Month: October 2021

LO 9

Asking the Neural Network to Imagine a Chimera

Ex.icon

This project consists of a combination of text, AI generated images, and screenshots that work together to explore the idea of a chimera. It is a sort of back and forth between human and machine that interrogates the differences between human perception and machine perception and the opportunities that either offer for imagination and also interrogation of the existing repertoire of ideas and images. I find this combination of written theory and imagery particularly compelling because unlike many artworks this allows the viewer to follow the thought process of the artist in a much more direct way. The text situates the images in the context of the thought process rather than assuming that the viewer has all of the prerequisite knowledge to know how to interpret them. This particular artist has very little information about them online so it is not really possible to do a comprehensive biography. However, their artist statement tells us that their work uses various forms of play to decode the mythology of dualisms built into society, and interrogate human existence within late capitalism and technology. They work across many mediums, but much of the work seems to be related to experience within digital spaces.

Artist Website:

https://ex-icon.com/

Project:

https://ex-icon.com/asking-the-neural-network-to-imagine

LO 09: Women and Non-binary Practitioners in Computational Art

Sputniko! is a Japanese/British Artist based in Tokyo. She creates film and multimedia installations which explore the social, cultural, and ethical implications of emerging technologies. She’s an Associate Professor of Design at Tokyo University of Arts. She gave a Ted Talk in TED 2019 and was selected as one of the Young Global Leaders by the World Economic Forum. One project of hers that I’m really intrigued by is “Red String of Fate – Tamaki’s Crush.” The red string of fate is a myth in which gods tie an invisible red string between soulmates. Sputniko! collaborated with scientists from NIAS to genetically engineer silkworms to spin the red string of fate by inserting genes that produce oxytocin (the social-bonding “love” hormone), and the genes of red-glowing coral into silkworm eggs. The film that accompanies the project centers around Tamaki, an aspiring genetic engineer, who makes her own red string of fate in the hopes of winning over another scientist, Sachihiko. She sews the red silk into her favorite scarf, but it’s so powerful that everyone starts to fall in love with her – everyone except Sachihiko.

https://sputniko.com/Red-Silk-of-Fate

Photo of the protagonists in the “Red Silk of Fate” short film.

Project 09

I started up by pixelating my photo, then I went into the idea of creating a mirror-like, dynamic, and interactive image. Therefore, I created 1500 moving hexagons to show my image. I am satisfied with the beauty and abstractness.

cody.09project
var img;
var hexagon = []
function preload(){
   img = loadImage("https://i.imgur.com/VGvokSI.png");
}
//making a hexagon
function makeHexagon(cx, cy, cdx, cdy) { 
    var h = {x: cx, y: cy, dx: cdx, dy: cdy,
            drawFunction: drawHexagon
        }
    return h;
}
function drawHexagon(){
    push()
    translate(this.x,this.y)
//hexagon color is the color of the pixel it is at
    this.c = img.get(10*this.x,10*this.y)
    fill(this.c)
//draws the hexagon from 6 triangles
    noStroke()
    triangle(0,0,-s,0,-s/2,-s*sqrt(3)/2)
    triangle(0,0,-s/2,-s*sqrt(3)/2,s/2,-s*sqrt(3)/2)
    triangle(0,0,s,0,s/2,-s*sqrt(3)/2)
    triangle(0,0,-s,0,-s/2,s*sqrt(3)/2)
    triangle(0,0,-s/2,s*sqrt(3)/2,s/2,s*sqrt(3)/2)
    triangle(0,0,s,0,s/2,s*sqrt(3)/2)
//hexagons would bounce backs if touches the edges
    if (this.x >= width || this.x <= 0){
        this.dx = -this.dx
    }
    if (this.y >= height || this.y <= 0){
        this.dy = -this.dy;
    }
    this.x += this.dx;
    this.y += this.dy;
    pop()
}
function setup() {
    createCanvas(480,480);
    img.resize(4800,4800)
//make 1500 hexagons explode outwards from my left eye, pushed into array
    for (var i = 0; i < 1500; i++) { 
        hexagon[i] = makeHexagon(random(255,260),random(230,250),random(-4,4),random(-4,4))
    }
    text("p5.js vers 0.9.0 test.", 10, 15);
}
var s = 14
function draw() {
    background(200)
    image(img,0,0,480,480)
//pixelated because having a clear image of my huge face on wordpress is horrifying
    for(var x = 0; x < width; x += 10){ 
        for(var y = 0; y < height; y += 10){
            var c = img.get(10*x,10*y);
            fill(color(c));
            noStroke();
            rect(x,y,10,10);
        }
    }
//draw 1500 hexagons
    for (var i = 0; i < 1500; i++) { 
        hexagon[i].drawFunction() 
    }
}

