Month: September 2016

Jess Medenbach-Looking Outwards-3

Frank Stella is an abstract artist who has been making work since the 1950’s. Initially making work that was minimalist illustration, paintings and abstract sculpture, Stella has recently moved on to creating images in 3D computer programs and then printing those out to be huge scale 3D sculptures.

I find this work to be really inspiring because he is making use of new technology to further artistic impulses and ideas he has already been working on for 50+ years. The flexibility of a computer program to extend those impulses and grant the ability to think even bigger is really inspiring.

One can now take an image they would draw and render it out with dimensionality while still playing with philosophical ideas and emotional impulses the way one would with painting, illustration or metal sculpture. Instead of the work in a computer program being dictated by the constraints of the program itself, he conceives of the idea or the feeling first and then uses the tools to render it out. Due to the comparative ease of 3D printing, he is then able to make these ideas larger scale and with more complexity, which I find very inspiring.

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Looking Outwards 03: 3D Print Gown

Wardrobing and jewelry designer Michael Schmidt teamed up with architect Francis Bitonti to create the world’s first fully articulated 3D printed gown. Using inspiration from Fibonacci’s sequence and the Golden Ratio/Spiral, the dress represents the merge between art (particularly pertaining to beauty) and mathematics. The gown itself is made up of nylon by Shapeways and thousands of unique components, which all pare down to 17 printed pieces dyed black and hand-adorned with over 12,000 Swarovski crystals. The gown was completely custom 3D printed to fit model Dita von Teese.

This project stands out to me because of its unique approach with transforming a mathematical formula for beauty into a tangible, ready-to-wear piece. The gown’s form adheres to and accentuates the contours of von Teese’s body, thus illustrating the makers’ attention to the gown’s ability to spotlight the beauty of not only the gown but of the human body. The project also highlights the possibilities of 3D printing, especially in regards to solving unique fitting problems and the ability to create a true “perfect fit.”

ShanWang-LookingOutwards-03

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The Parametric bench is one of the elements the collection of “Parametric furnitures”. Oleg Soroko crafted the project in 2014 with 18mm plywood sections that were fasten with iron rods, wound on the mounting bolts. The high-quality wood material, the waterproof varnish, the curvatures and the fact that the entire piece was composed by sections, all together generated a dynamic form that emphasized the shape of the bench better than a whole piece of solid wood would do.
Since there is no specification on the algorithms used by the artist for this bench, I looked into his other projects and found that in a similar project that accentuates the curve patterns used “gradient descent”, “marching cubes” algorithms as well as scripting in Rhinoceros. I suppose that he took similar approach in this project. The precise cut of the sections can be generated in Rhino through relatively simple and fast commands.
It is a relatively easy and inexpensive way of prototyping, and I can see its application in greater fields other than furniture design, such as architectural model and industrial design.

https://www.behance.net/gallery/18982743/Curve-descent-pattern

Christine Kim – Looking Outwards – 03

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A project I’ve come across this week is The Kiosk by the British firm, Buchanan Partnership. They’ve built the St. Helen’s Gardens flower stall in 2013 by using digital and hand fabrication. The timber exterior was cut by the CNC mill, which is computer run to control machine tools. With a steel structure and concrete base. This project was originally inspired by the electron scanning of the flower petals which had ridge patterns. Therefore, the lozenge shape of the kiosk is a contemporary interpretation of the floral motif. I admire that the shape of the flower kiosk was deeply inspired by the flower itself and by using digital fabrication the similar shapes were repeated to create the exterior. By doing so, it shows that this project does not lose the essence or the purpose of the project. The information about the exact algorithm used is not mentioned, but since it used digital fabrication as well as hand fabrication, a computational algorithm was used to produce the physical model. The Buchanan Partnership’s artistic sensibilities manifest through their choice of the external shape of the kiosk and the way to open the doors of the kiosk during the day, which is by rotating.

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Jihoonp_LookingOutwards-03

hypnos4

This porous structure called the Hypnosis Chamber, was installed in Modern Art Museum of Paris in 2005, by an architecture firm R&Sie(n). Their focus is on exploring the relationship between architecture, context and human.

“Urban form no longer depends on the arbitrary decisions or control over its emergence exercised by a few, but rather the ensemble of its individual contingencies.”

