Research Notes

Aldo in the 1980s

computer art

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In his last decade, Giorgini continued to work in side design projects for people he knew in the Lafayette area, and used the computer in a less artistic way. During this period, his use of computer focused greatly in creating graphics for the visualization of fluid mechanics.
Some of his most significant contribution to this field are: The development of the software and instruction of HEC-1 and HEC-2 and “Apple hydraulics,” a fluid mechanics simulator developed with a grant form the apple foundation in 1984.
For apple Hydraulics he collaborated with his PhD student, Andrea Rinaldo, one that he collaborated on several research papers and grant proposals. His last years are marked by a series of trips to Morocco, Tokyo and Italy. The reason for travel was his inclusion in two international conferences about hydraulics. Giorgini had a busy schedule juggling between his extensive research in fluid simulation, visualization, grant proposals.
In 1988, Giorgini travelled to Morrocco and Tokyo to present the latest techniques in fluid simulation and visualization. During the trip to Morrocco, few manuscripts show his familiarity with the arabic language. Giorgini grew part of his early life in the African country of Ethirea, as a war refugee during Mussolinni’s dictatorship. After Morroco, He visited his Voghera, his hometown in Italy and reconnected with family members as well as Italian researchers.
Regardless of all this endeavors, and his full devotion to teaching in the Civil Engineering department thought he didn’t have enough merits in academia to fullfil the requirements to become a full-professor. In the report found at Giorgini’s, anonymus commentaries state “too much art, need more papers.” The cold approach to a exemplary academic that contributed to the development of computer graphics simulations and computer art, raises questions to how the academic system measures knowledge using certain quantitative research landmarks such as “3 publications per year.” It is important to understand the magnitude of Giorgini’s contribution. He was an active participant in a technological development that impacted the history of computation. In a seminal period in which very few had access to computers, Giorgini devised several methods and instructions to use early computer code and printers to produce graphic information. The foundations of his visualization models were highly mathematical and sometimes statistical. In “Circular Cylinder” you can see that during his scientific visualizations he was also having fun. The program “CYLIN” shows visual cues of Giorgini’s artistic interests. Some illustrations from the CE reports became indeed, the foundations for some of his later art pieces.

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Playing with technology

computer art

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photos
Yesterday I went back to Aldo’s studio and explored the “art room” that consists of a wall with a custom made PVC pipe array. The “pixels” of the wall stored the majority of Giorgini’s Legacy. Unfortunately, some of the large (4m X 1.50m) original photographic transparencies have masking tape stuck to them. After careful exploration, it may come off. There are materials that have been stored inside other paper rolls and are in good condition. This transparencies were the result of photographic enlargements of the plots. Giorgini decided to work in a medium scale and enlarged the computer plots through taking film pictures of them. Photography was a passion for Giorgini. A collection of about a thousand slides are a time machine to Giorgini’s vision. His photo documentations are intriguing. Very few of them show people or events, suggesting Giorgini’s uttermost visual interests. The themes are: bridges, Lafayette, computer art, architectural, travel, home, class materials.

Giorgini had an admiration for the Italian renaissance in the work of Andrea Palladio. To Giorgini, bridges were constructions that succeded Palladio’s theories for architectural exploration. It is natural that Giorgini was fascinated by bridges, he was a Civil Engineer that enjoyed mathematical calculations to create shapes.

An envelope with black and white pictures show intriguing models of buildings and bridges with  custom made computer aided patterns. I did not find this originals anywhere yet! But they were the “Swiss cheese” and “Checkerboard” among others that are in his catalog of artworks. The majority of computer aided, enlarged transparencies on mylar are original pieces of art that often times were hand painted and exhibited. Other times they were used to make reproduction of the pieces. By this means, Giorgini created his “Surfaces” series, a run of 200 hand numbered print portfolio of five images. Did he actually make other bigger prints? Did he attempt to make prints with his gigantic screens? The majority of prints he made at his studio are for Surfaces, or at least no other evidence of test runs. Giorgini had an almost exaggerated sense of printing lots of copies of his art. There are currently about 30 thousand prints of his art, specially the ones created with FIELDS and the “Surfaces” print portfolio.

Were the missing works purchased or donated to people and institutions? Which works are in the collection of the Smithsonian and Carnegie Melon?

Pictures, slides and film negatives reveal Giorgini’s process of computer aided art. His computer plots varied in size from 8 in x 17 in to 20 in x 30 in. Sometimes they were colored and then photographed and some other times they were painted over the mylar or paper using black markers or photographic emulsion in the case of the transparencies. When you see the murals of the “Light” series, photography comes to mind. A perfectly defined and focused intricate pattern of alternating and almost glowing by photography: perfect black and the shiny white of it’s matte paper. The “Light” murals make me wonder how to make a print of this dimensions. This images were made in a photographic lab in a similar manner than a photogram. Photograms are an early photographic technique that consists of laying objects over photographic paper. A timed light exposure and an immediate development in a dark roomcreate contours of opaque objects in black and white. Giorgini used the modules to do a multiple exposition in the paper, and be able to create a large image. This process was not easy, and it probably required the aid of professional expertise. I imagine it would be hard to avoid double exposures and matching the image prior to developing it… It needed careful calculation. Maybe if he was living he could tell me how he accomplished this, probably in a very logical and practical solution. At this point the work has evolved from math to computer code to plot to photo to paint and then to photo again. The goal was to create a perfect image.

Notes:

Other important software discoveries: Stretch ( use to make lots of works) and other 2 that can’t remember! in adition to FIELDS, Palette and Light. Is there one called Surfaces?

The other art prints come from the Bridges as sculptures paper.

