SectionD – Page 5 – [OLD SEMESTER] 15-104 • Introduction to Computing for Creative Practice

LO: A focus on women and non-binary practitioners in computational art

For this week’s blog post, I chose to analyze Ayah Bdeir’s work. Ayah Bdeir is the creator of LittleBits, a software that consist of small circuit boards with specific functions that the user can interact with and learn about these elements without any programming experience.

I really admire Bdier because her work has centered around empowering everyone to be an inventor, she’d had a particular focus on empowering underrepresented communities with the tools to become tomorrow’s change makers. Bdier is a graduate of MIT and has raised over $70 million for LittleBits from prominent investors in Silicon Valley and New York. Today, more than 20 million LittleBits are in the hands of kids around the world and are being used to learn about fundamental elements of technology.

Link to her website – http://ayahbdeir.com/

Project 9: Computational Portrait

sketch

var img;
var diameter;

function preload() {
    img = loadImage("https://i.imgur.com/VzFWKC5.jpg");
}

function setup() {
    createCanvas(320, 480);
    image(img, 0, 0, 320, 480);
    background(110);
}

function draw() {
    noStroke();
    x = random(2000);
    y = random(2992);
    c = img.get(x, y);
    fill(c);
    if (x < 1500 & x > 300 && y < 2000 && y > 550) {
        diameter = 10;
    } else {
        diameter = 20;
    }
    circle((x * 0.16), (y * .16), diameter);
}

LO 9: A Focus on Women and Non-binary Practitioners in Computational Art

Wendy Carlos is a pioneer of electronic music, particularly with her work from the late 1960s into the early 1980s. She studied physics and music at Brown University as well as Columbia University. Her work in developing new instruments led to the creation of the Moog synthesizer, which changed the way music was played and recorded dramatically. Her work is most prominently displayed in her album Switched on Bach as well as the scores for several movies: A Clockwork Orange, The Shining, and Tron. All of these pieces explored the emotional effects that the new timbre of computer music opened up. She also is a particularly important figure to study with the place of gender in technological fields. Although she privately began transitioning in 1966, she wasn’t able to publicly appear as a woman until 1972, after the commercial success of Switched on Bach.

LO: A Focus on Women and Non-binary Practitioners in Computational Art

Image from All The Places You’ll Go (Women As Place)

For this assignment, I was excited to see a creator I was familiar with on the list: Angela Washko. Angela Washko is currently a visiting assistant professor of art here at CMU, but normally she’s based in NYC. Washko has received two degrees: a Bachelor of Fine Arts from Temple University and a Masters of Fine Arts from UC San Diego. Her work focuses on feminist perspectives, especially in media and video games. The project I’m particularly interested in is her All The Places You’ll Go (Women As Place). This is an “interactive hypertext point-and-click narrative adventure game” where the player explores different geographic locations by clicking. However, the geographic locations are described as women, derived from postcards of each place, described as “sights” to see. I am personally very interested in feminist topics, so this video game is one that I admire quite a bit. It’s witty, charming, and has a distinctly vintage feel, yet still feels very contemporary. It’s also a slightly unnerving experience where the women in these postcards gradually become more and more objectified, more part of the place, less like people at all the more you play. The entire thing feels very well done.
Angela Washko, All The Places You’ll Go (Women As Place), 2016, https://angelawashko.com/artwork/3907233-All-The-Places-You-ll-Go-Women-As-Place.html

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 9

sketch

var img;

function preload() {
    img = loadImage("https://i.imgur.com/mbg1U1D.jpg");
}

function setup() {
    img.resize(img.width/7, img.height/7);
    createCanvas(img.width, img.height);
    smallPoint = 4;
    largePoint = 10;
    //imageMode(CENTER);
    noStroke();
    img.loadPixels();
    textAlign(CENTER);
    text("CLICK TO CHANGE COLOR",width / 2,height / 2)

}

function draw() {
    //fill with heart
    let pointillize = map(mouseX, 0, width, smallPoint, largePoint);
    let x = floor(random(img.width));
    let y = floor(random(img.height));
    let pix = img.get(x, y);
    fill(pix, 10);
    heart(x, y, pointillize, pointillize);
    var cols = img.get(mouseX, mouseY);

    //fun text fills image according to mouse
    fill(cols);
    textStyle(BOLD);
    textSize(20);
    text("YA", mouseX, mouseY);
}

function heart(x, y, size) {
  //custom shape
  beginShape();
  vertex(x, y);
  bezierVertex(x - size / 2, y - size / 2, x - size, y + size / 3, x, y + size);
  bezierVertex(x + size, y + size / 3, x + size / 2, y - size / 2, x, y);
  endShape(CLOSE);
}

function mousePressed() {
    //background color changes
    background(color(random(255), random(255), random(255)));
}

Once I figured out how to make this project more creative, it was more fun to create. The text that follows the mouse to fill in the image was fun to play around with.

LO 9

Website: https://claudiahart.com/Alice-XR-2019
Artist: Claudia Hart
Work: https://claudiahart.com/Alice-Unchained-XR-2018
Year: 2018

The artist that I wanted to research this week was Claudia Hart. Hart attended NYU and was an early adopter of virtual imaging, using 3D animation to make media installations and projections. She creates work that discusses digital technology and critiques media through a feminist lens. One project in particular that I found interesting is titled “Alice XR: A Machine For Thinking”.
This work is a room installation that consists of projections and is accessed using a VR headset. One thing I find particularly interesting is that this room is a room for thinking, repose, and contemplation. Often with these works, artists want to create an experience for users that is interesting and unique, but with this work, she wants to create an experience that allows people to contemplate their life. The combination of motion, music, and visuals in this virtual space merges to create a very visceral experience. In terms of design, I think that the use of color and imagery that Hart created is very beautiful because of how bright and vivid it is.

