Project Abstract:
Users enter a closed, screened space and can interact with a “future projector” to choose and see different global futures, by pointing the device left, right or center. Users will see a continuum of video clips and images from contemporary media and science-fiction films, specifically those that deal with projecting a vision of the future regardless of time or technology (e.g. Metropolis, Waterworld, Mad Max films, Blade Runner, Minority Report). The media content will focus on themes of man vs. nature, utopia vs. dystopia, and the imagined future environment. The concept is that we tend to form our own ideas of the REAL future based on science fiction stories, in this case science fiction films, and synthesize them with current political, cultural, technological and sociological developments. This project allows users to explore those ideas and gain a better understanding of their own behavior and thinking relative to the future of the planet.
Project Goals:
My artistic goals include developing a non-linear narrative using video, still imagery and animation in an interactive format, using the context of dealing with space and users exploring that space in a natural way. My professional and personal goals are to future develop my technical proficiency using physical computing in my work, while developing the conceptual ideas that necessitate the use of interactive media and technology, and learning to use it effectively. My ideas largely deal with mass media, ubiquitous technology, nature and environment, all in the context of human interaction and behavior.
It is my desire that the work is accessible to anyone and everyone who cares about the immediate and distant future. I feel that because there is a heightened awareness of global warming and other environmental issues, people are anxious about their future and children's futures. It is through this piece that I hope they can assuage their fears and more concretely understand their relationship between present actions, and future realities, and are able to visualize them more easily using pop culture references, news and documentary media.
How will you measure the success of your project:
I like to think of what I am creating not unlike Scrooge's journey in time with the aid of the Ghosts of Christmas Past, Present and Future. Having a“visions of the future” coupled with “reflections of the present and past” I hope will somehow jar viewers into thinking seriously about their own choices relating to the environment and their own well-being.
Background/Need:
I don't necessarily believe what I am making to be “out of the box” or revelatory in the use of technology other than the fact that the interactive projector conveys a certain degree of simplicity in its attempt to map its interactivity directly to real-life interaction. The direction of the piece is nearly pedantic in its attempt to inspire, influence and change the way people think about themselves and the choices they make. In terms of artists I look to John Maeda in his approach to “simple” systems design and interaction, and to graphic designers like Milton Glaser and Stefan Sagmeister for simplicity in messaging, concept and visual immediacy.
Project Timeline:
WEEKS 1-4: Device Development – improving internal and external components of the interactive projector.
WEEKS 5-7: Interface Development and Content Development– mapping the system to software, and testing the device with the system.
WEEK 8: Content Incorporation and Installation Construction
WEEK 9: Testing and Debugging
Resources List:
HARDWARE: 5 degrees sensor (gyrometer + accelerometer), digital LCD, super bright LED, lenses, cooling fan, wires, device casing, small on/off switch
SOFTWARE: Max/MSP/Jitter, VVVV
INSTALLATION COMPONENTS: 10x10 tent, fabric for the projection screens/walls, power cables, data cables, RCA cables
PEOPLE: Kenzan or Steve (some ID person) to assist with building external casing for the projector, assistance and guidance with programming the interactive components for video compositing and mixing
Saturday, October 06, 2007
Wednesday, September 05, 2007
5 beautiful things
When I hear the word "aesthetics", I think beauty. A simplified definition of aesthetics:
I guess I'm not too far off in thinking about 5 ordinary things that I love because they are beautiful, the pure goodness of the design and form. It's hard not to refer to things like my iPod, my couch, my favorite vase etc. since these things a "designed" with a capital D.
1) MTA Subway Map - Ok, so this is technically designed by someone, but it actually is nice looking! I keep one posted on the fridge for easy access (w/ cute magnets) and of course you come across them in every NYC subway station.
2) Macintosh Performa 200 - I have one in our bedroom, just cuz like the way it looks. I don't even use it, except as a bookend.
3) IKEA spoon - It's inexpensive and has clean lines, and the form of the spoon is well balanced. It lives in our kitchen and used for eating spoony type meals. We could have registered for fancier flatware set, but most are damn ugly.
4) POM Tea container - It's the packaging that comes with POM flavored teas, and I liked the container so much we kept it and use the container as a water glass.
