LookingOutwards-09 – Page 3 – [OLD FALL 2018] 15-104 • Introduction to Computing for Creative Practice

Mimi Jiao – Looking Outwards 9 – Section E

Ryoji Ikeda, data.path in Madrid

I really enjoyed Sophie Chen’s Looking Outwards 4, where she talked about computational musical artist Ryoji Ikeda. He specializes in creating sounds based on data and his works are a form of data visualization. In Ikeda’s work data.path, I agree with Sophie’s point that audio and visual perception are intertwined and are integral to each other’s perceptions. I, too, am interested in how the two tie together to create an environment. I am really intrigued by data.path specifically because the darkness of the installation space, paired with the visuals and audio, creates a sense of spatial dimension even when the user is standing still. The lack of light in the space dulls the viewer’s sense of perception and they become more receptive to the audio and visual installation. I am really interested in this experience and I would love to experience it first hand. Ikeda’s work demonstrates the strength audiovisual elements have on the experience and perception of a space, and his work perfectly demonstrates ways computation can be applied to artistic rendering.

Sarah Yae – Looking Outwards 9 – Section B

I reflected on Christine Chen’s Looking Outwards 3 post. I agree with Christine in that nature is actually way more complex than the artificial world, although many of us believe that the artificial world is more complex. Because nowadays, mankind is so much more familiar with technology rather than nature, we tend to focus on the complex parts of our world, than the natural world. Although we use our developments to help create the things that we need, it is true that nature does the process “naturally” and that is the amazing part about how much computation we have to do to even copy a part of nature, like shown in Iris Van Herpen’s dress. Herpen’s artwork was Decrypt Kymono, a part of the Data Dust series in 2018. She attempted to showcase different aspects of nature, like texture and patterns through an artificially made dress. It is amazing how she was able to bring together art, nature and technology under one dress.

Link to original work is: https://futur404.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/01/iris-van-herpen-ss18-futur404-decrypt-kimono-gown.jpg
Christine’s Looking Outwards post is: https://courses.ideate.cmu.edu/15-104/f2018/2018/09/14/29386/
Decrypt Kymono by Iris Van Herpen (2018)

Kevin Thies – Looking Outwards 9

When going through various Looking Outwards, I found a post by Curran which talked about a 2018 Craig Taylor/Ito Design project called Coral Cities that was an interesting take on mapping cities. As a fellow architecture student, I found this project really cool but also really simple. It’s not much different than what Walkscore’s doing (here‘s an example using their API) in measuring travel times from a point, and it just takes that data, adds an aesthetics-only gradient and gradually increases its elevation and tapers off. I think what helps is the really stunning rendering that’s clean and makes the forms really pop. I think it’s worth noting that the run of data that focused on the most livable cities came from an existing list by Mercer and the displayed data is only travel distance in 30 minutes from the city center. Additionally I wouldn’t see this as a functional map, but instead as just a translation of utilitarian data into art. I’d argue that maps as they are now work well and don’t need to change. The map went from paper and static to digital and interactive, like Google Maps. However, art pieces using maps are great case studies, as road maps are what we think of in architecture. They’re site-specific. They’re made by and for humans. There’s an organic randomness that’s very deliberate. That side of maps are a cool field to look into.

Eunice Choe – Looking Outwards-09

The Bund Finance Center combines traditional Chinese theatre and digital technology.

A Looking Outwards report that I found interesting and unfamiliar was the report by my peer Jacky Tian. Jacky’s first Looking Outwards report was about the Bund Finance Center in Shanghai China. This building inspired Jacky because it combines traditional Chinese elements with digital technology. Like Jacky, I am also interested in seeing environments that combine physical and digital spaces. Seeing architectural structures and pieces of art that combine physical and digital elements allow for more interaction with the people in the space. Digital technologies also allow people to have new, dynamic experiences and emotions that are not static and one dimensional. As I am continuing my education, I find that I am becoming more and more interested in discovering design and architecture that incorporate digital technology.

Looking Outwards-09 on Looking Outwards-Veronica

The exterior of the Israel Pavilion showcasing LifeObject

This week I went through my friend Judy’s posts and was inspired by one of the projects she has shared, LifeObject. The project is a biologically inspired interior installation mimicking the behavior of bird’s nests and was designed through 3D scanning and modeling.

Judy wrote in her blog:

There is a system of hierarchy reflected through the process, from design to fabrication to assembly. The entire form is made by the use of gravity and that is where randomness comes into the design. With the analysis of the bird’s nest, twig-like structures were produced and arranged/bent randomly with a preset value, which means that the form of LifeObject is adaptable. The core is simple, the inner array is varied slightly, and the edges are diverse in static movement.

