Author: serinal@andrew.cmu.edu

serinal – looking outward 02

Title: Visual Sounds of the Amazon

Year: 2017 (3 weeks ago to be a little more exact, sounds for actual piece were recorded in 2016)

Artist: Andy Thomas

Andy Thomas’s “Visual Sounds of the Amazon” is an extremely cool installment. It involves an array of colored visual shapes that are based on noises or the sounds of the Amazon rainforest. The piece attempts to capture the sounds of the different Amazonian birds in some sort of visual formation. This installment will be presented at a festival in Lima, Peru called “Render”. I really especially love the way he talks about his work, he says, “I see sounds as moving shapes and colours in my imagination. Bringing these to life is the challenging part. There are many countless hours drawing sketches and testing particle effects. Some of the results are more refined and closely match my imagination than others.” It is refreshing to see an artist openly acknowledging their work into something refined and something that could use more work to be similar to their vision.

Visual Sounds of the Amazon from Andy Thomas on Vimeo.

The algorithm of the piece relies mainly on the sound waves of the birds or animals in the Amazon. Thomas does some really impressive things with the 3D soften programs in link with digital audio software. I think the impressive thing is how well-matched the sounds go with the imagery and vice versa. The colors chosen and the shapes that are manipulated are all very detail oriented towards its’ matched sound. I am also really glad that Thomas uses these forms of art as a way to not only raise awareness about the deterioration of the Amazonian rainforest, but also donates money towards the WWF-Australian foundation. I also find it admirable when artists use new found technology and methods to not only influence a new wave of looking and presenting art, but use it for things they are passionate about (or a good cause).

Alternative Links:

 

serinal — self portrait (project 1)

sketch

//Serina Liu
//Section C
//serinal@andrew.cmu.edu
//Project-01
function setup() {
    createCanvas(600, 700);
    background(165, 203, 250);
    }

function draw() {

    strokeWeight(0)
    fill(107, 156, 185)
    rect (0, 605, 600, 80);

    strokeWeight(0)
    fill(107, 156, 185)
    rect (0, 500, 600, 80);

    strokeWeight(0)
    fill(107, 156, 185)
    rect (0, 390, 600, 80);

    strokeWeight(0)
    fill(107, 156, 185)
    rect (0, 280, 600, 80);
   
    strokeWeight (0) //hair upper
    fill (0 , 0 , 0)
    ellipse (300, 300, 420, 420);

    strokeWeight (0) //hair lower
    fill (0, 0, 0)
    rect (91, 300, 419, 290);

    strokeWeight (0) //head
    fill (255, 195, 170)
    ellipse (300, 300, 360, 360);

    strokeWeight (0) //nose
    fill (197, 151, 131)
    rect (290, 270, 10, 85);

    strokeWeight (0) //eye1
    fill (0, 0, 0)
    ellipse (220, 300, 30, 30);

    strokeWeight (0) //eye2
    fill (0, 0, 0)
    ellipse (370, 300, 30, 30);

    strokeWeight (0) //smile
    fill (256, 256, 256)
    arc (297, 389 , 80, 80, 0, PI, CHORD);

    strokeWeight (0) //smile interior mouth
    fill (0, 0, 0)
    arc (297, 395 , 80, 70, 0, PI, CHORD);

    strokeWeight (4) //glasses1
    fill (256, 256, 0, 20)
    ellipse (370, 300, 100, 100);

    strokeWeight (4) //glasses2
    fill (256, 256, 0, 20)
    ellipse (220, 300, 100, 100);

    strokeWeight (0)
    fill (0, 0, 0)
    rect (420, 300, 90, 10);

    strokeWeight (0)
    fill (0, 0, 0)
    rect (110, 300, 60, 10);

    strokeWeight (0)
    fill (0, 0, 0)
    rect (269, 300, 50, 10);

    strokeWeight (0)
    fill (255, 195, 170)
    rect (260, 470, 80, 60);

    strokeWeight (0)
    fill (255, 195, 170)
    ellipse (300, 670, 300, 300);

    strokeWeight (0)
    fill (153, 16, 21)
    ellipse (300, 690, 350, 350);

    strokeWeight (0)
    fill (255, 195, 170)
    arc (300, 514, 80, 80, 0, PI, CHORD);

    strokeWeight (0)
    fill (256, 256, 256)
    ellipse (375, 300, 20, 20);

    strokeWeight (0)
    fill (256, 256, 256)
    ellipse (225, 300, 20, 20);

    strokeWeight (5)
    noFill();
    arc(220, 315, 60, 60, HALF_PI+HALF_PI, PI);

    strokeWeight (5)
    noFill();
    arc(370, 315, 60, 60, HALF_PI+HALF_PI, PI);

    strokeWeight (0)
    fill (0, 0, 0)
    rect (187, 314, 65, 5);

    strokeWeight (0)
    fill (0, 0, 0)
    rect (338, 314, 65, 5);

    strokeWeight (0)
    fill (197, 151, 131) 
    triangle(276, 360, 295, 310, 313, 360);

    stroke(0,0,0)
    strokeWeight(3);
    fill(0);
    arc(220, 246, 60, 15, PI, TWO_PI);

    stroke(0,0,0)
    strokeWeight(3);
    fill(0);
    arc(372, 246, 60, 15, PI, TWO_PI);
    }

I have never coded before this class, so it took my some getting use to. The practice with the Mondrian definitely helped and made me a lot more comfortable with working with rectangular shapes. The arcs and the triangles took me a little time to figure out, but after Wednesday’s class, there was a nice guideline on the p5js site that ended up proving to be really really helpful. I think it turned out pretty well for a first attempt and I am looking forward to learning more ways to manipulate it/make it more detailed.

serinal — Looking Outward_01

One of the things that I am looking for as the advancement of technology and interactive design continues is the influence that it may have on clothing. Back in 2015, there was an article about a company, Print All Over Me, that was trying to give programmers a creative outlet and prompt people who aren’t in a creative field to explore that side of things.

Examples of PAOM’s ability and marketing of this new business
PAOM design concepts via technology driven customization

They push for collaboration and the companies collaborations with companies like Processing Foundation, SoSoLimited, and LIA, all push this extra customization in hopes to give creators and consumers a new platform of design. When this article was released in 2015, the feature of uploading your own code and having it made wasn’t available yet, but instead was a bit more primitive where you could customize the clothing via keywords, number keys, etc. and the code would look through the internet for an image that was fitting.

Although I am not sure how long this whole project has taken, looking at their website in 2017, they seem rather successful and has honed into their niche group pretty well. It will be interesting to see how much further this can be pushed with the inclusion of more technological advances.

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