Chastique prior to computer art – connection to hydrology

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Fallopian Tuba

arduino, projects

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fallopian tuba

int speakerPin = 2;
int buzzerPin = 4;
int buzzer2Pin = 0;
int xpin= A2;
int ypin= A1;
int zpin= A0;
int x, y, z;

void setup() {
// initialize the serial communication:
pinMode(xpin, INPUT);
pinMode(speakerPin, OUTPUT);
pinMode(buzzerPin, OUTPUT);
pinMode(buzzer2Pin, OUTPUT);
//Serial.begin(9600);
}

void loop() {

bass();

}

void beep (unsigned char speakerPin, int frequencyInHertz, long timeInMilliseconds) // the sound producing function
{
int x;
long delayAmount = (long)(1000000/frequencyInHertz);
long loopTime = (long)((timeInMilliseconds*1000)/(delayAmount*2));
for (x=0;x {
digitalWrite(speakerPin,HIGH);
delayMicroseconds(delayAmount);
digitalWrite(speakerPin,LOW);
delayMicroseconds(delayAmount);
}
}

void bass ()
{

x= analogRead(xpin);
y= analogRead(ypin);
z= analogRead(zpin);

beep(speakerPin,500+x,89);
beep(buzzerPin,90+y,80);
beep(speakerPin,290+z,x);
//beep(buzzer2Pin,700+z,10);
// beep(speakerPin,800+x,78);
//beep(speakerPin,x*0.7,sensorvalue%5);
//beep(speakerPin,xe*0.09,400); //
//delay(1000);

}

fallopian electronics

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Experiencia Mistica in Lafayettech

arduino, processing, workshop

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Last month, I met Nelu Lazar from an organization called Lafayettech. Nelu and  his group have been organizing lots of community events in technology development and entrepreneurship. I was invited to do an Arduino workshop that was hosted in foamcity on June 3. It was really fun to find so many people interested in developments with arduino. In fact, I was the least knowledgeable person in arduino within the group. There were people of varied disciplines and ages, with a common interest. During the workshop, we were able to hack an accelerometer, a LED panel and some RGB lights. Here is a pic from that day.
Arduino Hack day

Also Nelu made the really cool video/interview about my project. (above)

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Innovations in computer art

computer art, computer graphics history, phdilemmas

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As I progress in my quest of finding computer art data from Aldo Giorgini’s state, I have discovered very intriguing traces of early pixel-based simulations. It is exciting to see so much material that I (and probably nobody else) has seen before. Giorgini was in a constant duality between art and technology. Many would think that this duality is a plus, but to him it only meant a struggle. After the early computer art scene from the 1970s faded away in the 1980’s, Giorgini had several dilemmas to deal with. The personal computer, as opposed to the mainframe computers, were more accessible to people, and were vastly commercialized. I found some 80’s clippings offering IBM or Commodore computers. Around 1980, Giorgini aquired a Tektronix 4027, a raster based computer. This jump from the “vector” foundations of CalComp to the pixel-based technologies in Tektronix presented a challenge to Giorgini, since it is a drastically different technology, that was also incipient at that time. During all of the 1980’s, Giorgini’s work in computer art became less intense and he became more focused in his work with the HEC-2 and HEC-1 software from the Hydrologuc Engineering Center. The majority of his classes were in this subject and developed several manuals for his classes at Purdue and this institution. In 1983, he won a grant with the Apple Education foundation for the creation of the “Apple Hydraulics”, an apple version of HEC. Giorgini was obsessed with fluid simulation, even his non-computer paintings resemble the fluid turbulences that he plotted. He continued to use CalComp throughout the 1980’s, but did some simulation work in the full-color tektronix.

In the above images we can see similar simulations using different technologies. The one of the left is CalComp and the one on the right is a photo from the tektronix screen. It seems like Giorgini tried to produce some raster-based art, but struggled to produce image outputs. The CalComp plots outnumber the color pictures and he might have just feel creatively limited. His work using CalComp allowed him to reproduce the image at very a big scale, and to produce screenprints.

However, I have some indices that he tried to create a framework for artistic production in Tektronix, in a similar way that he did with his softwares “Fields” and “Light”. At Giorgini’s state I have found several manuscripts and folders with the title “Palette”. In his CV, he mentions an existing published report about this software, but as for now I have only found several manuscripts with numeric formulations and text.

I am hoping to find more about this program. As a result of this software he won an art prize in Germany in 1984.

The late life of Giorgini, was full of trips around the world. He became a knowledgeable resource for HEC-2 and was invited to conferences in Morrocco, Tokio and Italy. He had a very busy schedule that included teaching, publishing, reviewing and traveling. He collaborated with his graduate students, whom he had friendly and long lasting relationships. Giorgini was very much liked based on the correspondance and student evaluations found. In contrast to this, his faculty colleagues at the Civil Engineering department did not support his promotion to full-professor based in the fact that he was more known as an artist. In a letter found, voting committee members argued that he didn’t have enough publications for the amount of years that he had been at Purdue. Is it possible that Civil Engineering department “repressed” an innovative artist? In a similar way, last month his murals have been removed from the potter engineering center, with the argument that they seem dated. Today, the new buzz word is “Innovation”, but the institutions that say that foster it don’t really understand how innovation happens and  they jump into fast conclusions. Innovation is a very slow process that takes years of not-knowing. The academic world is all but innovative, with the faculty and tenure system, when professors are only valued for the amount of publications, rather than the significance of their discoveries. Yes, this makes me sad, angry. Why is it that nobody at Purdue is interested on taking care of Giorgini’s murals? Is it for the same reasons that he didn’t get his promotion in 1990? Are we just using Innovation in technology as a buzz concept but not really embracing it?

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Getting samples of computer art

computer art, computer graphics history, phdilemmas

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I have been working at Aldo Giorgini’s studio for the last couple of weeks. I can’t describe the thrill of having access to such valuable materials. Kelly (Mass’ wife) has been allowing me into the house to work in this project.  Tomorrow will be the fourth time I go and my feelings are very complex in regard to this experience. First of all it has been entertaining to try to find a meaning of the amount of information in the place. There is a lot of stuff (clothes, flyers, old magazines, records, tapes, manuscripts, teaching materials, personal objects, newsclippings, and a lot of dirt…) to be sorted and I am on my way of doing this. I am just touching the tip of the iceberg… Lots of materials are Civil Engineering research and class materials. His work with the software? HEC-2 for hydraulics simulation seems to come up a lot in documents from 1985-1989. This research allowed him to review books in the subject of HEC-2 and computer aided fluid simulation. During this period, Giorgini carefully created the illustrations using the computer and embellish them using letraset (adhesive) black and white patterns to create fills and variety of surfaces. One that brought my attention was the ones mounted on bigger panels that simulate a turbulence. In one corner of the printed plots, that at this point they are still calComp prints, there is a variable “T” for “time” suggesting image sequences. Was Giorgini’s interest on creating animated movies of this graphics? In prior conversations with Mass, he mentioned the existance of some photographed “frames” of a bridge simulation project. His bridge simulation images from a 1979 paper entitled “Bridges as Sculptures”, written by Giorgini and presented at a CE conference in Atlanta,later became the Landscape series and furthermore in 1998, the cover of the Screaching Weasel album.

