art

A frog with an implanted webserver

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I think I saw this project on Regine's blog: Experiments in Galvanism: Frog with Implanted Webserver by Garnet Hertz:

Experiments in Galvanism is the culmination of studio and gallery experiments in which a miniature computer is implanted into the dead body of a frog specimen. Akin to Damien Hirst's bodies in formaldehyde, the frog is suspended in clear liquid contained in a glass cube, with a blue ethernet cable leading into its splayed abdomen. The computer stores a website that enables users to trigger physical movement in the corpse: the resulting movement can be seen in gallery, and through a live streaming webcamera. Risa Horowitz (2003)

Why do I blog this? an intriguing biotech concept connected to the the origins of electricity, which is here transcripted in the world of internet connectivity? Does a dead frog can be used as proxy to reach BoingBoing from countries that do not allow their citizens to access it?

Turning all of Philadelphia's vacant and abandoned lots into urban farms

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Via inhabitat:

Farmadeliphication (fahr'muh'deli'fi'kay'shun), n. 1. The process of turning all of Philadelphia's vacant and abandoned lots into urban farms: The 'Farmadeliphication' of once decrepit buildings into farm structures advances fresh ways of seeing old structures as well as allowing for an organic transformation of history that contributes to the present day fabric. 2. What might happen if the Front Studio team's entry to the Urban Voids competition moves beyond the conceptual stage.

Why do I blog this? I find this phenomenon interesting. It's quite a different approach than MVRDV pig city (which consisted in raising pigs in huge skyscrapers) or Tokyo's underground farm.

Photographing every object used since 2003

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A very curious project by Alberto Frigo (professor at the Art and Technology department at the Gothenburg University). Since September 24th, this articts has photographed every object he has used. His purpose is to compile the unique code of different objects an individual uses throughout his life. The digital archive is here but he also printed his pictures: all of the images of a month on paper tablatures of 815x315 mm, each row being a day. The result is long-lasting The estimated numbers of tablatures at Frigo's death would be of 600, a strip of 500 meters. Here is the way it works:

1_During a life-event every object* the dominant-hand uses is photographed once and while used. 2_If an object of the same type is the following to be used, this object is not photographed unless the life-event changes. 3_A life-event changes as soon as the dominant-hand uses a different object in a different space. ALBERTO FRIGO, 2003/09.24 *Every artifact that is graspable, consistent and independent.

Why do I blog this? it's an impressive way of collecting a huge load of information, documenting an individual's life. What is interesting is the way this pictures are organized (try to click on the picture on his webpage): the connections between images are intriguing and it's funny to find the common pattern between them. It might be the outcome produced by camera blogject...

Wrap-up of the crystalpunk workshop in Utrecht

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A more structured summary of what I found interesting at the Crystalpunk workshop for soft architecture in Utrecht last week-end:

  • Pablo Miranda's talk targeted two aspects of architecture: being critical and projective. As for the critique part, a lot of things in architecture comes from the assumption that one can do stuff by drawing (before, people were building directly). The use of computer application has complicated this situation: new tools (3ds max, maya, catia...) gives a very important flavor to what's been designed: so who is going to be the author of a project built using such a tool? the architect or the designers of the tool? Concerning the projects, he presented those of his group which are amazingly interesting, especially those playing with genetic algorithm in architecture.
  • Adam Somlai-Fischer's point was about 'bionic spaces", not smarthomes. Sdam is against smarthomes, makes you dumb and incapable to interact with reality (which I definitely agree with, I hate the crappy intelligent fridge idea that may be refilled when empty). For him, architecture is not the building itself, not the behavior, it's not a dress code BUT the idea that space that surrounds us is a responsibility AND it's a social process. He thinks that now that social software are paving this way (web2.0, flickr...), we have familiar ground to replicate this in architecture. He then presented his incredible projects.
  • Jelle Feringa elaborated on Pablo's critique about interactive architecture. For him, each architect style is bound to the software they used (marcus novak - mathematica /greg lynn - maya kas oosterhuis - virtools / frank gehry - catia). His critique was also that specific software designed for architects are regressive. For example piranesi is very limitative: the software creates romantic-sketchy-cheesy models that make architects bound to old-fashioned model to create architecture. For him, archiCAD is also regressive in the sense that it helps quickly resolve design dilemmas and site-constraints unique tu strict municipal-building codes and client requirements through its interactive abilities. One of the most interesting project he presented was a chair design produced with genetic algorithm. They started by asking a question: "what is the minimum volume defining a chair" which they try to answer using genetic algorithm techniques. For Jelle, this was a new way of designing by addressing a specific question before creating an artifact.
  • Jonas Hielscher (Z-25) presented his project Dat-a: an installation based on RFID technology. The dat-a project allows to track people in an exhibit using rfid (you can see people's name in different rooms). He said: "we are in effect creating and Internet of Things". He and Pablo also mentioned this interesting fact after my presentation about blogject: we will get enormeous piles of data, how would we do deal with that (data mining gets hot as Jonas said).