Project 09: Portrait

sketch
//Anthony Pan
//Section C



//empty variable to hold/load portrait
var img;

//load portrait
function preload() {
   img = loadImage("https://i.imgur.com/OZnUWbW.jpg");

}

//set up canvas
function setup() {
    createCanvas(420, 280);

}

//create pixelation effect using mouseX position
function draw() {
    background(220);

    //diplay image
    image(img, 0, 0, width, height);

    //constrain mouseX position to canvas and change diamter of circles according to mouseX position
    var mousePosition = map(constrain(mouseX, 0, 280), 0, width, 0, 20);
    //create circles
    for(var row = 0; row < 32; row++) {
        for(var col = 0; col <= 48; col++){
            var x = col * 10;
            var y = row * 10;
            //sample pixel color
            var sampleColor = img.get(x*15, y*15);
            noStroke();
            fill(sampleColor);
            //draw circle
            circle(x + 10, y + 10, mousePosition); 
        }
    }
}

I wanted to create a portrait that would get pixelated as you moved the mouse from left to right. It was cool to see it become stylized, almost like I was applying a filter to the image.

Looking Outwards 09: A Focus on Women and Non-binary Practitioners in Computational Art

This week I decided to look into Caroline Sinders, a machine-learning-design researcher and artist. Her work in recent years has been focused on examining the intersections of technology’s impact in society, interface design, AI, abuse, and politics in digital/conversational spaces. She also is the founder of Convocation Design + Research where they explore and study the intersections of machine learning, user research, and designing for the public good. I wanted to focus on her project “Higher Resolutions” in 2019, a project mainly centered around the state of power and privacy online. They use interactive art installations as well as talks from professionals in the field to educate their audience members about the topic. Some art installations within the space include facial recognition, website tracking, and harmful content recommendation algorithms. Participants can also vote on a feature to ban and view the floor schematic at a closer level. I found her work interesting because I am also working on a data security and privacy research project in my design research class. I found it refreshing to see someone else’s perspective and approach to the problem space.

Higher Resolutions

LO 9

For this looking outwards, I decided to study Yael Braha, a large-scale dynamic display designer that combines traditional and non-traditional art practices, including ceramics, metal fabrication, metal casting, electronics, and mold making. She is originally from Italy where she studied Graphic Design at the European Institute of Design in Rome and then moved to the United States for her Master of Fine Arts in Cinema at San Francisco State University. 

One of her works that I found interesting was Artifacts, audio-reactive live show for the Minnesota Orchestra. The visuals are generated based on the timbre, amplitude, frequencies, patterns and narrative of the orchestra’s score in real time. It was captivating to see how she was able to merge a traditional experience of watching a symphony into something surreal, fantastical, and progressive.

LO9

Link of the :https://www.novajiang.com/projects/cacophony/

This week I looked at Nova Jiang’s interactive sculpture: Cacophony, created in 2020. Cacophony is a crystal sculpture which gives physical form to the sound of an orchestra tuning. It is generated from a recording of the Sacramento Philharmonic tuning before a performance of Stravinsky’s The Firebird. The media involved are steel, aluminum, Swarovski crystals, and lexan. It is a huge sculpture, having the dimensions of 35’ x 5’ x 5’. It presents cacophony of the opera tuning, but is also harmonic because of the crystal texture and the beautiful look. The shape of the audio is also beautiful. The artist studied in Skowhegan School of Painting and Sculpture in 2009, completed master degree in University of California, Los Angeles, Department of Design Media Arts in 2009, completed bachelor degree of fine arts in University of Auckland, Elam School of Fine Arts in 2007. She mostly do interactive sculptures and paintings. She now lives in LA.