Other things are salient, such as his CE conference in Morrocco, in 1988. I think this trip meant a lot to Giorgini… I just have an instict that he had a connection to Arab Africa because of his early life in the Eritrea…One of the manuscripts was in arab. Did he also visit Eritrea? I noticed in his tickest that he stopped for about 20 days in Rome. I guess I gotta keep focused in the computer art and not get caught up on other mysteries… so many of them. What matters? What is meaningful? – Everything and nothing.

In regard to computer art, the findings are rich and less abundant. Evrey now and then I find correspondance with galleries and brochures of exhibits in which he participated. Also found some brochures of the “Computer art day” at Purdue. Now I can be for sure which computer artists visited Purdue in 1975. In addition to Chuck Csuri, Robert Mallary, Kenneth Knowlton, Colette and Jeff Bangert, I recently discovered the participation of John Whitney and Lilian Schwartz. This is exciting if you are into computer art history… They are all pioneers!

Last but not least are my findings of a folder with the manuscripts for “Palette” a computer software developed by Giorgini to produce pixel-based graphics. I think this development was for tektronix… In the picture above you can see his numerical approach to color and pattern. Please be reminded that this is circa 1979 when the pixel-based computing is early, underdeveloped, expensive and incipient. In short, pixel-based monitors are another different technology that became ubiquitous in the “Personal Computer” revolution, which marks the end of “computer art” and the beggining of “digital art.”

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experiencia mistica

projects

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Experiencia Mistica from Snebtor on Vimeo.

Here is the final result of my 4 month project. I feel very pleased with the result and learned a lot of new techniques in the process.

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Dorkbot indy 0x8

arduino, news, performance, thoughts

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Yesterday I presented in Dorkbot Indianapolis 0x8. It was a great experience and the Big Car service center provided a great venue for this event. I was recommended by my friend Mayowa Tomori who we knew from the radio chiguiro times. It was very cool to meet very interesting people and get feedback/ support for the type of work that I am doing. I guess it made me see my work in  a more linear perspective and understand my process by having it explained to others. I mean… I think conversational speak is easier to explain art. Maybe I should do that in writing.Aaron, Paul and I rode down there for a  little bit, ate great tacos at a place called “TEX MEX” and went to a house show. Anyways. I hope to be involved in more dorkbot events… Being part of this is a dream come true 🙂

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Experiencia Mistica program

arduino, processing, projects, tutorial

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In an effort to document and archive the circuit and program of the experiencia mistica installation, I publish this circuit and code, in wich a PIR (infrared motion sensor) triggers a display of a RGB LED strip and 2 strobe lights. Additionally has a 12V input and a webcam. It runs in processing with different libraries, such as Arduino, processing.video and minim for the audio


import processing.serial.*;
import cc.arduino.*;
import ddf.minim.*;
import processing.video.*;
import gifAnimation.*;
Minim minim;
AudioPlayer player;
Arduino arduino; //creates arduino object
Capture cam;
Gif tunel;

//variables for PIR
int PIRPIN = 2;
int ledPin = 13;
int counter;

//Variables for RGB strip
int REDPIN= 5;
int GREENPIN= 3;
int BLUEPIN= 6;
int r, g, b;

//Variables for R L strobes
int LEFTPIN =9;
int RIGHTPIN=10;

float leftChannel;
float rightChannel;
float soundValLeft;
float soundValRight;

void setup(){
size(800, 600);
colorMode(HSB);
tunel = new Gif(this, "tunel.gif");
tunel.loop();
cam = new Capture(this, 160, 120);
arduino = new Arduino(this, Arduino.list()[0], 57600);
arduino.pinMode(PIRPIN, Arduino.INPUT);
arduino.pinMode(ledPin, Arduino.OUTPUT);
arduino.pinMode(REDPIN, Arduino.OUTPUT);
arduino.pinMode(GREENPIN, Arduino.OUTPUT);
arduino.pinMode(BLUEPIN, Arduino.OUTPUT);
arduino.pinMode(LEFTPIN, Arduino.OUTPUT);
arduino.pinMode(RIGHTPIN, Arduino.OUTPUT);

minim = new Minim(this);
player = minim.loadFile("mystica2.aiff", 1024); //or 2048
player.play();

}

void draw(){
int pirVal = arduino.digitalRead(PIRPIN);

if(pirVal == Arduino.LOW){ //was motion detected
counter ++;
if (counter == 5){ // the sensor has to be triggered at least 5 times to detect strong motion
arduino.digitalWrite(ledPin, Arduino.HIGH);// send the siignal
player.play();
background (255, 0, 0);
//delay(2000);
}

}

if(pirVal == Arduino.HIGH){ //was motion detected

counter=0;
arduino.digitalWrite(ledPin,Arduino.LOW );
background (0, 0, 0);

}

if ( !player.isPlaying() ){
player.rewind();

}
if ( player.isPlaying() ){
for(int i = 0; i < player.bufferSize() - 1; i++) {
soundValLeft= player.left.get(i)*150;
soundValRight= player.right.get(i)*100;

}

int soundintL = int(soundValLeft); // int version of sound value
int soundintR = int(soundValRight);

arduino.analogWrite(LEFTPIN,soundintL);
arduino.analogWrite(RIGHTPIN,soundintR);
cam.read();
image(tunel,0,0);
image(cam, 322, 236);

if (g==255){ // loop for green variation
g=0;}else g++;

tint (g, 255, 255);

if (r==200){ // loop for red variation
r=0;}else r++;

arduino.analogWrite(GREENPIN,g);

arduino.analogWrite(REDPIN,r);

arduino.analogWrite(BLUEPIN,soundintR);

}

}

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PIR sensor code

arduino, tutorial

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After reading a little bit about motion sensing with PIR sensors and arduino, I was able to improve this code a little bit. The idea came up from sensing “strong motion” as opposed to just a random one.

