LookingOutwards-10 – Page 7 – [OLD FALL 2017] 15-104 • Introduction to Computing for Creative Practice

ashleyc1-Section C-LookingOutwards-10

Rachel Rossin’s work is a multi-media, installation artist based in New York City. Her exhibition Lossy, is an investigation of the limitations of VR especially in a physical realm. She takes pre-created images and scans and alters them via VR functions and photogrammetry – creating infinite VR worlds that viewers can explore beyond her paintings. She then creates large oil paintings from these altered images within the VR world. I think this recycling process of taking reality and altering then putting back into reality is very cool. During her artist talk at the VR convention in Pittsburgh last year, Rossin says that she’s just trying to make sense of VR through painting and it’s just there to be a physical encapsulation. But I think there’s more because there is the complexity about translating something physical to virtual to physical again.

Gif animation of her contributing work for the VR salon in Pittsburgh

Maybe it’s a commentary about perceived reality, or maybe it’s about entropy, though Rossin denied it during the presentation. Her piece at the VR salon, a floating wreck composed of juxtaposed scenes from her life, felt ethereal as one floated around; something I find present in her translated paintings. Since she is a rather young artist, I’m interested to see how she develops and whether or not she decides to venture in recreating the digital world through other mediums besides painting.

Sources:

http://ziehersmith.com/exhibition/139/lossy

rossin.co/

Rachel Rossin’s Trippy Paintings of Reality as Seen Through VR

kyungak-lookingoutwards-10

(Kate Hollenbach, USER_IS_PRESENT, 2017)

Kate Hollenbach is an artist and a designer that works with computational programs to generate her works. She holds MFA from UCLA and a degree of computer science and engineering from MIT and was a director of design and computation at Oblong industries. Now, she examines new technologies to create an interactive space that explores the connection between one’s body, gestures, and physical space in relation to technological devices, such as phones.

“USER_IS_PRESENT” is an expansion of the relationship I just stated above. The work consists of three monitors that split across virtual and physical spaces. Hollenbach recorded three different point of views of the phone: the actual screen, back camera, and front camera. She captured the motion of both the user, phone, and the outside world and tried to bring them altogether. I admire the concept of her work. The spontaneous capture of the three view points looked fascinating when they were put together. The emphasis on being in both virtual and physical space seemed amazing.

Ziningy1 – Section C – Looking Outwards 10

Graduated with a MFA degree in media art in UCLA, Nova Jiang is a visual artist that work with computational system that are structurally open and aim to evoke the tactile and creative participation of the audience. When I was browsing through her website, my attention was attracted to this little garden-like installation project called Landscape Abbreviated. Landscape Abbreviated is a kinetic maze consisting of modular elements with rotating planters, which form a garden that is simultaneously a machine. The planters are controlled by a software program that continuously generates new maze patterns based on mathematical rules; they rotate to form shifting pathways that encourage visitors to change direction and viewpoints as they move through the space. I really enjoyed this project as it combines the rigorous software system with the organic setting to induced the unpredictable element in the experience. It is also highly immersive while the participants are in the maze, and the randomly moving planters in a way influences the viewers to be more conscious and sensitive surroundings. Through the changes in maze, visitors will be presented a variety of different perspectives to enjoy the whole installation, which also adds on to the overall immersive experience.

gyueunp – Looking Outwards 10

Diesel: New Natures SS16 project (2016) by FIELD

Vera-Maria Glahn is a co-founder of FIELD, a specialised creative studio in London that combines art and technology to create immersive audio-visual experiences. She worked as the executive producer for FIELD’s Diesel: New Natures SS16 project, one of my favorite works created by the studio. Commissioned by Diesel, it is a series of films that was created for the company’s NYC flagship store retail installation. Through the minimal graphical interventions in tropical scenery, the short films discuss the obsessions of our digital culture and our failure to recognize the natural beauty of our surroundings. The work has not only made me reflect on the issue, but also successfully engaged me with its visual elements. I especially loved how point-of-view shots were used to allow the viewer to enter the space created by the project. However, I am confused as to how this project relates to the Diesel and its products. A brief explanation would have been beneficial.

Interview with Vera-Maria Glahn

nahyunk1 – Looking Outwards 09

An environmental designer and an architect, Filipa Valente completed her studies in the Bartlett School of Architecture in London and in SciArc of Los Angeles. Her works mostly are focused in managing design in many architectural projects across the world which exists in places such as China, US, and Lybia. Filipa also produces environmental installations besides her architectural projects which not only uses materials that convey the idea of her themes but also expresses aesthetic purpose. One of her works named ‘Liminoid Garden’ is a project that is similar to one of the pieces that I made which makes use of neon lights and conveys spacial mood with the materials used. The way her piece is executed is admirable in her use of media art and motion censors that react in light whenever people interact with the piece. I hope to be able to create a piece one day that adds spacial mood to the audience interactively.

http://www.filipavalente.com/art/#/liminoid-blooms/

‘Liminoid Garden’ (2014)