5) Xmas Target Gift Card - It's soo cute I couldn't throw it away after it was used up. There is a little button you can press and there are teeny LEDs that blink and light up the tree. It's taped to my work wall along w/ magazine tears, postcards, gallery fliers, sketches and interesting food packaging.
the study of the mind and emotions in relation to the sense of beauty
I guess I'm not too far off in thinking about 5 ordinary things that I love because they are beautiful, the pure goodness of the design and form. It's hard not to refer to things like my iPod, my couch, my favorite vase etc. since these things a "designed" with a capital D.
1) MTA Subway Map - Ok, so this is technically designed by someone, but it actually is nice looking! I keep one posted on the fridge for easy access (w/ cute magnets) and of course you come across them in every NYC subway station.
2) Macintosh Performa 200 - I have one in our bedroom, just cuz like the way it looks. I don't even use it, except as a bookend.
3) IKEA spoon - It's inexpensive and has clean lines, and the form of the spoon is well balanced. It lives in our kitchen and used for eating spoony type meals. We could have registered for fancier flatware set, but most are damn ugly.
4) POM Tea container - It's the packaging that comes with POM flavored teas, and I liked the container so much we kept it and use the container as a water glass.
5) Xmas Target Gift Card - It's soo cute I couldn't throw it away after it was used up. There is a little button you can press and there are teeny LEDs that blink and light up the tree. It's taped to my work wall along w/ magazine tears, postcards, gallery fliers, sketches and interesting food packaging.
Thursday, June 14, 2007
the new color of summer
So I am on summer break, returned from my wonderful vacation to Japan. I wished I could have stayed longer. I saw some art while I was there and discovered a few artists whose work resonated with me. I'm particularly interested in the orchestral work of Toru Takemitsu. I feel like his music goes with some of the images I have been making recently. I also saw some artwork that eerily looks like the piece I just completed, but in painting form. I can't seem to find the artist's name.
Anyway, that got me thinking that maybe I should spend time in Japan working on art and making stuff. I feel like I could learn a lot from the culture and the ways of working that Japanese artists, musicians and architects think about space, technology and structure. So I am actually conceiving of the crazy idea of studying Japanese during my normal school year and getting proficient enough to do an internship or have a job Summer 2008.
That brings me back to my thesis and my focus. At the moment, I am still interested in 3D visualization, and I am so attracted to flashy, bright things I get distracted for a wee bit. I am considering continuing my work on the interactive, digital projector, seeing that I received quite a good response from the show I had at the end of the year. I also am attached to my wand/conducting stick idea but I feel like I need more time to develop that idea fully. So, in the time I have to finish school I can tackle a doable project. I only have a year and I am still learning sooo much!
Perhaps the next step is having the 3D world have generative, interactive movement so its not so static. I suppose I'll have to rework my projector into something more solid and clear, but I do think its not impossible. I think its an idea worth delving into. I just need to get more comfortable with the technology (Maya, Director) and get to the point that I can really tweak and test.
Anyway, that got me thinking that maybe I should spend time in Japan working on art and making stuff. I feel like I could learn a lot from the culture and the ways of working that Japanese artists, musicians and architects think about space, technology and structure. So I am actually conceiving of the crazy idea of studying Japanese during my normal school year and getting proficient enough to do an internship or have a job Summer 2008.
That brings me back to my thesis and my focus. At the moment, I am still interested in 3D visualization, and I am so attracted to flashy, bright things I get distracted for a wee bit. I am considering continuing my work on the interactive, digital projector, seeing that I received quite a good response from the show I had at the end of the year. I also am attached to my wand/conducting stick idea but I feel like I need more time to develop that idea fully. So, in the time I have to finish school I can tackle a doable project. I only have a year and I am still learning sooo much!
Perhaps the next step is having the 3D world have generative, interactive movement so its not so static. I suppose I'll have to rework my projector into something more solid and clear, but I do think its not impossible. I think its an idea worth delving into. I just need to get more comfortable with the technology (Maya, Director) and get to the point that I can really tweak and test.
Tuesday, April 10, 2007
The Enchanted Forest
The Enchanted Forest is an interactive installation that creates the illusion of walking into a book and translating the experience of falling into the world of the book and navigating through mishmash of multicultural fairy tale and folk tales as the female protagonist of the story. The narrative of the heroine against all odds is archetypal and fragmented, the objects are symbolic to represent the key elements of a story, and the visual style is slightly off-kilter, surreal and dreamlike to evoke a state of disorientation, fantasy and delusion.