This image shows a previous code based on the buildr link above:

The idea is that it will only turn the led on or send a “motion detected” message if a strong motion is detected, that is if 5 consecutive signals from the infraRed sensor will trigger the actual action. I was trying to debug this sensor trying to understand its behavior correctly. When I built the circuit, I noticed the motion sensing was as not as reliable as I wanted. That was triggering a false or unwanted signal. Based on my observations of how my interactions with the sensor affected the LED and serial messages, I discovered that the sensor sometimes will send a weird “LOW” to the board and trigger the alarm… But what is the probability of 5 signals in a row? That is what this program does… It is very reliable now!  It was just a software solution to the sensor debugging.  In fact the “motion” sensor is actually activated by heat sensing, a variable associated with motion…. Watch out predator, I can sense you now!

int pirPin = 2; //digital 2
int ledPin = 13;
int counter;

void setup(){

pinMode(pirPin, INPUT);pinMode(ledPin, OUTPUT);
}

void loop(){
int pirVal = digitalRead(pirPin);

if(pirVal == LOW){ //was motion detected
counter ++;
if (counter == 5){ // the sensor has to be triggered at least 5 times to detect strong motion
digitalWrite(ledPin,HIGH);// send the signal put your trigger action here

}

}

if(pirVal == HIGH){ //was motion detected

counter=0;
digitalWrite(ledPin,LOW );
}

}

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Experiencia Mistica

arduino, processing, projects, thoughts, visualization

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First sketch with the idea.

Okay, so I have embarked in a project that involves a lot of work, research and skill. A lot of people have seen me working at foamcity in a “church” or “castle”, but in reality is my Experiencia Mistica project. My motivation to do this project is an image that came to me a long time ago. This image is a three dimensional model of one of Lafayette’s churches. After that I started thinking about the most appropriate material to do a huge 3D model and after making 2 giant plywood structures in December, I went for plywood for this project. I have been obsessed with geometry for a while and during my PhD I’ve been exposed to visualization techniques and geometric modeling. I also teach a visualization class and Dr. Miller’s orthographic teachings came in very handy in the development of the model:

Max helped a ton with his knowledge and tools and we put together the main geometry in only 2 days! It was great. Now I am in the process of painting the outside and it’s been already a month of heavy work. This is how it looked last week:

Since then I have repainted a lot of the early lines because I was not happy with the way the geometry looked kind of flimsy. The video on top shows a program for controling the lights inside via arduino. There is so much to be done!

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ABD and other things

phdilemmas, thoughts

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Last week I presented my dissertation proposal to my committee. To say the least, it was a challenging and awesome experience. After 2 hours of heady talk and scrutiny from my 4 committee members. I got my thesis proposal approved! That means that my research project is good to go. It’s hard to keep in my mind all the things I have to do. In fact having this blog kind of saved my ass when I explained I used it as a researcher-bias check – journal. I guess it is!

Now I have to get that IRB approved and the rest should be smooth sailing. I mean I’m almost done with that statistics class… Things are looking up.

On another note, first run of my submitted proposals to conferences and art venues is starting to come back.

Refused proposals:

  • Currents New media festival, Santa Fe
  • Mapping festival, idk?
  • Bilsland fellowship, Purdue

Accepted (so far)

  • ISEA 2012 Albuquerque

We’ll see what happens but I am excited about the news with ISEA 2012. It is for my project that is in this blog called ‘banana doom’. Okay I sign off now. Gotta go work on the “Experiencia Mística” project an arduino/ processing controlled environment! here is a teaser pic:

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Read values from a 203CE accelerometer directly in Processing

arduino, processing, tutorial, visualization

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1. Upload the “standardFirmata” example from the Arduino IDE in your Arduino board. If you are using Arduino UNO, there is a standard firmata for UNO.

2.Install Arduino library for processing in your libraries folder in the processing sketchbook

3.Test the following code for the Led blink to test that Arduino and processing are communicating correctly (code from the arduino playground page):

import processing.serial.*;
import cc.arduino.*;

Arduino arduino;
int ledPin = 13;

void setup()
{
//println(Arduino.list());
arduino = new Arduino(this, Arduino.list()[0], 57600);
arduino.pinMode(ledPin, Arduino.OUTPUT);
}

void draw()
{
arduino.digitalWrite(ledPin, Arduino.HIGH);
delay(1000);
arduino.digitalWrite(ledPin, Arduino.LOW);
delay(1000);      }

DEBUG.Try the analog read program in the arduino and use the serial monitor to see the maximum and minumum values of the accelerometer. You can take my word that they will be from 300 to 700. Supposedly should be (0-1023) in analog read with mid values around (500).

4. If the LED in the Arduino blinks it means that your “hello world” between the Arduino firmata and processing is working.

5.Build the circuit: (Connect to A0 for Y and A1 for X) in diagram it says 6 and 7, but it should be an analog pin.

This is the schematic in paper and the photo here:

6. Use the following code in processing:

import processing.serial.*;
import cc.arduino.*;
Arduino arduino; //creates arduino object
color back = color(64, 218, 255); //variables for the 2 colors
int xpin= 0;
int ypin= 1;
float value=0;
PImage a;
void setup() {
size(800, 600);
arduino = new Arduino(this, Arduino.list()[0], 57600); //sets up arduino
a = loadImage("mar.png");
arduino.pinMode(xpin, Arduino.INPUT);//setup pins to be input (A0 =0?)
arduino.pinMode(ypin, Arduino.INPUT);
}
void draw() {
background(back);
noStroke();
image(a,arduino.analogRead(xpin)-180, arduino.analogRead(ypin)-300); // in case you want to draw an image
//ellipse(arduino.analogRead(xpin)-130, arduino.analogRead(ypin)-130,30, 30); // in case you want an ellipse
}

–This program tracks down the X and Y values from the accelerometer and displays them altering the position of a graphic in the screen.

–You’ll need to replace the image mar.png in the data folder.

–The position of the object needs to be calibrated to the min and max values the accelerometer is giving you through the serial monitor and for this reason I substract 180 and 330 to the position of the graphic. It still needs improvement!

