Author: Midori

Blog 02

Akten, True Colors 2020

https://www.memo.tv/works/true-colors/

One of the artists I really enjoyed the work of was Memo Akten, his work with AI intrigued me. The computer could only recognise things that it already knows, one of the demonstrations was a video of a woman moving some keys and headphones around. Next to that video was one that was a record of what the computer could comprehend, in that video appeared flowers and moving water. The interpretation struck a chord because it shows that the computer, although not “feeling” , pieced together beautiful things and saw them as default shapes (probably because they’re less complex than things like faces). I’m not sure how he creates art like this but I assume it’s something along the lines of feeding a computer program a bunch of pictures and then showing it new pictures and watching it try to figure out what it is. I’ve seen other programs that you can put two words into and a program try to create something that fits the two words together. I assume that this is almost like the opposite of this. It’s also kind of interesting that the motivation behind Akten’s projects is to create something but he’s doing it in a second hand way. He creates the thing that then creates the final product, I can appreciate the level of detachment he has from his final product while still being able to orchestrate it.

Variable Face

generative face
var x = 150;
var y = 220;
var faceWidth = 150;
var faceHeight = 200;
var hairLength = 180;
var mouthSize = 20;
var eyeL = 40;
var eyeW = 20;
var pupiL = 15;
var bgR = 225;
var bgG = 123;
var bgB = 138;
var bodThic = 100;



function setup() {
    createCanvas(480, 640);
}

function draw() {

    //original face but made dependant on itself not coords make teh stuff in relation to the face width
    background(bgR, bgG, bgB);

    fill(0)
    rect(width/2-0.6*faceWidth, height/2-0.2*faceHeight, (width/2+0.6*faceWidth)-(width/2-0.6*faceWidth), hairLength)

    fill(255-bgR, 225-bgG,225-bgB);
    ellipse(width / 2, height, bodThic, height);

    fill(253,227,220);
    strokeWeight(0);
    ellipse(width/2, height/2, faceWidth, faceHeight);    //face

    fill(0);
    quad(width/2-0.25*faceWidth, height/2-0.5*faceHeight, width/2+0.25*faceWidth, height/2-0.5*faceHeight, width/2+0.6*faceWidth, height/2-0.2*faceHeight, width/2-0.6*faceWidth, height/2-0.2*faceHeight)    //trap bang

    fill(225,199,190);
    triangle(width/2, height/2 ,width/2-0.07*faceWidth,height/2+0.23*faceHeight,width/2+0.07*faceWidth,height/2+0.23*faceHeight);    //nose

    strokeWeight(3);
    stroke(239,94,94);
    noFill();
    ellipse(width/2, height/2+0.35*faceHeight, mouthSize);


    fill(245,249,255); 
    strokeWeight(0);
    ellipse(width/2-0.25*faceWidth, height/2-0.0025*faceHeight, eyeL, eyeW);    //eye left
    ellipse(width/2+0.25*faceWidth, height/2+0.0025*faceHeight, eyeL, eyeW);    // eye right

    fill(127,71,42);
    strokeWeight(0);
    ellipse(width/2-0.25*faceWidth, height/2-0.0025*faceHeight, pupiL);   //pupil left
    ellipse(width/2+0.25*faceWidth, height/2+0.0025*faceHeight, pupiL);    // pupil right 

    fill(253,227,220);
   // rect((width/2-0.25*faceWidth) - (eyeL / 2), (height/2-0.0025*faceHeight) - (eyeW / 2), eyeL, eyeW / 2);    //lids left
  
    fill(10)
    rect ((width/2-0.25*faceWidth) - (eyeL / 2), (height/2-0.0025*faceHeight) - (eyeW / 2), eyeL, 2);   //eyebrow left
    rect ((width/2+0.25*faceWidth) - (eyeL / 2), (height/2+0.0025*faceHeight) - (eyeW / 2), eyeL, 2);   //eyebrow left

}


function mousePressed(){
    faceWidth = random(75, 200);
    faceHeight = random(100, 300);
    hairLength = random(100, 300);
    mouthSize = random(5, 40);
    eyeL = random(20, 50);
    eyeW = random(10, 50);
    pupiL = random(5, 20);
    bgR = random(0, 225);
    bgG = random(0, 225);
    bgB = random(0, 225);
    bodThic = random(100, width);
}

Project 1: My Self Portrait

Self Portrait
function setup() {
    createCanvas(500, 500);
    background(93,232,113);
}

function draw() {
    fill(0);
    rect(150,140,200,250);     //hair back

    fill(253,227,220);
    strokeWeight(0);
    ellipse(width/2,height/2,150,200);    //face

    fill(0);
    rect(150,150,200,60);    //hair 

    fill(225,199,190);
    triangle(250,250,240,300,260,300);    //nose

    strokeWeight(5);
    stroke(239,94,94);
    noFill();
    arc(250, 310, 40, 40, QUARTER_PI, PI);    //smile.  I feel like i can do a circle and the cover the top


    fill(245,249,255); 
    strokeWeight(0);
    ellipse(220,250,40,20);    //eye left
    ellipse(280,250,40,20);    // eye right

    fill(127,71,42);
    strokeWeight(0);
    ellipse(220,250,15);   //pupil left
    ellipse(280,250,15);    // pupil right 

    fill(253,227,220);
    rect(200,237,40,10);    //lid left
    rect(260,237,40,10);    //lid right

    fill(10)
    rect(200,235,40,2);   //eyebrow left
    rect(260,235,40,2);    //eyebrow right

    fill(93,232,113)
    triangle(220,100,50,100,70,300);
    triangle(500-220,100,500-50,100,500-70,300);


    noLoop()
}

Lo My Inspiration

September 3, 2022
I’ve always enjoyed exhibits at museums that were interactive and changed depending on input. I remember as a kid going to museums in San Francisco with my parents and always gravitating towards them. More recently I visited SFMoMA and they had an interesting piece which appeared to just be a drum set in the middle of a room with strips of cloth hanging from the ceiling on wires. When someone went up and started playing the drums, lights would turn the room red and smaller white lights would flicker around depending on tempo and volume. Now that I’m thinking about it, it doesn’t seem as cool as I thought it was but I think I really enjoyed it in the moment because of the interactive aspect and immediate results.
I’m assuming that the artist had to create some sort of program in order to achieve the desired effect and they might have taken inspiration from strobe lights or other things of that sort from concerts that also react according to beat and tempo etc.
I can’t remember the name of the artist and couldn’t find the exhibit on the MoMA website. Link to MoMa.