The firm explains the thought behind their theoretical computational design project, “I’ve heard about…,” which has become the motif for the subsequent Hypnosis room.

 

hypnos5

The Hypnosis chamber is to be experienced from the inside as a cognitive room. The vocal recordings makes the inhabitant indulge in a “wake up dream,” in which one becomes no longer human but an organic part of the chamber.

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Honestly, there are a lot of study to be done in order to fully understand this work. However, what I took from it was the sense of movement into a new form of formlessness which post-modern, post-capitalism society might lead to.  The hypnosis chamber is truly inspiring of the fact that spaces we inhibit no longer acknowledge us as separate, dominant beings but as an integral part of architecture, as to say the structure is not complete without us being in there.

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Also, the nature of the structure provokes what other forms would be only waiting to be created with the aid of computation. The limit is constantly being extended into the future.

GraceSimmons-LookingOutwards-03

A piece I admire is called Situation Room by Marc Fornes, made in 2014. It is a series of 20 large, pink, perforated circular structures that surround visitors to form an installation (the piece is supplemented with a soundtrack made by Jana Winderen). The structure is one continuous form made up of the individual aluminum spheres, each of increasing incremental diameters, which connect at certain joints and are smoothed over. These forms are generated using boolean mathematical operations. I admire how many different elements are used to create a sense of space, through the physical tunnels created, the lighting shining through the holes, and the soundtrack that is acoustically amplified.

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Entrance into the installation piece

I feel that the artist’s sensibilities are definitely reflected in this piece; Fornes has always focused on known versus unknown, and creating environments which can be both comforting or smothering. This piece allows viewers to explore, and prompts questions about what constitutes a space, and what factors make a place feel real or imagined.

Walking around within the piece
Walking around within the piece

https://theverymany.com/14-storefront/

http://www.dezeen.com/2014/10/15/marc-fornes-pink-aluminium-situation-room-installation-storefront-art-architecture-new-york/

 

TamiTedesco-Project-02-VariableFace

sketch

//Tami Tedesco
//Section 1 (9:30)
//ttedesco@andrew.cmu.edu
//Project-02

var eyeSize = 20;
var faceWidth = 100;
var faceHeight = 150;
var mouthHeight = 80;
var mouthWidth = 80;
var browWidth = 25;
var browHeight = 5;
var rectCorner = 20;
 
function setup() {
    createCanvas(300, 300);
    //random color fill
    r = random(255);
    g = random(255);
    b = random(255);
}
 
function draw() {
    background('#FBFF98');
    strokeWeight(4);
    //head
    fill(r, g, b, 127);
    rect(width / 2, height / 2, faceWidth,  faceHeight, rectCorner);
    fill(51);
    var eyeLX = width / 2 - faceWidth * 0.25;
    var eyeRX = width / 2 + faceWidth * 0.25;
    ellipse(eyeLX, height / 2, eyeSize, eyeSize);
    ellipse(eyeRX, height / 2, eyeSize, eyeSize);
    //mouth
    fill('#FFFFFF')
    arc(150, 175, mouthWidth, mouthHeight, 0, PI, CHORD);
    //eyebrows
    //L
        fill('#000000')
        rectMode(CENTER);
        translate(width/2, height/2);
        rotate(HALF_PI/3.0);
        rect(-35, -10, browWidth, browHeight);
    //R
        fill('#000000')
        rectMode(CENTER);
        rotate(-PI/3.0);
        rect(35, -10, browWidth, browHeight)
}
 
function mousePressed() {
    
    r = random(255);
    g = random(255);
    b = random(255);
    faceWidth = random(70, 150);
    faceHeight = random(100, 200);
    eyeSize = random(10, 30);
    mouthWidth = random(20, faceWidth);
    mouthHeight = random(20, faceHeight/2);
    browWidth = random(20, 40);
    browHeight = random(2, 15);
    rectCorner = random(0, 250)

}

So this is my variable face program! It generates a randomly colored face making different degrees of the >:D emoticon, which is one I use a lot when I text. In addition, the face shape, mouth size, eye size, and eyebrow size are all also randomly generated. The character of the >:D expression changes a bit depending on the facial structure behind it, so I wanted to explore that aspect with this program.