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Questions and feelings

phdilemmas, thoughts

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Why having a blog if you can’t post drunken “illuminations”? I’ve been bummed for a few days and it has been hard to know the reason of this. My head has been full of anxiety during the last month after the whole preliminary exam thing. Not really worried about the exam itself, but about the future. Last Wednesday I had my oral exam and it went incredibly well. I feel lucky to have finally found a supportive and functional PhD committee to help me move to the next doctoral student stage: the dissertation proposal.
I can’t really understand when some people complain about being a grad student… for the most part I feel like a slacker, I mean, I wake up, I make coffee, read comics, grade some projects, maybe watch a B movie and then go to class. It is not really a big deal to be a grad student. My battle hasn’t been in the actual work, but in my mind. As an artist, what should I do next? Why am I sitting on my ass so much? I don’t even know what to do now. I found some interest exploring new ways of doing art and was happy with the results of purely visual and abstract compositions. At some point, I felt that they were very valuable and innovative works, but now I don’t even know what to think about them. I mean, a part of me wants to make art my own way, disregarding the ridiculous and glamorous art world, but at the same time, I feel the need to validate my work. What have I done? I don’t even know what I want. Knowing what you want is the most important thing for reaching your goals, but now my goals are gray and confusing. I can’t tell what they are, and that makes me loose motivation. I really hope this changes!
Anyways, part of my thoughts have been revolving around making meaningful connections and leaving behind some digital networking. I feel that publicizing my work in the so-called social networks hasn’t been very successful and that, everybody is using the same methods. I am trying to break this cycle, and do things without expecting to have # of comments, “views” or “hits”, but it has been hard… I feel isolated, and unmotivated. I was just looking to some of the pictures of the events from Radio Chiguiro in 2006 and it was great because it was about making work and not about the consequences. It was great to make meaningful work for a community. I have high hopes that foamcity will bring this type of creative and artistic force to a fulfilling experience.

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Museo del Futuro

projects

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Museo del futuro was the result of an artistic residency in the city of Caracas in 2004. During a period of three months, I collected data from the website “museodelfuturo.org”, no longer online as of today. The data was acquired though a survey with 5 questions about a disappeared consumer product. The questions were:

  1. Which of the disappeared products you remember?
  2. Describe it’s Flavor/Smell
  3. Year
  4. How was the design? (color, logo, etc.)
  5. Any additional information?
fig1.survey screenshot
I received 54 entries. The submissions were used to create visual representations of these memories based on the given information. However, this project was unfinished since only 30 of the products had been visualized. A few weeks ago I found an old stack of papers and with the Museo del futuro drawings in it. Under the light of the topic of “data visualization,” I gained interest on this project on a different level. This time I wanted to analyze this data through the lens of qualitative research and to produce visualizations for it.
fig2. example of the product visualizations. see all
As opposed to “number crunching” the surveys, I read the dataset until themes and patterns emerged.  The themes found were:
fruity, chocolate, colorful, childhood, spicy, sweet, cheesy, fresh, chewy, drink, snack, bubblegum, candy, ice cream, cookie, beer dairy, milk chocolate, spreadable chocolateThe visual results are below:

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Interactive Random Chromatic Experience

computer art, computer graphics history, visualization

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I just stumbled upon the amazing Cruz-Diez foundation site. If I ever visit Houston I have to check this place out. My early assumptions about a connection between the kinetic / OP art movement from the late 1950s and the first experiments in computer art were finally proved through the “New Tendencies / Nuevas Tendencias” international movement. Cruz-Diez participated in some of the New Tendencies exhibitions in Zagreb, a melting pot for artists working with technology. I don’t think that there is somebody else that can understand the physical qualities of color as Cruz-Diez. His paintings produce visual effects as you walk through them. It an absolutely amazing experience. We find in his work, elements of interactivity, perception and science used for the purpose of creating amusing art. It is wonderful to think that the viewer doesn’t need to be an expert in art with MFA’s and/or PhD’s to understand this work.

Anyhow, The Cruz-Diez foundation has just launched an “app” called Interactive Random Chromatic Experience for iphone and ipad to create optical and colorful images in the style of Cruz-Diez. It is a new version of a 1995 CD-rom that I would love to have:

This project is a good demonstration of the research aspects present in Cruz-Diez work. In the computer screen, color is data and interacting with the software allows the user to manipulates the values of the program.

I’ve been toying with the idea of making an app that reconstructs “FIELDS,” the software created by Giorgini in 1975. Maybe this would be a good way of making his work accessible to the new generations?

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SIGGRAPH 2011 Vancouver

computer art, computer graphics history, news, presentations

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A few weeks ago I returned from the SIGGRAPH conference in Vancouver. It was a great experience and I had a lot of fun in the company of Dr. Mohler, Professor Hassan and my fellow PhD student and friend Zheng. I had the great opportunity to present my study about Aldo Giorgini in the Art Papers panel and it went very well. I was intimidated by the size of the conference and the amount of people. Before the presentation I received a call from my dad in Colombia, who told me… “Don’t worry about the public, just think that they’re students,” and I think it worked. During this panel I met Francis Marchese, a professor in the department of Computer Science at Pace University. His paper entitled “Conserving digital art for deep time” was very inspiring and eye-opening as well. The practice of preserving digital art is a work in progress and researchers are looking for a feasible methodology to preserve this type of art. Digital art has been often times called “new media”, however, this “newness” is about 50 years old and it’s necessary to stop and think about the past of this discipline.
On the same day of the panel, the Leonardo journal had a reception in the SIGGRAPH art gallery where I had quite an exciting time. All the papers presented in the art papers panel where also featured in the latest issue of Leonardo, which for a PhD student counts as “two birds with one stone.” In the exhibition I had the pleasure to meet with Computer art pioneer Professor Chuck Csuri. My adviser Dr. Miller had previously sent him an introduction letter as a fellow “Buckeye”, asking him to meet me at SIGGRAPH. I saw him there and gave him a recording of a presentation he did at Purdue in 1974 or 1975 where he talked about interactive graphics.