The viewer enters a room where they pick up a “magic flashlight,” a portable, hand-held digital video projector with a 3-axis accelerometer inside of it. When the viewer turns it on, the magic flashlight will project a beam of light on the surface of a sparsely illustrated wall. The video projection changes depending upon the direction and orientation of the magic flashlight to the wall. The experience of using the magic flashlight is similar to how a normal flashlight works; it illuminates a dark space, while the magic flashlight illuminates AND reveals hidden elements of the black and white drawings on surface of the walls. The user would hear audio cues that they have “found” something and then click the button on the flashlight to access the object.
The desired user experience would be to have the user explore the space with the magic flashlight and try to find all of the hidden objects, in an attempt to piece together the narrative. Thus the initial engagement of the interactive device draws the user in, while the time spent “egg hunting” pays off with richer content. Each user would have a different experience since the objects themselves would change at random (every time a new user interacts with the magic flashlight, the system would reset and repopulate the world with new objects).
The environment is based loosely on that of a mythical forest, a place were magical creatures live, where characters get lost, and where truths are discovered. In nearly all cultures, the forest is not only a familiar locale in which real people lived in and nearby, but a place that embodies the darker side of humanity. I am interested in exploring those dark, unfathomable places that reside in our subconscious by bringing viewers to a familiar jumping off-point – back to their childhood – where they can remember what it was like to believe in the improbable, nonsensical and unreal.
The overall narrative structure of the story would follow the same flow, as many stories have interchangeable elements that serve similar purposes in a given story. The story itself is highly subjective and inferred by the viewer... there is no specific order that things occur in. The story is created in discrete parts, and is told through the suggested relationships between the objects the user discovers, as an archaeologist forms his or her own narrative based on the artifacts uncovered at a dig site. Additionally, the mythology of fairy tales will hopefully be familiar to most audiences and the story can be understood (on a low level) as a morality tale gone awry.
The viewer enters a room where they pick up a “magic flashlight,” a portable, hand-held digital video projector with a 3-axis accelerometer inside of it. When the viewer turns it on, the magic flashlight will project a beam of light on the surface of a sparsely illustrated wall. The video projection changes depending upon the direction and orientation of the magic flashlight to the wall. The experience of using the magic flashlight is similar to how a normal flashlight works; it illuminates a dark space, while the magic flashlight illuminates AND reveals hidden elements of the black and white drawings on surface of the walls. The user would hear audio cues that they have “found” something and then click the button on the flashlight to access the object.
The desired user experience would be to have the user explore the space with the magic flashlight and try to find all of the hidden objects, in an attempt to piece together the narrative. Thus the initial engagement of the interactive device draws the user in, while the time spent “egg hunting” pays off with richer content. Each user would have a different experience since the objects themselves would change at random (every time a new user interacts with the magic flashlight, the system would reset and repopulate the world with new objects).
The environment is based loosely on that of a mythical forest, a place were magical creatures live, where characters get lost, and where truths are discovered. In nearly all cultures, the forest is not only a familiar locale in which real people lived in and nearby, but a place that embodies the darker side of humanity. I am interested in exploring those dark, unfathomable places that reside in our subconscious by bringing viewers to a familiar jumping off-point – back to their childhood – where they can remember what it was like to believe in the improbable, nonsensical and unreal.
The overall narrative structure of the story would follow the same flow, as many stories have interchangeable elements that serve similar purposes in a given story. The story itself is highly subjective and inferred by the viewer... there is no specific order that things occur in. The story is created in discrete parts, and is told through the suggested relationships between the objects the user discovers, as an archaeologist forms his or her own narrative based on the artifacts uncovered at a dig site. Additionally, the mythology of fairy tales will hopefully be familiar to most audiences and the story can be understood (on a low level) as a morality tale gone awry.
Saturday, April 07, 2007
Progress!
So it has been a fruitful past couple of days... Thursday I got my accelerometer working (I had used the wrong 3.3V regulator datasheet and hooked it up wrong) and Friday I spent the whole day getting the projector part working. I had to rewire and resauter since the original wires were brittle and breaking! Once I got everything hooked up, it was a great feeling... The resolution was better than expected and the brightness factor seems to be OK since I replaced the original projector bulb w/ a extra bright Xenon bulb. I hooked it up to a security camera to get video input and check the image quality.
