Category: Section B

rgroves – LookingOutwards-02

Dreamlines is an interactive artwork created in 2005 by Leonardo Solaas. Unfortunately, it is no longer functional due to changing technologies. However, a user was once able to enter a series of words that describe a dream they would like to dream, and this program would search for these words in google images and use the results to generate what the artist called an “ambiguous painting, in perpetual change, where elements fuse into one another, in a process analogous to memory and free association.”

One thing I admire about this project is how the use of found images adds to the uncanny quality of the moving paintings that makes them so dreamlike. We don’t know when the photos were taken or anything about the subjects or the photographer. We don’t know if they’re dead or alive – and if they’re dead, how they died. Like in dreams, our imagination can turn something innocent (a woman standing on a porch) into a nightmare.

The artist describes the algorithm for the videos on his website. The video is comprised of 1500 autonomous particles in perpetual movement – movement whose velocity is determined by the color value of the pixel it is “stepping” on. The hue, saturation and brightness of the pixel somehow translate to angle and speed values for the particle.

The code combines the unpredictable data presented by the keywords that users enter, an algorithm that randomly selects images from Google, and a logical, predictable function on the color values of the pixels to create perpetual motion and chaos. This method is meant to reflect the processes that take place in our heads – in some ways unpredictable and emotional but actually just a series of electrical impulses, each one determined by physical conditions.

Video: https://vimeo.com/136955826

Website: http://solaas.com.ar/dreamlines/

egrady – Looking Outwards 1

Virtual Reality has caused quite the stir recently in video games, creating a more interactive experience by literally placing the user in the game world. While I may not be referring to a specific design of virtual reality, I am referring to the usherance of this new and innovative form of game design as a collective idea, which I find not only highly intriguing, but also highly inspiring. And while the concept itself may be in it’s early stages of development, the entire idea of virtual reality is inherently promising.

Many established developers are attempted to incorporate VR into their games, such as how Bethesda Softworks is creating a VR adaptation for “Fallout 4”. This is interesting, because Bethesda in this case is inspsired by how immersive Fallout 4 is already, in terms of the game. It puts the players in the shoes of the character, who gets to explore an unfamiliar world. But with the addition of VR, the ‘immersiveness’ is taken to a whole new level.

The usherance of this new form of entertainment creates, with it, a new process in creative development, with a more ingrained focus on world building and immersiveness. I think that the emminence of virtual reality proves that the majority of gamers who desire to play, do so with a similarly equal desire for a sense of escapism, of which virtual reality can most definitely provide. We go from thinking of video games as a simply action based quick button five minutes of fun, to a more cinematic experience, where the user is quite literally put into the shoes of the protagonist, while hoping to experience an event as close to real life as possible, without it being real life, of course. I find it highly inspiring, because it opens up new possibilities for what gaming can achieve. It also additionally opens up a new world of possibilites for creating a universe for which virtual can be employed. The focus is now placed on art, where through art, hopefully entertainment can be achieved.

egrady – project1 – face

sketch

function setup() {
    createCanvas(500, 500);
    background(120, 200, 400);
    text("p5.js vers 0.5.12 test.", 10, 15);
    noStroke ();

    //background
    fill (0, 0, 0)
    rect (0, 0, 500, 100)
    rect (0, 200, 500, 100)
    rect (0, 400, 500, 100)


    //body
    fill (100, 10, 100)
    triangle (100, 500, 250, 250, 400, 500)   

    //head
    fill (255, 228, 196)
    rect(200, 100, 100, 250);

    //eyes
    fill (255, 255, 255)
    ellipse (200, 200, 50, 50);
    ellipse (300, 200, 50, 50);
    fill (0, 0, 0);
    ellipse (300, 200, 25, 25);
    ellipse (200, 200, 25, 25);

    //mouth
    fill (250, 128, 114)
    rect (175, 270, 150, 60)
    fill (0, 0, 0)
    rect (180, 275, 140, 50);
    fill (255, 255, 255)
    rect (180, 275, 22, 22)
    rect (210, 275, 22, 22)
    rect (240, 275, 22, 22)
    rect (270, 275, 22, 22)
    rect (298, 275, 22, 22)
    rect (180, 303, 22, 22)
    rect (210, 303, 22, 22)
    rect (240, 303, 22, 22)
    rect (270, 303, 22, 22)
    rect (298, 303, 22, 22)