We talked for about 15 minutes and he gave me some very good pointers in relation to the history of Computer Art. Roman Verostko was also with us and I was very excited to hear about the 1970s context. They recommended me to look up the work of researcher Margit Rosen and her historical research entitled “A Little-Known Story about a Movement, a Magazine, and the Computer’s Arrival in Art
New Tendencies and Bit International, 1961–1973.” Get your hands on one of these catalogs NOW. This is the most amazing study of digital art I’ve seen so far. It tells a complete different history of computer art and it compiles a large group of artists and avant-gardes. It’s kind of the missing link between optic-kinetic art and computer aesthetics. You ever wondered why the work of Cruz-Diez or Vasarelly resembled the first computer aided designs? It is because this movements were actually connected! and they were called “New Tendencies.” All the ideas of concrete art and the avant gardes in south america shared similar views with the first computer artists, in fact they coexisted around the “new tendencies” exhibitions in Zagreb, Yugoslavia (now Croatia) from 1961-1978.
I have the good luck to have kept in touch with Professor Csuri and I am hoping to ask him more specific questions about his relation with Aldo Giorgini and the role that he played in the computational arts movement.

Vancouver was such a blast. I am still recovering from all the information I received. I had a lot more interesting conversation with other artists and researchers, namely, Michael Bielicky from ZKM, Osman Khan and David Bowen. It was great to meet this amazing guys on a personal level. It felt good to share similar ideas about art and computers with more established artists and professors.
Here I am back in Lafayette now. I traveled so much this summer that I hardly had any time to think… but now that the whole excitement is wearing off and I come back to my normal life as an artist, a course instructor and a researcher, I can’t help but feeling the despair of not knowing what to do next.

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Summer plans and trips

news, performance, processing, projects

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I’ve been excited and even nervous about the upcoming events this summer starting in just a couple of weeks. Last Feb. I submitted the Revenge eternal documentation to a festival called LPM in Rome. Pretty soon we got informed about our acceptance in the new media festival for audiovisual performance.

Jordan and I will be traveling in two weeks to Rome and stay 5 days there for the duration of the event. We’re part of the “RE-Encode” selection for this year, curated by Andrea Sztojánovits. according to the page RE-Encode is:

Generative art is an expressive and increasingly explored genre, particularly thanks to the last decade’s technological novelties. The vj became a programmer and the programmer mutated into a performer, capable of creating incredible digital biospheres; a new era of sound and codes have produced novel organic visual experiences. From computer to physical and portable devices, many tools are available to creators and designers which contribute to the technological and artistic development through generative audiovisual language. Thanks to an active and reactive coding of the world surrounding us, the audience can perceive a unique atmosphere, experiencing complex performances of simple bits and binary codes.

I guess what we do fits into that category, since we use computer code to alter and produce audiovisual content.
Another exciting event is the one coming up in August. My paper entitled “Art and code: The aesthetic legacy of Aldo Giorgini” was selected for SIGGRAPH 2011 Vancouver. I am excited to present my research and a little bit scared about learning the required presenter/entertainer skills.
It has been a great semester so far and the fruits of my work are starting to bloom. After being rejected from a lot of applications to art residencies and bad luck with shows, I get to fulfill 2 of my dream goals for 2011. I have learnt a lot about growing up as an artist and realizing that the road is gonna be long and interesting. The accomplishment of goals is the beginning of new ones. As far as the PhD, I will be working in my research about Aldo Giorgini with great help of my Advisers, Dr. Whittinghill, Dr. Miller and Dr. Mohler. Additionally, The College of Technology will cover the costs of my research during the summer which is freakin’ awesome.
I would like to encourage other creative artists to persist on their quest to sustainability (economic-integrity-happiness) because it can happen to you. The way the art world works is pretty weird and the chances of becoming “a great artist” are pretty slim in our contemporary world. But, if you can be sustainable, then you’re an artist.

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Sprite Art Workshop at the College for Creative Stidies in Detroit

news, thoughts, tutorial, workshop

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During the past month there have been a lot of ‘bloggable’ events in my life that I haven’t been able to document because of the lack of time. What can I say, new Zine, new shirts, and travel plans! It is a very exciting moment in my life that coincides with the coming of spring and my 30th Birthday. One of the projects that had me excited all semester was the Sprite Art Workshop at the CCS, Detroit. I was invited by my artist friend Brian Barr whom we went to school together at Purdue’s Fine arts grad program. We hadn’t seen each other for about 4 years, but he contacted me through FB to see if I was interested to do a lecture and workshop with his painting students from the CCS. I immediately replied because I love doing workshops, it is my favorite art activity. It’s really fun to teach something for a day and to interact and collaborate with the participants. The outline of the lecture presentation can be downloaded here:
/sprite-art/
Here is a picture of Brian:

Stefi drove me there from Lafayette, and it was a long 6 hour trip with a stop in Mc Donald’s. I use to like these Mc Donald’s stops a lot, but since we saw that movie Food Inc., it really ruined it for me. I hate doing statements about meat and stuff like that, but the reality is that it is just fucking gross. Yes the food industry is ripping everybody off and there is nothing we can do about it. My favorite stop ever was on a KFC/Tacobell restaurant, you could order nuggets and burritos on the same place! I asked if I could have KFC crunchy chicken on my chalupa but that was not possible. Anyways those rest stops are over and I’m sure I will miss the MSG craving every now and then. Okay going back to the Detroit story…
We got up early in the morning to go to the workshop. Some students got there fashionably late and heard me talk about digital art for about 1 hour. After that we started sketching some characters and then we went to the computer lab. We used photo cameras to scan the drawings, it was easy and worked well. At the end of the workshop, we had a few functional animations and a lot of creative sprites.
Walking around the College for Creative Arts was awesome, the environment felt very artistic and creative. They had an amazing art library with Magazines I even didn’t know they existed. I have always wondered if state Universities with their tenure track positions are positive to the arts, and CCS shows a different model to this. The teaching jobs there are contract based and have to be renewed regularly. The focus is on education as oposed to research, which makes more sense to me. There is a lot of hostility to get to be a tenure professor. A lot of really nice assistant professors that I’ve liked have been bullied-out of the schools I’ve been to, and it’s heartbreaking and sometimes very unfair.
Detroit has also a growing young artists’ scene that has taken advantage of the real state/financial crisis to take over the city. There are lots of artist-run gallery spaces, and old factories now turned art studios. We visited Brian’s and Lauren’s studio at an old Car/plane manufacturing plant. Here are some pictures:

