rights.
https://foundation.app/studioknife/crypto-artist-s-routine-6111
This piece called “Crypto Artist’s Routine” is by Studioknife and owned by Mondo. The piece was sold for 3.608 ETH. Instantly, I felt that this was a genius piece of art. It pokes fun at the stereotypical trope of the hyper-obsessed gamer child-man working in the basement of their parents house getting sunlight once every two days. The ominous green and the intricacy of all the flashing technology captured my attention at first glance. What really pulled it all together was the title which just made me literally laugh out loud. The more I looked around I was able to see the smaller details that the artist considered. Around the overwhelming scene of wires and monitors, there are small remnants of the crypto-artist daily routine including copious amounts of red bull, soda, cigarettes, and pizza. Initially, I found this piece to be humorous and then I began feeling pity for this generated figure. The man is easily triggered by the decline of the ETH price. This points to my personal feelings toward the destruction and dissatisfaction of the love of money. For me, I don’t think the practice of selling cryptoart is necessarily a black and white situation. However, it can easily be distorted by one’s perspective and devotion to the practice. A haunting symbol of this piece is the headgear, covering the person’s eye, with a multitude of wires connecting to an unknown source. Without interpreting too much, I just assumed that it could represent a sort of obsession or puppeteering from an overarching theme.
https://foundation.app/katherine/sparklepuregreen-nrg-leaves-7175
I despise this piece because it makes a profit out of someone just eating fruit. It is so strange to capitalize on something I do not consider art. It just seems too easy to get thousands of dollars out of a fruit-eating video. Interestingly enough, I looked into her website and found out she is a graduate of Carnegie Mellon University. To be fair, many youtubers also make a huge profit from making “mukbang’s” which are basically videos of them eating. This comes in many forms such as ASMR, food challenges, or tempting and deliciously arrayed banquets. I am guilty of participating in the mukbang culture, especially when I am dieting and need some motivation. These youtubers and streamers make thousands to millions of dollars by just eating, a popular pastime of people worldwide. However, there are many critics of the mukbang world, often calling it “glorified binge-eating” nudging into the consciousness of a community of those suffering or recovering from eating disorders. As I get back to the main point of this artist’s video, I would also like to point to OnlyFans or other fancam based networks. At the root of these websites and applications is the feticization of human figures or actions. I find this pretty atrocious and do not support it morally. This is the reason why I was repulsed by the simple video of this artist eating. It may seem like an extreme opinion but to me, I see some underlying hints that I just cannot stomach.
https://superrare.co/artwork-v2/fiat-vs-bitcoin:-nbatopshotthis.-20819
This is an artwork by Jon Noorlander showing a figure representing bitcoin as this basketball player stomping multiple other players representing fiat. Fiat money refers to physical money- both paper and coinage. The contrast using the red and the lighter gold and green in this piece is phenomenal. Just like the first piece I found, I think this is a light and playful piece. Obviously, it is talking about a more complex issue about the rising influence of bitcoin over fiat currency. One thing I noticed that I would have changed, personally, are the paper money figures that leave a visible shape after being crashed into. I think it doesn’t give the satisfaction of defeat when there is some residue of a figure left rather than the idea of disintegration.
https://www.hicetnunc.xyz/objkt/5946
This is an interactive artwork made by tz1Q4…3rX8G who I found a lot of interest in. This particular piece is relevant to our class because of the project we did with generative and interactive coding. I enjoy it because it doesn’t just exist as a still image that the buyer owns but it provides some interaction with anyone who views it. When you aren’t motoring the project, it orbits on its own. I think this type of design would attract certain types of people.
These pieces almost read to me as artistic research. Two of these pieces are more entertaining and the other two appeal to niche audiences.
File “Monster”
First I started by sketching out my idea on paper with coordinates, functions I needed, and footnotes about the concept. This was the most important part for me to begin. Then I created the background of the desktop first. The concept is of a “file monster” that would eat the files. So I created a function of a file that appears whenever you click on the screen. I had trouble with the background color being in setup and when I created the waves using noise, I ended up making a big mistake. With Golan’s help, I fixed the issue and the waves work perfectly. Then I inquired of Connie’s help to draw the starfish according to the points on the hand. I was able to tweak with it more and create the final fish. I added some seashells as well that is attached to the waves. I would have liked to add a function for the files to disappear when the fish touches it, but I didn’t get to that.
This is a simple loop that I couldn’t figure out how to make seamless.
I used the example we went over in class to make the x and y function the same but changing the radians. I used the map function to associate the color with the rest/circle. Then I placed two rectangles in the center that changes size using the map function.
I couldn’t figure out the animLoop.theta function so it has a black frame that flashes before the loop starts again.
I really like this particular looping design that David Whyte created because it reminds me of Mongolian patterns. I included a reference image below of a pattern that is pretty common or familiar to me. The interesting thing about this is that not all lines or loops are going at the same speed. The image still loops, however, which is super confusing but intriguing at the same time. I like that in only several instances you can see the pattern so it is never complete.
Cindy Suen created a looping animation based on the song ‘Team’ by Lorde for a performance on The Voice. The production company stated that they were trying this new visual approach’, for the show. This shows how music can be incorporated into the art. While music is an art form itself, I like how Cindy Suen puts another medium of artistry through generating gifs.
Apart from the creative and practical concept of this, I was mindblown at the effortless looping of this specific piece. There is so much ingenuity from the creator because there are so many pieces moving around that it keeps your focus on different parts of the video and entertained for a while.