The introduction and practice of new materials blurred the line between digital fabrication processes and design. And this sort of architectural exploration – properties of materials and modes of transformation – came from the architect’s palette of expression.

I find the project’s narrative of exploring the relationship between human and nature beyond the binary distinction of nature and culture inspiring. I think the project is successful in conveying and contradicting ideas of ecosystems, eco-literacy and system resiliency. The designers described the project as “an assembly of weak and light found materials with no additional joints or glue, out of which emerges a free-form complex structure that is extremely light, robust and highly resilient”. I think the strength in solidarity and cultural resiliency and tolerance contributes to the conversation of globalization and ongoing cultural issues, and LifeObject presents a stance in the Israeli geopolitical context and responds to the crisis with resiliency.

Looking Outwards 09

For this week I’m analyzing Sean Meng’s review of Avatar from week 5.

It’s been a while since this movie came out and I had nearly forgotten the sheer computational power involved in this movie. To create such realistic environments and personalities, animators had to work with a new system of motion-capture that revolutionized the industry.

What I think is worth mentioning that not only on the generated computer graphics front, there was a huge amount of processing power necessary for the film to exist. The film used a company called Weta Digital and rendered the movie, which consisted of processing 8 gigabytes of data per second running 24 hours for over a month. Often each of Avatar’s frames took several hours to render. And when you consider that is just one frame out of 24 for every second of film, you can imagine why the major processing power at Weta Digital was needed.

Looking Outwards – 09 Min Lee

“Vektron Modular” by Niklas Roy, 2010

The Looking Outwards assignment that I found interesting is Katherine Hua’s assignment on Niklas Roy’s “Vektron Modular”. This project by Roy stores algorithmic sound compositions within microcontroller modules that can be played back on a compatible device. The attached synthesizer on the device can alter parameters of the algorithm that produce the sounds, which is why the audio becomes distorted as Roy plays with the joystick in the video above.

What stood out to me about this project was the inspiration and technical applications that are possible through it. The device was inspired by Sony’s Playstation, which Katherine very accurately describes in her assignment. The application that Niklas Roy found for his device came through the musical exploration possibilities that follow the device. Through various switches on the device, the user is able to explore the binary structures within music and compare different rhythmic patterns and number systems for counting beats. An interesting and productive assessment of this device could be made from a strictly musical production standpoint by using it to create new and interesting instrumentals.

Source: https://courses.ideate.cmu.edu/15-104/f2018/2018/09/21/katherine-hua-looking-outwards-04/

Katherine Hua – Looking Outwards-09

I really liked Min Lee’s looking outwards blog post on this project called Skyline. Skyline is a code-based generative music video that uses Voronoi tessellation. Skyline’s systems have seeds that are categorized into different types of agents that represent a certain behavior or trigger transformations in appearance. The song’s audio spectrum or the animation sequence of the artist acts as the driver of these motions, creating beautiful patterns that come together to make a complex visual conclusion. I agree with how Min that this project is amazing in the way that the artist was able to create a visual representation of musical behavior through patterns of geometric shapes and inkblot-like figures. I’d like to add that I think it’s very interesting that throughout this music video, the shapes come together to form a figure of the vocalist or the face of the vocalist while the visual elements are moving with the sound of the instrumentals.

Justin Yook – Looking Outwards 09

I decided to discuss rjpark’s Looking Outwards 03, about Gilles Azzaro’s 3D printed sculptures based on sound. This project is interesting to me because it is a way for people to visualize audio in physical form. According to the blog post, the artist uses audio samples of events or speeches that he values. I agree that the 3D sculptures serve as a beautiful representation of historical events, whether it may be global or local; memories or past events are very important because they have the power to define individuals or groups of people. In the future, it would be great if the artist used a much bigger 3D printer to make bigger versions of the audio. They can be like landmarks that help bring people together.

Source: https://3dprint.com/124989/3d-printed-sound-fablabs/

Artist: http://www.gillesazzaro.com/

Jessica Timczyk – Looking Outwards 09

For this looking outwards I decided to do JJ Legelis’ post on 3D computer graphics in the movie Star Wars: Rogue One from this year, 2018. In this movie they used CGI through motion capture technology that allows you to use a real life actor’s movements and motions to map a CGI model on top that creates the illusion that the diseased actor, in this case Peter Cushing, is actually there. This is extremely useful for not only Star Wars but other franchises in which a actor or actress may die before being able to film another sequel, that way writers do not have to completely get rid of their characters. I agree with JJ’s assessment of the technology because not only is it extremely impressive how accurate but also realistically flawless the CGI is. I would only like to add that though this technology is extremely interesting and effective, with this much replication power it becomes important to recognize morals and the wishes of the family and the passed person themselves in manipulating

their image.