Lauren and Brian showed us around and they are great hosts. We ate delicious food, had lots of funny conversations and enjoyed sharing experiences. It was so nice to spend time with friends! We went to a show in a space called Butter Projects that was very nice. I had a positive impression of the place when I saw a pregnant young woman giving chilled PBR’s from a tub. The show was called ‘nude’ and featured about 10 artists I think. The quality of the work was a little strange, it seemed that the work in it had been created the night before and carelessly. I really appreciated the sense of community from this opening, and it reminded me of the lively Lationoamerican art scenes like in Bogotá, Mexico DF or Caracas. With a similar cast of participants, the show was more about the gathering of people, but not a lot about the art and the ideas. I wish I would have talked to the guy that did the croched pink costume. That was great work!
I hope that the Detroit kids learn to capitalize the uniqueness of their city to produce significant work. The setting is ideal for a renewal of the american art, with the potential of becoming an art center like LA or NY. The future is now for them and it is in the hand of the current Detroit artists to lead attention to the art critics. Or maybe not? maybe trying to imitate the big-art-center scheme would be stupid? Didn’t the scheme of ‘making it’ already fail?
Thank you Brian, Lauren and Stephanie for such great trip experience.

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Banana DOOM – Videogame mod project

projects, tutorial

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During the past year I’ve been programming my own videogames using the tool called Unity. It is a free engine, and very compatible with the opensource 3d modeling tool wings. I never had used 3D before and it was easy to just start working on it after a workshop organized by ETB and the envision center at Purdue. Besides that, I have been using other game engines for 2D “modding”. Modding means making modifications or ‘mods’ of preexisting games changing the original assets of the game. An example of this is the M.U.G.E.N software that contains the program of a 2-player fight game similar to Mortal Kombat and Street Fighter II. I experienced modding it with an engine called Fighter Factory ultimate. I obviously had to get a machine with windows XP (service pack 3) in it. Anyhow it’s a lot of fun to remove the original graphics and replace them with my own drawings. One example of modding in FFU and M.U.G.E.N. is my Cortez character:

My next modding project consists of moding the historic first-person shooter DOOM. For this I am using a .Wad file called freedoom, a free version of the doom software. A WAD is the extension file of the game files. WAD stands for “Where is All the Data” and it is part of the doom software. You can edit this files using doombuilder and Xtendable WAD editor… both PC shareware/freeware.

I like to use preexisting game plots to raise awareness of historic events. In the case of my Doom WAD, I am creating BANANA DOOM, a game that retells the “masacre de las bananeras” or Banana Massacre in Colombia (1928). You are one of the soldiers that were order to kill 1000+ unionized farmers and their families. The unionized workers pressured the american corporation “United Fruit Company” to get better job conditions. The goverment officials threatened workers to kill them if they didn’t resume their banana collection. A threat that became true and has become one of the landmarks in the history of violence in Colombia.

Here is a video of my WAD replacing the tree sprites with Banana plants:

And one of the sprite ideas for the farmer character will be coming soon. It looks like this:

I am using archival images to make the sprite art. But one of my friends will be the Farmer actor.

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Got my ass kicked again in grad school

phdilemmas, thoughts

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Have you ever heard that getting a PhD is hard? If you’re considering on starting one be aware that this is a nearly impossible task in Computer Graphics. You can get an MFA by only attending to classes and doing some random artwork on the side. After 3 years of sitting around, partying and dozens of messy relationships I earned an MFA in Electronic and time based media. Some of you might be aware that the MFA is already a terminal degree and no further training is needed to be in the academic or art market. However, I ended out enrolling on a PhD in Computer Graphics… I originally thought of only getting a seconds masters, so I could sit around some more, but my advisers said that it would be just “stupid” to do a second masters. Well… 2 years later and after seeing all the master students have graduated I feel more stupid!

Making a PhD is about making a supreme breakthrough in knowledge. Art making is an expression and new work alone does not mean a contribution. Or is it?

I am really talking form the heart of my frustration. I was hoping to be able to present my preliminary exams by the end of this semester, but according to my adviser “I’m not ready yet”. I really respect him and I thank him for kicking my ass in a caring way. There was nothing mean about his statements, but “being ready” is an abstract concept that only leaders of a fraternity and PhD advisers can decide.  Dr. W wants me to see more of who I am. He doesn’t want me to please the needs of traditional research, he just wants me to take the time to use my PhD as my opportunity to develop my artistic and philosophical ideas like I never done before. His advice is that I need to be more of an artist than I am being now, to believe in myself, and in my art. I need to believe more in the stuff I make, stop being modest about it, because it is just bringing me down.  I doubt myself a lot and this is not letting my creative ideas expand… I’m also trying to make to make to many things at once. Dr. W’s message make more art, care less.  He also mentioned that the road is more fun than the end- and I agree with him. I guess I don’t want the PhD as much as I want to make great artwork. I see people doing amazing things everyday and I want to do it too!

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Audiovisual performance: revenge eternal

performance, processing, projects, thoughts

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I just came back from Indianapolis. Last night we played in a place called “Earth House”, a venue for independent visual artists and performers. It is located downtown “Indy” a few blocks from our friends Jordan, Ryan and Benedict. It was a lot of fun. Unfortunately, one of the members of revenge eternal couldn’t come to our show and we had to adapt the sound material a little. Here is a picture of the auditorium where we played at:

The show was booked by Erin Drew, a very interesting visual artist that I met a couple of years ago through a Meatballz show in Zonie’s closet, Indianapolis. Aaron and I got there and we were surprised that we were playing at a very old methodist? church. erin did a very cool flyer for the event too:

There was a big group of friends from the Lafayette infamous scene and their presence didn’t remain unnoticed by the public attending to the event.  The consumption of alcoholic beverages was frowned upon by one of the organizers of the event. Anyways, our show seemed to have a receptive audience and we also enjoyed the other bands on the show: Bad eyes and Drekka. I really hope we get to get around with the revenge eternal project. I just want to have something else than research. I am more of an artist than a researcher and I want to keep my interests well balanced. We will play 2 shows next friday in Lafayette, our hometown. we’ll see how that goes.

Here is a video documentation of the revenge eternal performance days before the earth house show:

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Significance of research in Digital aesthetics

computer art

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Why do we study lives?

