Month: October 2019

Refik Anadol is digital media artist and director born in Istanbul, Turkey working at the intersection of parametric data sculpture and audio/visual fields in service of immersive ephemeral experiences. Anadol uses data structures and machine learning frameworks to develop experiential conditions that challenge typical orientations and attitudes towards spatial realities, thereby fundamentally shifting what it means to occupy and experience space. His installation work exemplifies the ephemeral nature of “non-digital reality”, that he references in his talk, an idea centralized by the destruction of the singularity, the championing of dynamism, and the triumph of the out of body experience. The networks between architecture, space, art, and computation are all brought into question as a result of Anadol’s work, and his talks suggest that conventional spaces can become canvases for the new digital realities that emerge from innovative computational techniques. One of Anadol’s recent works, Melting Memories, manifests as an all encompassing field condition that seemingly takes over the viewer. The workflow transposes EEG data into procedural noise forms, resulting in a highly dynamic and articulated formal development. As an architecture student interested in the intersection of these various ways of thinking, Anadol’s work and talk is highly intriguing and thought provoking, as it proposes new ways of thinking about space and computation. I intend to use the logic, workflows, and aesthetic attitudes as inspiration for my work going forward.

Deray McKesson & Samuel Sinyangwe have backgrounds as American civil rights activists; more specifically, they have a large voice in the Black Lives Matter movement. The piece presented is in an effort to attain a solution that addresses the sustained rise in police violence in America.

Their work is very interesting and respectable to be, as this is a hot topic in politics now, and is a sweeping movement across America. It has come to the point that when pulled over by police, many citizens are now scared for their lives rather than a simple speeding ticket they may face. I beleive the work they are doing in an effort to spread the information of protests, along with representing the news of police violence are crucial stepping stones in order to bring a possible solution to this. Moreover, their works follow key design principles to allow their ideas to be straightforward and easy to understand. I believe there is great work happening with McKesson & Singyangwe, and it refreshing to see citizens using design and computational practice for the greater good rather than commercial good.

Link

Meejin Yoon – Eyeo 2015

Meejin Yoon is a Korean-American architect and designer. She graduated from Cornell University with a degree in Architecture and then from Harvard University’s Graduate School of Design. In 2014, she was appointed as Massachusetts Institute of Technology’s first female head of the Department of Architecture. Currently, she works as the dean of the College of Architecture, Art, and Planning at Cornell University.

Most of her work focuses on interaction in public space. She seeks to bridge technology and play within the public sphere. One of her projects focuses on an urban, public, and interactive space that responds to people that move through the field. The lights in the field would correlate with people’s movements in the field. I admire that she seeks to bring people together in these public spaces. For example, in the lecture, she mentions how people would actually invent games to play while in the space. I also admire how many of her projects focus on smart materials and renewable energy. Her projects seem to always involve the environment and the natural world.

Yoon presents her work effectively by always providing images and graphics that show her development process, as well as photos of people actually interacting with her designs.

The person whose work I chose to look into is Syed Reza Ali. According to his website, Reza is a computational designer, software engineer, and spatial artist out of Los Angeles. He comes from an electrical engineering and computational design background and currently does his own studio work related to user experience and augmented reality platforms. I admire Reza’s workflow of combining artistic and creative theory with the technical aspects of logical and algorithmic thinking that he exhibits in his projects such as his YCAM 3D printed computational forms or his art installations for the Carbone Smolan Agency. He challenges himself to integrate all different kinds of software to add effects and layers of visualization to each of his projects, such as through combining modeling software like 3D Max with algorithmic coding done in C++.

In his presentation, Reza explains his unique design methodology and goes into detail about how he translates programming logical into generative physical forms. He uses the example work experience of his residency at Autodesk to expand on that. His use of captivating images, GIFS, and videos/simulations that project behind him on the screen, such as when he talks about his ofxUI Timeline or his Data Driven Design digital forms, really help enforce his presentation because he can directly reference the purpose of the project or show the audience the visual effect he was going for as opposed to just talking about it.