Looking Outwards 10 – Yugyeong Lee

Toni Dove is one of the pioneers of interactive cinema who combines film, installation, and performance with contemporary narrative trends, often reflecting feminist take on popular subjects. She has worked with different institutions including Banff Centre for the Arts, ZKM, Whitney Museum of American Art, etc. to showcase her projects. One of her project, Lucid Possession, is a live cinema performance using “motion-sensing technologies to perform complex layers of media.” The performance sings and speaks through an Avatar which represents “an online alter ego.” The narrative unfolds as Bean, the designer of the virtual avatars, is plagued by ghosts; the story reveals inner voice battle with the real and virtual self. Her interactive project is inspiring in that it combines both real and virtual aspect through incorporating technology within the performance as well as in its narrative to reflect the on-going popular topic.

website: https://tonidove.com/

Bettina-SectionC-LookingOutwards10

For this week’s looking outwards, I found Mimi Son’s work to be quite intriguing. She co-founded a studio, Kimchi and Chips, with UK artist Elliot Woods and together they work on a mixture of tangible and digital installation projects. I liked A Journey, London, for its use of paper craft and lights — two mediums I particularly like. I appreciate how delightful the environments the studio creates are.

Above: Image of project “A Journey, London”

What’s interesting, since we are bringing up the topic of underrepresented females in the industry, is that Elliot Woods, Son’s male studio partner, is listed first in all descriptions of their studio. Perhaps I’m affect by confirmation bias (after all, their studio name suggests Son is first since Kimchi references Korean culture) but I’m curious if it was a publicity decision or a sincere representation of who has more contribution in the studio.

keuchuka – 10- looking outwards

Rainbow Sound Collision from evsc on Vimeo.

Demonstration of the application, using the track ‘Singing under the Rainbow’ by World’s End Girlfriend.

Hollow sound sculptures made from ABS.

This project by Eva Schindling is called Liquid Sound Collision, created in 2009. It uses two opposite words as vibration source that feeds into a fluid simulation. The waves created by the sound files run towards each other, collide and interfere with each others patterns. A frozen moment of this event is then translated into a 3D sculpture. The quantifying of seemingly unquantifiable concepts and objects is interesting in this project. It also produces aesthetically pleasing forms that have a whole lot of data involved. Schindling received a MSc. in Art and Technology from Chalmers University in Sweden and a degree in Interaction and Media Design from FH Joanneum in Austria. Currently she works as a creative technologist at Daily tous les jours in Montreal. Her work ranges from embodied evolutionary robotics, algorithmic pattern formation to the visualization of otherwise invisible sound waves.

jennyzha – Looking Outwards 10

Vera-Maria Glahn is a managing director and partner at FIELD, “create[ing] expressive and dynamic artworks for digital platforms: audio-visual installations, experiences for web and mobile, and shareable digital artefacts.” Glahn received her undergraduate education from the Gymnasium Theodorianum for Abitur, Arts, German, English, and Philosophy, and her Masters in Visual Communication from Kunsthochschule Kassel.

Barricade SS15: ssbarricade8 by FIELD.IO

As a member of FIELD, Glahn as worked on many astonishing projects, such as the Adidas by Stella McCartney: Barricade SS15 campaign. This particular project caught my eye because, as a business major with a concentration in Marketing, I found these works particularly eye-catching, effective, and beautiful. Barricade SS15: ssbarricade5 16x9 by FIELD.IO Barricade SS15: ssbarricade4 16x9 by FIELD.IO

Glahn uses “dynamic flow fields precisely mapped into the scene, emphasize Caroline Wozniacki’s powerful moves, creating a visual balance of technical precision and fluid elegance. The print and motion graphics launched in two sets, timed with the Australian Open and the French Open.” The outcome is truly the perfect balance between technical precision and fluid elegance. It promotes the sheer power of the players, the velocity of the ball, all while, at the same time, emphasizing the feminine qualities of the women in the most visually eloquent way.

Barricade SS15: ssbarricade3 by FIELD.IO

rmanagad-lookingoutward10-sectione

Creator: Anton Reponnen

Title of Work: UP Memory Tower

Year of Creation: 2015

Link to Project Work: http://work.repponen.com/UP-Memory-Tower

Link to Artist Bio: http://work.repponen.com/About

Anton Reponnen is an interaction designer focused on developing visual identities, forms of interaction, and livable spaces. This is evident in her redesign of the hardware memory system, called UP Memory Tower.

Anton found a design opportunity within the product ecosystem of external hard drives — she saw the process of buying new and/or upgrading to better hard drives as “not-connected.” Likewise, she identified that the web-based cloud system has its own limitations, such as needing internet access and having to log in to an account.

The UP Memory Tower personalizes the external hard drive as users add to a base-memory dock when more storage is needed — all memory is still stored in one central location. Likewise, only a portion of the hard drive can be take with you — it still acts a portable storage like a usb or SD card. I find this product fascinating for its versatility, and its accordance to social conventions — it sustains the expected nature of existing products while introducing new behavioral concepts towards an established object.