The study of a life does not simply tell the facts and anecdotes of a person. Biographical inquiry (Denzin, 1989) seeks to understand the meanings of the events that form someone’s life. The biographical study researcher seeks to find truthful facts and turning points in the life of the subject, and interprets them in a narrative form.

Turning life points are called epiphanies (Denzin, 1989) and in the case of Aldo Giorgini, the development of the software FIELDS was an epiphany that turned the direction of his life, and the origin of Giorgini’s contribution to computer graphics and the digital arts.

The materials at the Giorgini residence in Lafayette, Indiana hold an untold life story. After his death in 1994, his son Massimiliano Adelmo Giorgini has taken care of his father’s state, and presently lives in the house where Aldo Giorgini lived and worked as an artist. Massimiliano has kept the artist’s studio practically untouched. At a first glance to Giorgini’s studio in the basement of 734 Berkley road, it would seem that he would still be alive. The amount of files, folders and artwork lying around look like there was still, an artist working on a big project. However, a closer look to the materials shows signs of wear and humidity. Unfortunately, the personal papers and art of Aldo Giorgini are at risk of disappearing and with them the story of how, an Italian-born artist and scientist pioneered in digital aesthetics. What methods did he use?

Giorgini worked extensively developing algorithms for graphics, but also theorized about the meanings of a computer aided practice. In 1975, FIELDS marks the beginning of Giorgini as a digital artist and it is the main focus of this study.

Why is important to find new meanings?

Through the study of Giorgini’s life and papers, this study will find meanings of a technology-based art practice. In Heidegger’s text “The question concerning technology” (1954), he explains that the meaning of technology is concealed and that it can’t be defined only as a mere ‘tool’. Heidegger explains the meaning of technology is found in four aspects: causa materialis (the material), causa formulis (the form), causa finalis (the end) and causa efficiens (the effect). According to him, they all belong to each other and effect each other. A simplistic definition of Giorgini’s work would only explore his work in the dimension of “use of technology as a tool”, that is, using computers instead of brushes and canvases. As Heidegger explains, this is truth, but only partial. This study will seek the meanings of Giorgini’s use of technology and how, he redefined the use of the ‘tool’ to create different results (causa efficiens) than those that technology intended for (causa finalis).

New media theorists attempt to explain the meaning of new technologies and criticize their impact in our society. This study will inspect Giorgini’s work and texts under the light of new media theory, to unveil the concealed meanings in Giorgini’s digital aesthetics.

In 1967, Giorgini became a professor in the Civil Engineering department at Purdue University. During this period, Giorgini worked at a lab equipped with the latest scientific visualization technologies developing algorithms to produce terrain simulations. The visual output of the computer code inspired Giorgini to pursue computer aided art. Making art using computer languages was an unusual practice and Giorgini was one of the first artists to develop his own software to produce art. This relationship between instruction and form will also addressed in this study.

How & what to preserve?

One of the main purposes of this study is to provide the guidelines for the preservation of Giorgini’s documents and artifacts. The conservation of digital art poses a challenge to traditional archival methods, and new vocabularies need to be implemented for a successful preservation. This study will lay out possible frameworks for the preservation of software art, namely, the documents concerned with the production and execution of the software FIELDS, its physical outputs, computer aided art and related materials. The resulting data from this study will be readily for it’s cataloguing in archival records, and will provide the frameworks for further conservation of these materials.

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Biotech Manimal

projects, thoughts

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My recent project is a comic called “Biotech Manimal”. It tells the story of Rich, a grad student exploited by his professors. While doing some experiments at his lab, Rich’s molecular structure blend with a BIO-enzime. The Zine will be out soon, but you can read the first 3 pages by clicking in the picture below:
BIOTECH MANIMAL

This is the comic is the result of my question about technology. What is the impact (causa eficiens) of technology? This question cannot be simply answered.

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Code as muse

computer art

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* Blais, J., & Ippolito, J. (2006). Code as muse. In At the edge of art (pp.16-55). New York, NY: Thames & Hudson

“Code as muse” is an attempt to make sense of the different approaches artists have to using programming languages as their media for art making. This chapter is focused extensively in artistic approaches to code writing.

The authors explain that the ‘art’ or craft of a computer program has little to do with fine arts. A clean program from a computer scientist or ‘the art of programming’ is only the mastery of a technique. In the other hand, artists would misuse code to create new meanings of the world and our relation to technology.

“If programming is an art, is any programmer with high standards an artist? No.” (p.17)

Scientific discoveries and visualizations such as the Mandelbrot set are important landmarks of this area of study, however, merely image production does not constitute a piece of art. The value of art relies on its meaning, and the production of realistic images using procedural techniques is addressed in the chapter, but also questioned. Art with code has nothing to do with the mastery of the code, in fact, many artists misuse code to produce new meanings and new uses for this medium.

The limitations of software art are constrained by syntax, if the program is not properly written in computer language, it won’t work. One of the most important aspects of this reading is that art-making is not the main purpose of programming languages, and this “code bending” re-purposes the original scientific intent of this tools.

The chapter has a negative bias towards beauty. Computer aesthetics is an important characteristic of the tool and can be used as a catalyst for deeper meanings. It is true that a naive approach to form, without addressing the medium is not worth a lot meaning, but we cannot assume that critical art makes better art. It just makes sense that ‘ugly’ is more critical of the medium than an appealing image. In fact, beauty would seen as a positive outcome of these technologies, therefore non critical. Can art with technology can be critical and aesthetically engaging?

This chapter is an advocate of the misuse of scientific-oriented machines and languages for creative and aesthetic purposes and achieve “the purposeful perversion of code syntax” (p.29).

As these examples indicate, scientific analysis frequently generates images at least as compelling as aesthetic output. Sometimes those with scientific training are to eager to bend their output into a frame defined by art-word norms and don’t recognize the most artistically illuminating option may be to leave the work in the state of a scientific diagram (p.44).

Artists may use simple instructions and code to produce complex visual outputs. It is important that the viewer can make the connection between code and output. The relationship between code and output produces artistic meanings, and for this reason, the code concept needs to be intelligible to the viewers. This could be just an explication of the algorithm, instead of syntax.

“Artists like LeWitt deliberately kept the concepts underlying their works as simple as possible, precisely so that viewers could connect the dots between process and product” (p.40).

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