    //hair
    fill (139, 69, 19)
    rect (195, 75, 20, 50)
    rect (225, 75, 20, 50)
    rect (255, 75, 20, 50)
    rect (285, 75, 20, 50)

    //nose
    fill (222, 184, 135)
    triangle (220, 250, 240, 210, 340, 260);

    //eyebrows
    fill (80, 50, 50)
    rect (175, 145, 50, 25)
    rect (275, 145, 50, 25)

}

function draw() {
}

Although it may not look like it, considering the fairly simplistic result, I actually had a difficult time working on this project. My programming experience is extremely minimal, and my grasp of mathematics is limited at best. However, I did enjoy the whole process involved in the creation of this piece. I attempted to use some of the more difficult elements to program, such as utilizing curvature (with lines) and arcs, but my attempts were not so successful. So as a result, I hope to learn how to employ some of the more advanced elements in p5.js over the weekend, so that I can utilize them on the next project. I feel that for this project I wish I could’ve incorporated more exciting and original elements, as opposed to just constructing a piece out of mainly rectangles and simple shapes. Upon viewing some of the other fantastic student pieces, I hope to eventually achieve that level of proficiency with programming, and be able to create a more exciting and ‘innovative’ piece of work that better represents the ideas that I have in my head.

Connie – LookingOutwards – 01

In my senior year of high school, our top orchestral and symphony groups were invited to perform at a music festival in Washington D.C. and during our free time while on tour, we went to visit the Renwick Museum. The museum featured a work by Janet Echelman, entitled “1.8 Renwick” because the earthquake shortened the length of a single day by 1.8 microseconds.

It was inspired by the 2011 Tohoku earthquake and incredible heights of the tsunami waves in the Pacific Ocean and uses some technology that links it to a map of the energy released by the powerful tsunamis across the Pacific Ocean. Many artists are inspired by their surroundings or historical events; the impacts of earthquakes on human society have been also noted by other artists such as Ai Weiwei.

I love this project for its interesting link between the vibrancy of spectacular colors and use of technology to bring a visual experience that symbolizes the powerful impact of a natural disaster. The dramatic color shifts in the netting show viewers how quickly things in our natural world can change and how deadly these shifts and changes can be. I don’t know how exactly or how long it took Echelman to create this project or specifically what algorithm she used but I do know the lights are linked to the energy maps of the tsunamis in the Pacific Ocean during the earthquake, hence the shifts in color.

cchau1 – Project01 – Face

cwchau face

function setup() {
  createCanvas(500,500);
  angleMode(RADIANS);
}
function draw(){
  background(201,227,255);

//bunny ears!!
  noStroke()
  ellipseMode(RADIUS);
  fill(255);
  ellipse(320,100,40,95);

  ellipseMode(CENTER);
  fill(255,225,242);
  ellipse(320,100,45,110);

  ellipseMode(RADIUS);
  fill(255);
  ellipse(180,100,40,95);

  ellipseMode(CENTER);
  fill(255,225,242);
  ellipse(180,100,45,110);

//behind head
  fill(39,3,0)
  ellipse(250,300,280,340)

//neck
    noStroke()
    fill(253,215,189);
    rect(220,350,60,60);

//face
    noStroke()
    fill(255,230,204);
    ellipse(250,250, 210, 230);

//hair
  push()
  rotate(PI/-6)
  fill(39,3,0)
  ellipse(100,270,175,100)
  pop()

  push()
  fill(39,3,0);
  rotate(PI/-8)
  arc(140,245,190,150,0, HALF_PI + HALF_PI);
  pop()

  push()
  fill(39,3,0)
  rotate(PI/-9)
  ellipse(240,330,35,150)
  pop()

//mouth
  fill(0)
  rect(235,320,28,4)

//shirt
  fill(225,189,255)
  ellipse(250,490,180,230)

//blush
  fill(255,204,222)
  ellipse(185,290,20,10)

  fill(255,204,222)
  ellipse(310,290,20,10)

//eyes
  noStroke()
  fill(39,3,0)
  ellipse(195,270,25,18)

  noStroke()
  fill(39,3,0)
  ellipse(300,270,25,18)

//eyebrows
  push();
  noStroke()
  fill(39,3,0)
  translate(width/2, height/2);
  rotate(PI/1.25);
  rect(-45,-30,24,5);
  pop();

  push();
  noStroke()
  fill(39,3,0)
  translate(width/2, height/2);
  rotate(PI/4.75);
  rect(-50,30,24,5);
  pop();