Here are some pics:
Next step is to get the projector into a temporary housing made from foam core so I don't have to hold all the parts to see a projection. I just picked some up from Pearl Paint today. This weekend, I am programming the interactivity in Director to work with the accelerometer.
Here are some pics:
Next step is to get the projector into a temporary housing made from foam core so I don't have to hold all the parts to see a projection. I just picked some up from Pearl Paint today. This weekend, I am programming the interactivity in Director to work with the accelerometer.
Wednesday, April 04, 2007
Loveliness in its forms
I forgot to post my diagram from yesterday... here it is, thought I am changing it:
Ok, so I am somewhat frustrated. I FINALLY have all my parts today and I got my Arduino mini working and wired up the board, added the 3.3 V voltage regulator and got some numbers out of the Serial port... but they are all zeros!! Eh! I don't know why I am not getting anything out of my accelerometer. Here is a pic:
Anyway, I am going to bug Vida tomorrow and figure out what's going on... I can't tell if its a power issue or if my sauter job was insufficient. My money is on power!
Ok, so I am somewhat frustrated. I FINALLY have all my parts today and I got my Arduino mini working and wired up the board, added the 3.3 V voltage regulator and got some numbers out of the Serial port... but they are all zeros!! Eh! I don't know why I am not getting anything out of my accelerometer. Here is a pic:
Anyway, I am going to bug Vida tomorrow and figure out what's going on... I can't tell if its a power issue or if my sauter job was insufficient. My money is on power!
Tuesday, April 03, 2007
A long time coming
So I have been bad about blogging. Not that I haven't been working on my projects... quite the contrary. I have been reading, researching, ewindowshopping for parts, and getting better at Arduino and wiring the breadboard. It is starting to all make sense to me!
I should really post a picture of Darwin w/ skin. He is pretty cute. I feel bad for not documenting that project better. :(
My final project will be a video projector, but not any projector, but one that can change the image based on the orientation of the projector using an accelerometer. I am Wii obsessed, especially after beating Zelda. Woohoo! I need to find the descriptive text I originally wrote for the project. However, the final will be different after talking about my project in class. I will have to simplify and adjust my original idea, but I really really really don't want to attach a potentiometer to the projector. Bleah!
Anyway, I have my work cut out for me. I will try to be better about blogging from here on out!!
I should really post a picture of Darwin w/ skin. He is pretty cute. I feel bad for not documenting that project better. :(
My final project will be a video projector, but not any projector, but one that can change the image based on the orientation of the projector using an accelerometer. I am Wii obsessed, especially after beating Zelda. Woohoo! I need to find the descriptive text I originally wrote for the project. However, the final will be different after talking about my project in class. I will have to simplify and adjust my original idea, but I really really really don't want to attach a potentiometer to the projector. Bleah!
Anyway, I have my work cut out for me. I will try to be better about blogging from here on out!!
Saturday, February 24, 2007
Darwin the Slug
So I made a little critter I call Darwin the Slug. Here he is in his naked glory.
He was a bit jumpy in class, but hopefully with the programming I'm adding and the potentiometer to control his energy he'll be a bit more interesting. My goal is to be able to control his "mood" from being extremely slow and apathetic to happy to scared and frenetic. Of course, I'm adding some skin to Darwin, so he looks more like a slug and the stuffing will weigh him down a bit... I hope it doesn't cause any extra problems.
Monday, February 19, 2007
Thesis dreams
No joke, I literally had a dream about what I want to do for my thesis. Several ideas have been floating around my noggin, but there wasn't one that I really was interested in. I was in the middle of reading a book called "The Phantom Tollbooth". It's a wonderful children's novel about a boy who is bored and finds a portal to another world... I highly recommend to anyone who likes getting their imagination on! A friend randomly loaned it to me... at any rate, I fell asleep while reading this book and I had a dream where the book left off... it had a character named Chroma conducting this 1,000 piece orchestra in order to create a sunrise. I can't really describe the dream except that it was incredibly beautiful, the music and the visuals of seeing these many players creating this moment in time. The closest thing I could describe it as being similar to is the Northern Lights.
