Category: LookingOutwards-01

The project I chose to write about is bioLogic’s Second Skin, a line of sportswear the reacts to sweat and body heat, causing small flaps of fabric to peel back, so that sweat can evaporate. BioLogic, a team of 8 researchers in the Tangible Media Group at MIT Media Lab, embedded the bacteria, Bacillus Subtilis Natto, which naturally expands and contracts in relation to moisture, into Second Skin’ fabric. I was introduced to Second Skin in an e-textiles course I took last year, and while this isn’t a coding or electronics based work, I was really inspired by the meaningful, effortless interactions between the dancers and their “living garments.” I really admire this project not just because of how the transformations of the fabric help to regulate the athletes’ body temperatures and improve their performances, but also because it visualizes the work and effort of the athletes in a very tangible and elegant manner, elevating the experience.

Other projects at this lab that utilize the bacteria in a similar manner include tea bags with indicators that unfurl when the tea is ready, and lamps that expand and change from the heat of the light bulbs inside.

The project I chose is called “Visualization” by Λ B H I N Λ V . K R on OpenProcessing. The project starts with a cute picture of a golden retriever puppy running on a beach. When you run your mouse over the picture it turns into four circles with the color of their background. If you keep going over the circles they get smaller and smaller, and this causes the details in the photo to come back out. The end result is the same picture, except with a more mosaic look to it.

I admire how the creator was able to take such a simple idea and make it interesting. Despite the fact that you are just running your mouse to make circles smaller, it is somehow entertaining. It is satisfying to watch as the picture comes back, and also satisfying to shrink the circles, almost like popping bubbles, except more interesting because you are rewarded with the cute face of a dog. The interactive element is especially great because it allows the user to influence how they want the piece to look. They could leave part of the piece un-popped, pick a certain color to pop, etc. This allows the user to add a personal touch to the end result. I admire these aspects of the project because they are not only entertaining, but also show that a person doesn’t have to code a whole complicated piece to make something interesting, they can have a very simple idea and still be successful.

• Only one person seemed to be involved in creating the project. I’m not exactly sure how long it took him to create his piece. I looked at the dates of the works before and after and it seems like he posts about three to four different pieces-one per day-and then there will be a gap, then another cluster of posts. I’m guessing he makes a bunch in advance and then posts them all at a time over the span of a couple days. The gaps between these clusters seem to be about three weeks to a month, so I think it took him about one to two weeks to create that single post (although this is just a guess).
• The software he used seemed to be “off-the-shelf”. OpenProcessing is a very public/easy-to-access site, and the code he wrote didn’t seem like anything out of the ordinary. His project doesn’t look like something he would need custom software for.
• I don’t know any specific works he might have been inspired by. However, many of his previous works included a variety of colors and shapes, and are user-interactive. Also, looking at his “Hearts” section you can see that the works he liked also fit into this category. “Visualization” also fits this description, so it seems he has a type of work he likes to create.
• Since the work is interactive, entertaining, and visually appealing, I could see the artist possibly working in the gaming industry since coding and creativity are demanded there. Not so much complicated games but more leaning towards ones you would find in the App store for your phone. Like maybe one level would be the dog-bubble piece and then the next would be something different but using the same concepts and ideas throughout. I could imagine a game where you would start out with the four big bubbles, and then would have to guess what the image was while trying to pop the least amount of bubbles. He could also create gifs and/or short and interactive animations for websites.
• Λ B H I N Λ V . K R.“Visualization.” OpenProcessing, 2015.

Video And Picture Below

DogOPvid5smol

The audiovisual installation AURA by Nick Verstand (a contemporary artist who researches the boundary between the immaterial and material world, and strives to create art that breaks down social boundaries) presents the experimenters’ emotions visually as light compostions in various forms and shapes. The intensity and colour of the forms are translated from brain waves, heart rate variability, and galvanic skin responses of the experimenters, which are collected through wearable biosensors. These emotional cues are being processed and analyzed by the system and derived into visible light. Through influences of musical compositions, the lights would respond to the changes of one’s emotions.This installation tributes to artist Anthony Mccall, who intends to explore light as a medium. Through these series of transformations, AURA provides a possibility for people to have a better understanding of themselves and their emotions through colours and intensities. Quoting the website of AURA, “the installation symbolises the materialisation of (internal) metaphysical space into (external) physical space.” This installation allows the resulting experiences to be a co-creation of the experimenters and artists, and generates a hypnotizing visual experience for the mind.

The Art of Feeling-turning brainwaves into paintings

This is an amazing project done by Random Quark for Saatchi & Saatchi Wellness showing an amazing form of art that reflects one’s feelings with the help of technology. Different colors represent different emotions, for example, the color red represents love, etc. Then the brainwaves are recorded by GEE headsets and processed to generate complex patterns.

I personally found this project very inspiring because it is a very creative approach to visualize something intangible and hard to depict like emotions. Even though this project was based on the need for promoting mental health wellbeings, there are definitely opportunities to draw the inspiration and turn something else into a creative art form. This is also a multi-disciplinary way to build bridges between scientists, programmers, and artists to work collectively and produce something that general public are able to understand.

OLD NAVY SELFIEBRATION by Deeplocal

This project by Deeplocal, a firm based in Pittsburgh, helped Old Navy celebrate their birthday by rendering fans’ selfies on a massive display made of 1,000 balloon “pixels”. I specifically choose this project because of the way people interact with the display. It is really cool how your face gets to literally be part of the display, while using balloons to extenuate that this is, in fact, a celebration. In addition the size of the display makes it disruptive in a way that even if it’s not your face projected, you still interact with the display. Also, the idea of using “selfies” in to attract an audience is very smart due to the large presence of selfies in media today. All in all, they knew their audience, the message was clear, the interaction was easy, and most importantly it was pleasant and fun for all parties involved.

Adding to that, even though it seems like a simple idea in concept, the project is highly innovative in the sense that they invented custom-engineered balloons for this specific project. In my opinion, executing simplicity in a design is harder than complexity.

The balloons, divided among 16 identical “balloon boxes,” inflated simultaneously with each capture, thanks to almost five miles of wiring and a pneumatic valving system built by Deeplocal engineers, explains CEO Nathan Martin.

The device is capable of showing two selfies a minute. Concept through creation to going live took just eight weeks.

The team consisted of a mix of about 20 artists, engineers, and designers.

Links:

https://www.deeplocal.com/projects/selfiebration.html

DeepLocal machine turns selfies into 15-foot balloon portraits