//flower
  translate(330,200)
  noStroke()
    for (var i = 0; i < 10; i ++) {
      fill(255,204,222);
      ellipse(0, 10, 20, 60);
      rotate(PI/5);
}

noLoop();
  }

This is one of the first projects I’ve worked on in p5.js and I discovered that it is time-consuming to try and figure out the position of every shape on the canvas. I hope that I can learn, understand, and become more familiar with how to translate/rotate/position shapes so the entire process will be more efficient. I don’t have rabbit ears in real life (would be cool though) but I typically draw myself with rabbits ears anyway. I am feeling determined in this self-portrait.

michelle-face.js

michelle-face

function setup() {
    createCanvas(400, 500);
    background(220,168,74);
    fill(249,221,189);
    noStroke();
    ellipse(200,180,200,230)

    fill(249,221,189);
    ellipse(200,260,130,85)

    fill(245,190,164);
    ellipse(250,230,50,45)

    fill(245,190,164);
    ellipse(150, 230,50,45);

    fill(245,190,164);
    ellipse(200,230,40,65);

    fill(120,65,24);
    ellipse(200,100, 200,120);

    fill(120,65,24);
    ellipse(115,145,50,140);

    fill(249,221,189);
    ellipse(195,220,40,65);

    fill(0);
    ellipse(250,230,20,10);

    fill(245,190,164);
    ellipse(250,225,20,10);

    fill(0);
    ellipse(150,230,20,10);

    fill(245,190,164);
    ellipse(150,225,20,10);

    fill(216,126,91);
    ellipse(200,450,140,250);

    fill(120,64,24);
    ellipse(180, 150, 100, 30);

    fill(120,64,24);
    ellipse(160, 160, 100, 30);

    fill(120,64,24);
    ellipse(130, 180, 70, 30);

    fill(120,64,24);
    ellipse(300, 145, 40, 120);

    fill(249, 221, 189);
    rect(182, 280, 35, 60);

    fill(0);
    ellipse(200, 285, 20, 10);

    fill (249,221,189);
    ellipse(105, 220, 30, 50);

    fill(249,221,189);
    ellipse(300, 220, 30, 50);

    fill(161,126,81);
    rect(0, 430, 400, 80);

    fill(255);
    quad(170, 350, 230, 350, 150, 370, 250, 370);

}

I decided to experiment a lot with creating shapes through layering. For example, I made the curve of the nose by layering an ellipse the color of my skin tone, mostly covering a pink ellipse of the same size. It was challenging to make shapes that required more values, such as the quad. But I like that I was able to use it to make the design on the shirt. I feel a lot more comfortable with basic programming of shapes after this project.

Looking Outwards-01

In early 2014, James Murphy (best known as the founder and leader of the band LCD Soundsystem, and co-founder of DFA Records), created about 400 hours of sound using data from tennis matches. He teamed up with members of IBM, mainly developer Patrick Gunderson, to convert data from US Open Tennis Matches into music. They were able to use a unique algorithm to synthesize the movements of the tennis players through the IBM cloud. Following this process, James Murphy created an album of 12 remixed tracks from the original sounds that were generated. The results are hypnotic, alluring electronic music.
IBM originally was gathering and analyzing data to, “figure out what makes the athletes great.” They eventually invited James Murphy to put a spin on the original research, by making the data into music. Since James Murphy is used to working very physically, with instrumentation and tools to create sound, and has no experience with code, developers like Patrick Gunderson created a way to depict the necessary tools on the computer as more movable; it appeared more like Garage Band, with dials and switches. This allowed Murphy to work with Gunderson and other programmers more easily, and ideas could be translated more smoothly.
James Murphy likely derived inspiration for this project from his own musical creations, which are often full of unique sounds inspired by simple sounds he has heard in his lifetime. In one interview, he mentions being fascinated by the whirring sound of a running refrigerator. This project is an example of how odd sources or seemingly simple things can be turned into works of art.
This certainly offers opportunities for artists to derive their work from unique sources. Even the act itself of taking raw data, finding a way to convert it to audio / visuals through an algorithm, is a conversion process that will be dependent on where the data is coming from, and what it is being turned into.

Song sample: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vg-UsBJpA1k

Behind the Project: https://vimeo.com/105380590
Behind the Project: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6qgCGCkk64M