So for the physical computing component, I am interested in making some conducting gloves. I did a bit of research on this topic, and many people have done variations on the idea of gesture recognition and conducting music, visuals, virtual orchestras, etc. However, I believe my direction is unique in that I want to combine video tracking with sensors to accentuate the movements and clearly capture every little movement. I'm not speaking broad gestures... I myself have tried conducting and played the alto saxophone in concert band so I know that its not just about keeping time and looking dramatic on a stage. Every conductor has a distinct style and I thought it would be interesting to visually see the difference in their style not reacting to the sonic information, but the actual movements of a practiced conductor.
Therefore, someone who for example does not have experience in conducting would not be able to use my device... which is OK by me because I much rather prefer to see professionals performing live art for me. I feel that my role as an artist is to interpret the score visually, and allow variation upon how the conductor interprets the score musically, thus perform the visual score I create to go with the musical one. I have some experience designing and running lights for theater, so I understand how live performance is enhanced and fluid with some visual flow of light and in this case video projection.
At any rate, it goes nicely along with my first project using gloves and I think if I do this I'll probably make the gloves from scratch... did I mention I've tried my hand at designing and constructing costumes? I hope to combine my device with Max/MSP/Jitter and design a rough prototype of hand gestures controlling a multisource video feed.
Oh, and I'm sooo stoked that NIME will be hosted in New York this year in June... what luck! :)
So for the physical computing component, I am interested in making some conducting gloves. I did a bit of research on this topic, and many people have done variations on the idea of gesture recognition and conducting music, visuals, virtual orchestras, etc. However, I believe my direction is unique in that I want to combine video tracking with sensors to accentuate the movements and clearly capture every little movement. I'm not speaking broad gestures... I myself have tried conducting and played the alto saxophone in concert band so I know that its not just about keeping time and looking dramatic on a stage. Every conductor has a distinct style and I thought it would be interesting to visually see the difference in their style not reacting to the sonic information, but the actual movements of a practiced conductor.
Therefore, someone who for example does not have experience in conducting would not be able to use my device... which is OK by me because I much rather prefer to see professionals performing live art for me. I feel that my role as an artist is to interpret the score visually, and allow variation upon how the conductor interprets the score musically, thus perform the visual score I create to go with the musical one. I have some experience designing and running lights for theater, so I understand how live performance is enhanced and fluid with some visual flow of light and in this case video projection.
At any rate, it goes nicely along with my first project using gloves and I think if I do this I'll probably make the gloves from scratch... did I mention I've tried my hand at designing and constructing costumes? I hope to combine my device with Max/MSP/Jitter and design a rough prototype of hand gestures controlling a multisource video feed.
Oh, and I'm sooo stoked that NIME will be hosted in New York this year in June... what luck! :)
Shopping for not shoes can be fun
So this past weekend I spent a good deal of time shopping around Manhattan for goodies for my electronics projects. I fortunately was able to find the mysterious electronics store on Canal Street, a good Radio Shack and several fabric stores selling fabric with metal threads. It's a funny thing to ask them "do you carry conductive fabrics?" then rephrasing with "do you have fabric with REAL metal threads in them?" as there are many kinds of metallic fabrics with little to no metal in them. I should have brought my multimeter with me, but I forgot. Oh well... the best samples appear to be from Mood, made famous by Project Runway. I also found some interesting wire-mesh like material from NY Elegant Fabrics, which specializes in theatrical fabrics. And I was able to source some lame (from fencing gear) through the dept chair Peter Patchen, who happens to be an avid fencer.
Anyway, my original idea for my project was supposed to be a slug with legs, kind of tadpolish in form. However, this is quite difficult to achieve especially in a week and with limited familiarity with creation of such a creature. I found a gear set and am using a smaller motor, so I have moving limbs that don't really propel the creature anywhere. I wanted it to have a single eye (as the on-off switch), but I'm having trouble with the construction. And the electronics part is random at best... I don't know always why certain things work, it becomes a matter of trial and error. Very frustrating!
Anyway, my original idea for my project was supposed to be a slug with legs, kind of tadpolish in form. However, this is quite difficult to achieve especially in a week and with limited familiarity with creation of such a creature. I found a gear set and am using a smaller motor, so I have moving limbs that don't really propel the creature anywhere. I wanted it to have a single eye (as the on-off switch), but I'm having trouble with the construction. And the electronics part is random at best... I don't know always why certain things work, it becomes a matter of trial and error. Very frustrating!
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