LO-My Inspiration

Prior to starting this course, I was not familiar with any computational projects. I am working toward my master’s degree in music performance and I have never been very familiar with computers. In looking for a project, however, I found John Maeda and his work. I am especially interested in “Commute” (2003) because of the colors and textures that are present. Maeda used jello in real life to create layers of color. He then developed his own custom program to correct the order of the colors of the jello layers. He wanted the work to emcompass all colors in the rainbow and for the colors to be in spectral order.
Maeda selected jello because he did not like the layers of plastic that many artists were using to create colorscapes. While he does not reference a specific artist or project, Jill Nathanson is an example of a contemporary artist who uses layers of plastic for her work.
This project shows the opportunity to continue using both studio and computational techniques to create a work. Is is not that the artist is creating a studio work and using a computer to edit or improve their mistakes, rather, they are using both as separate techinques that give the project a unique result.
https://maedastudio.com/2004/desktop/jello1.jpg
Commute (2003), John Maeda