Computational Portrait

At first I really did not know how to start off with my portrait. I looked and reread the timeline for a while until I decided I wanted to do some sort of recreation of Chuck Close’s portraits. Instead of using colors to create skin tone, I ended up sticking with the pixel colors that I got using .get for my images. It took me the longest to set up my photo than to actually get my random walk to work.

Playing around with accuracy in pixel size

So to get my work to be more like Close’s I made an array of two different size circles inside my pixels. I thought this looked really cool but I was hoping to get more definition in my features by doing this.

So I ended up using my Ipad to make a grid of areas in the face that I wanted to be more or less pixelated. I ended up counting and working from this top image to make sure I was using the right constrains in my for loops. I probably could have shortened my code for this project, but I was happy with how it was so I did not bother.

So, for every new and smaller square I was building I was also making my two circles on the top, unless the pixels got too small. I played around with the numbers a lot here. I felt that my image was very stagnant and decided to use noise to get my circles to vibrate in certain parameters. I thought doing this was quite funny because it reminded my a bit of the saying that the Mona Lisas eyes follow you across the room and, I felt that my entire face was doing the same.

file>

var noiseParam = 0;
var noiseStep = 0.1;
var img;
function preload(){
   img = loadImage("https://i.imgur.com/5n4h1dT.png");
}


function setup() {
    img.resize(img.width/3, img.height/3);//pixel image info
    createCanvas(img.width, img.height * .9);
}
function main(dx,dy){
    for(var col = 0; col < img.width; col += 8){ //main
        for(var row = 0; row < img.height; row += 8){
            var c = img.get(col,row);
            fill(color(c));
            noStroke();
            rect(col,row,8,8);
            ellipse((col + 4) + dx, (row - 4) + dy, 6, 6);
            ellipse((col + 4) + dx, (row - 12) + dy, 3, 3);
        }
    }
}

function face(){
    for(var col = 88; col < 248; col += 6){ //whole face
        for(var row = 120; row < 320 ; row += 6){
            var c = img.get(col, row);
            fill(color(c));
            noStroke();
            rect((col + 1.5), (row + 1.5), 5, 5);
            ellipse((col + 5.5) + dx, (row - 4) + dy, 5, 5);
            ellipse((col + 5.5) + dx, (row - 10) + dy, 2.5, 2.5);
        }
    }
}

function mainFeature(){
    for(var col = 104; col < 230; col += 4){ //clarity for face features == more pixels
        for(var row = 160; row < 216 ; row += 4){
            var c = img.get(col,row);
            fill(color(c));
            noStroke();
            rect((col + 4.5), (row + 4.5), 3, 3);
            ellipse((col + 8.5) + dx , (row - 4) + dy, 2, 2);
            ellipse((col + 8.5) + dx , (row - 6) + dy, 1.5, 1.5);
        } 
    }

    for(var col = 128; col < 186; col += 4){ //cont.
        for(var row = 216; row < 296 ; row += 4){
            var c = img.get(col,row);
            fill(color(c));
            noStroke();
            rect((col + 4.5), (row + 4.5), 3, 3);
            ellipse((col + 8.5) + dx ,(row - 4) + dy, 2, 2);
            ellipse((col + 8.5) + dx , (row - 6) + dy, 1.5, 1.5);

        }
    }
}

function eyes(){
    for(var col = 104; col < 136; col += 2){ //eye area 1: no circle, too small
        for(var row = 184; row < 216 ; row += 2){
            var c = img.get(col,row);
            fill(color(c));
            noStroke();
            rect((col + 6.5), (row + 6.5), 1, 1);
        }
    }
    for(var col = 176; col < 232; col += 2){ //eye area 2: no circle, too small
        for(var row = 184; row < 216 ; row += 2){
            var c = img.get(col, row);
            fill(color(c));
            noStroke();
            rect((col + 6.5), (row + 6.5), 1, 1);
        }
    }
}

function draw() {
    background(0);
    var offset = noise(noiseParam);
    offset = map(offset, 0, 1, -8, 8);
    dx = offset;
    dy = offset;
    main(dx, dy);
    face(dx, dy);
    mainFeature(dx, dy);
    eyes(dx, dy);
    noiseParam += noiseStep;
}

LO: A Focus on Women and Non-binary Practitioners in Computational Art

I looked at the work of Kate Hollenbach for this week’s blog. Hollenbach works professionally as a programmer, artist, and educator. Most of her art projects focused on users’ relationships with digital interfaces and information. I especially admired one of her projects called USER_IS_PRESENT, which uses original software to explore user habits when interacting with their smart devices. The software developed by Hollenback allowed devices to simultaneously record video from the front and back cameras and screen record. The artist later used rendering techniques to layer those recordings together into one channel. The outcome gave viewers a new perspective to look at users and their habits on digital platforms. I think the result is artistic but informative at the same time. By layering three interfaces that we usually only experience separately, Hollenbach created a new visual environment for interaction and research.

Link

Practitioners in Computational Art: Höweler + Yoon

http://www.howeleryoon.com/work/

When looking for an artist, I came across Höweler + Yoon. They are more of a team of people rather than just one person and their work. I was interested in their work because it looks very futuristic or otherworldly. Their architecture reminded me of many dystopian films. One particular work that interests me is the Collier Memorial in Cambridge, MA. The structure makes a star/hand shape out of blocks of granite. Its form was helped with new digital fabrication and structural computation technologies. In my research, I think this is the largest structure I have seen that used computation. Höweler + Yoon is an architecture practice and creative studio with some 20 workers spanning from architects, designers, and researchers. It seems that the company does not rely on computation to create their designs, but a lot of their architecture and shape reminds me of the randomness used to create images and animations when coding.