Project 09: Computational Portrait (Custom Pixel)

project 09 sketch copy

var compportraitImg;

function preload() {
    ImageURL = "https://i.imgur.com/ZTxOcmt.jpg";
    compportraitImg = loadImage(ImageURL);
}

function setup() {
    // canvas proportional to image size
    createCanvas(400, 480);
    compportraitImg.loadPixels();
    background(220);
    frameRate(300);

}

function draw() {
    //have the correct color show at right location 
    var kx = floor(random(compportraitImg.width));
    var ky = floor(random(compportraitImg.height));
    var colorLoc = compportraitImg.get(kx, ky);
    noStroke();
    fill(colorLoc);

    //scale to size of canvas
    x = map(kx, 0, compportraitImg.width, 0, width);
    y = map(ky, 0, compportraitImg.height, 0, height);
    var j = dist(width/2, height/2, x, y);
    j = j % 20;
    bubble(x, y, j, 4);

}

function bubble(x, y, radius, npoints) {
  angle = PI / npoints;
  
  beginShape();
  for (let a = 0; a < PI; a += angle) {
      sx = x + cos(a) * radius;
      sy = y + sin(a) * radius;
      vertex(x + cos(a) * radius, y + sin(a) * radius);
  }
  endShape();
  
}

I made my “custom pixel” in the shape of half of a hexagon and made it such that they populate the canvas in a circle pattern and leave some of the background peeking through.

Looking Outwards – 09

I decided to look into Angela Washko and her work in feminist and alternative video games.
“The Game: The Game” is a fresh take on dating sims, as the player goes through the experience of seduction as a femme-presenting individual.
Along with the traditional dating sim mechanics, this game also provides commentary on politics, tactics and practices of the male pick-up strategies.
It creates empathy or a sense of understanding among people in these specific and hyper-gendered social situations.
I’ve always thought of video games as a platform of expression, but I hadn’t considered political or social commentary to be a particularly prominent aspect.
However, Washko and her work has brought this element into the forefront of my attention, and I will continue to look for more meaningful avenues that video games may promote in the future.
More generally, Washko’s work takes on a specific angle in interdisciplinary art, combining aspects of performance, mainstream media, digital art, cinematography and video games.
She’s a Associate Professor of Art at CMU and primarily works with the MFA program.
https://angelawashko.com/section/437138-The-Game-The-Game.html

Looking Outwards 09: A Focus on Women and Non-binary Practitioners in Computational Art

Project Title: Revealing the hidden emotional data contained in videos of U.S. Presidential speeches

Artists: Kim Rees

The feather is quite straight indicating neutrality and the barbs are short indicating relatively more calmness when speaking.

The creators first used the Microsoft Emotion API and then pulled out the second-ranked emotion for each event where ‘neutral’ was first-ranked. I admire the universality of this project, as they chose to focus on emotions that are understood cross-culturally (happiness, fear, etc); I admire this project because it enables even more people to connect with the data in a meaningful way and also takes what some don’t often immediately relate with distinct feelings (besides perhaps hope and pride) and connects the two. I admire how they compared inaugural addresses, not just focusing on one president. I admire this because it’s fascinating to see how some speak with such intensity, which is represented by the length of each barb, and it got me thinking about the speeches I’ve listened to and if I find such information representations to align with my perspective. Rees studied computer science. Rees co-founded Periscopic, which is a data-visualization company and worked there for over a decade. Broadly speaking, Rees focuses on human-centered data and she helped companies and organizations promote information transparency and public awareness by telling their data stories and matching algorithms to values.