zhuoyinl-LookingOutwards-01

5bf-tm

The Virtuix Omni is a first-of-its-kind active virtual reality motion platform. Compared to the prevailing augmented reality such as Pokemon Go! and virtual reality such as PSVR and Oculus rift, Vituix Omni is a platform that brought you into the virtual world. Compared to AR and VR which largely depends on algorithms and software engineering, VO is a hardware work still in concept. The prototype was highly priced. It has a high-tech circle to fix player’s body and a smooth platform on which players could move smoothly. The sensors around the ring could detect the move of the body. Within the circle, the player is equipped with Oculus and player stick. The authors combined the hardware such as sensors with the VR system to create a real virtual world for the player. And the players’ motion is the feedback that authors intend to capture during the game. The author was inspired by VR and brought it to a higher level of experience using Unity engines and motion tracking hardware. This is the concept of true VR platform. Currently, people has been used it for gaming. Yet in the future, it could be used in other fields such as 3D modeling and
adventuring.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PHL4xAeMiRg
http://www.virtuix.com

zhuoyinl-LookingOutwards-02

air-quality-sequence

The artists vsualzied three data about people’s lives in New York into some public posters. I admire the project because the artists are giving the art and design fields new definition which inspire people to rethink of their daily lives. The artists using Python, PHP, MySQL and other tools to generate data, but they did not stop with those bunch of data, they rearrange the data and make them present in a more visual way. They used color contrast, density contrast and waves to indicate the change on the flow of people, data and environmental factors over time, and finally present these visualized data to public using large posters. In this way, people are getting more aware of the their daily lives, and things happened around them. By looking at things from a god view, the invisible trend and subtle changes become visible, making people to realize or know more about who they are and what they are doing. That is part of the main goal of art and design: to inspire and invoke people to something that are being ignored.

zhuoyinl-project02-variable-face

sketch

//Zhuoying Lin
//Section A
//zhuoyinl@andrew.cmu.edu
// Project-02-Variable-Face

//color
var colorA = 243;
var colorB = 175;
var colorC = 133;
var colorD = 75;
var colorE = 251;
var colorF = 228;
var colorG = 243;
var colorH = 275;
var colorI = 244;
var colorJ = 145;
var colorK = 5;

//position
var hairA = 290;
var eyeLX = 155
var eyeLY = 235
var eyeRX = 245
var eyeRY = 235

//size




function setup() {
    createCanvas(640, 480);
}

function draw() {
    background(180);

    //neck
    fill(colorA, colorB, colorB);
    noStroke();
    quad(220, 350, 160, 480, 100, 480, 160, 350);

    //hair
    fill(colorC, colorD, colorE);
    noStroke();
    arc(200, hairA, 330, hairA + 150, PI, 0);

    //face
    fill(colorF, colorG, colorH);
    noStroke();
    ellipse(200, 240, 200 ,240);

    //eyebrowse
    noFill();
    strokeWeight(10);
    stroke(85, 75, 37);
    curve(120, 200, 140, 180, 160, 180, 180, 200);
    curve(210, 200, 230, 180, 250, 180, 270, 200);

    //eyes
    fill(255);
    stroke(1);
    strokeWeight(5);
    ellipse(150, 230, 30, 30);
    ellipse(240, 230, 30, 30);

    //eyeballs
    fill(1),
    noStroke();
    ellipse(eyeLX, eyeLY, 10, 10);
    ellipse(eyeRX, eyeRY, 10, 10);

    //nose
    fill(244, 145, 5);
    noStroke();
    triangle(195, 250, 215, 290, 175, 290);

    //mouse
    fill(246, 124, 150);
    noStroke();
    arc(195, 305, 40, 80, 0, PI);

    stroke(1);
    strokeWeight(5);
    line(155, 305, 235 ,305);
}

function mousePressed() {
    hairA = random(290, 350);
    colroA = random(10, 255);
    colorB = random(10, 230);
    colorC = random(0, 200);
    colorD = random(50, 100);
    colorE = random(0, 255);
    colorF = random(0, 255);
    colorG = random(0, 255);
    colorH = random(0, 255);
    colorI = random(0, 255);
    colorJ = random(0, 255);
    eyeLX = random(140, 155);
    eyeLY = random(218, 235);
    eyeRX = random(228, 245);
    eyeRY = random(218, 235);



}

For this project, I want to make different elements to change in a different way. I tried to make the distance between the end of hair end and headtop to maintain the same so I use equations to replace a single variable.