Friday, July 30, 2004
Digital Mutations by Claudia Probst and Michael Shpaizman
Art project “Digital Mutations”
It is a collection of simulated relatives, which has been growing continually since 1996. A series of images, represented by real individuals from the past, are transferred and transformed throughout time and analysed by human faculty and machine capability.
Artificial models of personality are leading a never-ending battle between Feelings and Technology, Beauty and Ugliness. This can be read as a metaphor, or as a fact.
http://www.digitalmutations.de
Alec Soth
Alec Soth (born 1969) lives in Minnesota where he teaches at the Minneapolis College of Art and Design. He has received fellowships from the McKnight and Jerome Foundations and the Minnesota State Arts Board. In 2003, he was awarded the Santa Fe Prize for Photography. His photographs are in major public and private collections, including the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, Walker Art Center, and Whitney Museum of American Art. His work has been featured in numerous solo and group exhibitions, including the 2004 Whitney Biennial.
Sony’s Block Jam
This is one of my favorite projects from Sony-Japan which I first saw at SIGGRAPH 2002 and just caught up with again. If you haven’t seen it, here’s the link and information.
http://www.csl.sony.co.jp/IL/projects/blockjam/contents.html
Block Jam is a musical interface controlled by the arrangement of 25 tangible blocks. By arranging the blocks musical phrases and sequences are created, allowing multiple users to play and collaborate. The system takes advantage of both graphical and tangible user interfaces. Each block has a visual display and a combination of a gestural input and a click-able input. Each Block metaphorically contains a sound group that can be chosen via the gestural input, the click-able input changes a block functionally. Thus, musically complex and engaging configurations can be rapidly assembled. The tangible nature of the blocks and the intuitive interface promotes face-to-face collaboration, and the presence of the GUI allows for remote collaboration across a network.
Noel Bebee
Surreal, macabre, computer incubated art work.
Mark A. Garlick
I am a former professional astronomer. I graduated from the Mullard Space Science Laboratory, UK, with a Ph.D. in astrophysics in September 1993, and secured a research post in theoretical astronomy at the University of Sussex, in Brighton. But in 1996 I put down the telescope and am now a full-time science writer, illustrator and fine artist, working on a freelance basis. Because of my academic background, I specialise in the accurate depiction of astronomical phenomenon, balancing my scientific knowledge with an artistic sense.
Since starting my freelance career, my images have appeared in their hundreds in magazines and books (often on the covers), in other publications and on television, and my artwork has won international acclaim three years running in an international digital art contest partially sponsored by Scientific American, Boeing and others.
I have written for several outlets, including The Guardian, New Scientist, Scientific Computing World, Modern Astronomer, Quest, Astronomy Now, Scientific American, Astronomy and Sky & Telescope – the latter three being US publications. I have also written four books: two were published in 2002, one will be published in March 2004, and for the other, a novel, I have yet to seek publication.
Wednesday, July 28, 2004
They’re English. They’re eccentric. They’re automata with lots of attitude.
The Exploratorium in San Francisco is hosting a show of automata (mechanical sculpture) this summer. Sfgate.com wrote a great article on it so click below for the full story.
The machines are the work of a group of independent English artists who all hail from the same part of England and call themselves Cabaret Mechanical Theatre. Keith Newstead, who is already here, is one of three coming over to be in residence at the Exploratorium for 10 days at a time. Newstead, 48, made several of the tiny machines in the collection, including the “All Weather Cycle,” a tiny bike and Victorian-style rider. Press the button and splashes of rain (tiny bulbs) descend upon the rider and a collapsible hood—the Total Protection Raincover - comes up to enclose him, just as if he were driving a convertible car.
SFgate.com
Cabaret Mechanical Theatre
Keith Newstead
“Pixel Samplers” by Kate Pemberton
Artist Kate Pemberton is turning SMS text messages into cross-stitch art reminiscent of old-style samplers but with a modern context.
The artworks featured in ‘pixel samplers’ generated ideas of pictorial communication and how icons in samplers and on pcs had different meanings and intentions – cross stitching being a symbolic language of images representing feelings and emotions and computer icons being representational of actions or information.
Mobile phones use informative icons for functionality, but also utilize Picture messaging icons / images to evoke human emotion.
There will be 30 samplers when completed, that will be displayed in black frames and hung altogether in 6 rows of 5.
Little Tikes Commercial Playground Equipment Wins 2004 IDEA award
Check out this new Infinity Climber from Little Tikes. It just won the Gold Prize for the 2004 Industrial Design Excellence Award (IDEA) competition. When can we get the adult version?!
www.littletikescommercial.com
2004 Batten Awards for Innovations in Journalism
J-Lab (The Institute for Interactive Journalism) just announced the 2004 Batten Award winners. The ceremony will be held on September 10, 2004 in Washington DC at the National Press Club.
One of my favorites is P.O.V.’s Borders/Environment web series.
Imagine a trip to the gas pump where you fill up with french fry grease. Plant an interactive garden with heirloom seeds. And what are the myths and hype around bottled water? This project examined these and other issues with non-linear storytelling, digital art, and interactive opportunities.
Visit the links provided to see all the winners.
J-Lab
P.O.V. Borders Series Home
Lights of Metropolis Inspire Digital Art (Digital artist Jung Woo-yong)
Jung’s recent digital works, on show now at the Insa Art Space, in Insadong Street, may consider life from a lofty philosophical position, but also a technically able one.
“The Garden of Light,” explains Jung, can be understood by imagining you are sitting in a vehicle traveling through the city, or as he puts it, you are “leaning on the window of a late night bus” and outside is “the gloriously colorful metropolis. Then, all of sudden, time stops, sounds muted, not a movement bothering your sight except the flow. The Flow of Lights.”
The Korea Times
Insa Art Space
Art Mobs: Can an online crowd create a poem, a novel, or a painting?
With the increase in social networking sites, collaborative software, and other connecting technologies, this is a great article about the question—“Just how inventive can an anonymous group of people be?”
When Technology Imitates Art
The limestone lion is an example of how technology is transforming the way sculpture, architectural elements and many other once-hand-carved items can be created or cloned. Scanners, computer-aided design software and automated milling devices are assisting sculptors and in some cases replacing them, creating detailed pieces from slabs of marble and reverse-engineering complex forms.
Cell-outs and Phonies: an exhibition of cell phone media at Los Angeles Center for Digital Art
This is a show I will definitely check out while at SIGGRAPH this August. See you there!
August 6-27 (Opening Reception Friday August 6, 7-11 pm)
As the digital world grows to encompass all aspects of our life, we see the gadgets of our day-to-day existence evolving into expressive art mediums. The advent of cell phones with built-in cameras has sprung a revolution in photography and digital filmmaking; its accessibility is eliminating the boundaries between amateur and professional. Examining the line where art and technology intersect, Cell-outs and Phonies, explores this new way of creating and experiencing digital art.
Los Angeles Center for Digital Art (LACDA)
Microsoft Forms New Media/Entertainment Group
Microsoft Corp. on Monday said it has formed a new group that will be responsible for driving the company’s strategies for converging home entertainment technologies, personal computing and media.
Wednesday, July 21, 2004
E-ink Drawing Pad Closer to Paper
The device could eventually be used for freehand computer input, including cartoon drawing and adding annotation to documents, according to the researchers.