I found Notes On Blindness: Into Darkness by an interactive artist, Beatrice Lartigue very inspiring. Through the testimony of John Hull, who documented his experience of “a world beyond sight” after losing his vision, the artist created an interactive experience utilizing the VR to explore a specific moment of the blind. Through the use of real time 3D animations and sound, the program allows one to get a taste of “a world beyond sight.” I found this particular project by Beatrice Lartigue, a woman artist, intriguing because it allows one to experience a world one cannot imagine a realistic, interactive program. This project is not only inspiring for its techniques but also its attempt to explore another world through the project.
An interactive comic by Nova JiangA viewer making a comic using the Ideogenetic Machine by Nova Jiang Photo: Patrick LydonA viewer making a comic using the Ideogenetic Machine by Nova Jiang Photo: Patrick LydonNova Jiang
Nova Jiang is a Chinese artist that builds interactive installations based in Los Angeles. She has a degree in Media Arts from UCLA and has been doing work that makes the audience relate with her artwork in one way or another.
A comic template by Nova Jiang
The project Ideogenetic Machine that started in 2001 and is still ongoing generates a 4 page graphic novel in real time based on the photos taken of viewers and previously drawn news events. The artist uses a camera to capture visitors who are eager to pose and use their creativity to make a graphic novel that features them as the protagonist. Then, she uses customized software to make those photos into a line drawing and integrate them into the partially finished story randomly. Finally, the visitor can add dialogue into the text boxes left blank based on their own interpretation. Jiang adds to the database of drawings continuously, converting her views of current events into drawings that are then used to make each customized graphic novel.
A viewer making a comic using the Ideogenetic Machine by Nova Jiang Photo: Otto Saxinger
What is interesting to me about this project is the importance of the viewer in making the comic. The amount of interactivity surpasses many other interactive installations. Another interesting thing is that the project is always up to date. I admire Jiang for her perseverance in adding drawings of current events into the system and making it a story that matters.
I looked at the work of Chris Sugrue, who is an artist and programmer focused on developing interactive installations, audio-visual performances, and experimental interfaces. A graduate of Parsons School of Design, her work plays with technology through investigating topics such as artificial life, eye-tracking and optical illusions.
I was intrigued by Sugrue’s project, “Delicate Boundaries,” which is an interactive installation that serves as a representation of how our “digital world” (i.e. smartphones, tablets, and laptops) creeps into our physical world (our bodies). Sugrue created small bugs made of light that crawl onto users’ bodies when they interact with the installation, leading to an interesting effect in which people attempt to swat away bugs that only exist virtually. This might also be interpreted as people trying to separate their physical world from their digital one.
For “Delicate Boundaries,” Segrue received an honorary mention from Vida Art and Artificial Life Awards and first prize from Share Festival.
For this week’s post, I decided to focus on designer, educator, and creator Rachel Wingfield. Wingfield attended the Royal College of Art and studied responsive environments that are inspired by living systems. Her concentration in school is still evident in the work she has produced throughout her professional career.
Rachel Wingfiled (credit to Loop.ph)
In 2003, Wingfield founded Loop.ph, a crafting space and laboratory that focuses on incorporating living materials and technology into public environments. As the founder of Loop.ph and as a designer, researcher and educator, Wingfield encourages designers and the public to intervene on an urban scale, to turn living materials into visual experiences and environments.
A project that incorporated these fundamentals was Brainwaves: Faster than Sound. The project was done in collaboration with Loop.ph, the contributing artists being Wingfield, Mathias Gmachl, Professor Vincent Walsh, Mira Calix, Anna Meredith, and The Aurora Orchestra, Joana Seguro – Lumin. The installation was constructed of dead trees that were arranged into a highly intricate grid of electro-luminous strings that worked in tandem with the positions of the musicians in the space. While the musicians performed, MRI images and slices of Malthius’ skull would be projected, demonstrating the intricacies of neural functions in action.
The strings hanging above the musiciansAn example of one of many projections
I particularly admired this project for it’s unique output – the final installation incorporated biology, music, and technology to create this immersive and very futuristic experience. I think that what Wingfield is doing as an artist is constructing a bridge between science, technology, and the arts even further.
example 3D printed watch band for Moto 360 Smartwatch
Tactum: the user interacting with the projection
I found the Tactum project created by MADLAB.CC to be extremely inspiring. Madeline Gannon is the head of the MADLAB.CC, which is a research studio specializing in integrating design and computational tools to develop interfaces for crafting wearables on and around the human body.
Madeline has background in architecture and computation design, and is currently PhD candidate at Carnegie Mellon University.
Tactum project specifically dealt with the manipulation of interactive digital geometry on user’s skin. The gestures used within Tactum are designed to be natural and intuitive for users. By poking, pinching or rubbing users can customize their own wearable within the embedded 3D printing fabrication constraints in the programmed geometry. The project was implemented with the combination of CAD backend for projection, existing 3D SCAN and 3D printer.
I’m particularly intrigued by the potential extended usage for this technology, and hope for the improvement on the precision.
I chose Adrien Segan, a data sculptor and product design visualizer. As a product design major, I initially was drawn to her pieces, all of which showcase some tremendous craft and form. After reading more material on her vision, it became clear that her projects identity’s were about the embodiment of data regarding the natural world. She takes a tangible emotional approach to visualizing statistical information while:
“Scientific conventions are founded on the belief that we must systematically eliminate emotional involvement in order to uncover truths about the natural world. As a result, I feel a deep disconnect from nature and a great loss of intuitive knowledge.”
Her work is the bridge between compelling data, and powerful emotion that together inspire great vision. Her Trends in Water Use project is one example in which she uses USGS data as dimensions of a cavernous canyon, creating a representation of the absence of water, the gravity of the situation, and the passing of time.
One critique I did have, particularly with this project, was the fact that at first glance, it looks like a piece of decorative furniture. I didn’t understand the piece until I read the description on the website and watched an accompanying video. Although I am now intrigued with the project’s meaning, I am unsure how it will be interpreted by people viewing it for the first time without context.
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