Thanks Wil for all of this!

stuff

Dodge and destroy Calder's kinetic mobiles in an Atari space shooter

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Makers of Pac-Mondrian developed a new game called Calderoids in which players have to dodge and destroy Alexander Calder's kinetic mobiles in the triangular ship of Atari's space shooter Asteroids.

Calderoids combines the relatavistic theories of Alexander Calder's kinetic sculptures with the virtual dimensions of Atari's arcade classic Asteroids. (...) After creating Pac-Mondrian, we were on a mission to create a videogame art mashup for Atari’s greatest selling arcade hit, the space shooter Asteroids. The first artist suggested whose work lent itself to the form of the game was Joan Miro, whose pen and ink ‘Constellation’ series resembled a field of asteroids. Ian Hooper declared Calder’s mobiles filled a far better formal fit, given their fanciful free flight. Creating the first body of sculptures that moved, Calder called his early sculptures ‘Constellations’ after Miro, and presaged their videogame destruction in 'Vertical Constellation with Bomb'. Although Mondrian’s squares provided the initial inspiration, the biomorphic forms in Calder's mobiles were directly influenced by his friend and sometime collaborator Joan Miro. Ian Hooper’s conception of Calderoids mirrors Calder’s own aesthetic merging of Mondrian & Miro in the mobiles. After consuming the brightly coloured squares of Pac-Mondrian, and contemplating Miro’s constellations, the motion and form of Calder’s mobiles led directly to shooting stars in Calderoids.

Cognitive fooding laboratory by Loris Gréaud

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An art installation by Loris Gréaud called "Cognitive fooding laboratory": eating modified food (cresson saturated of anthocyanin pigments) may allow visitors to expand their nightvision skills... when food is meant to augment cognition...

Loris Gréaud nous invite ensuite à améliorer notre acuité visuelle avec du cresson saturé en anthocyanine, pigment naturel que l’on a l’habitude de donner aux pilotes de chasse afin d’augmenter leur vision de nuit. Goûtez-en avant de vous placer devant les Dream Machines où vous aurez à fermer les yeux pour «voir». Ces caissons lumineux, inspirés de la Dream Machine du peintre et alchimiste moderne Brion Gysin, recevront vos pensées qu’ils convertiront en images. La pensée se donne à voir dans cette œuvre qui rejoint la fascination du XIXe, mais aussi de Kandinsky et Kupka, pour les phénomènes vibratoires.

On the left: Loris Gréaud, CFL (cognitive fooding laboratory / compact fluorescent light), 2004. Laboratoire, raccords en aluminium, profils en aluminium, tubes en plexiglas, mousses, pousses de cresson modifié, tubes néons de croissance. Design: James Heeley.

Picture credits: © Elisa Pone. Courtesy gb agency

On the right: Loris Gréaud, Dream machines, 2004.Développements électriques: Jérôme Barbé. Production: gb agency et Le Plateau / Frac Ile-de-France.

Picture credits: © Marc Domage

Tissue technologies as a medium for artistic expression.

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This is an intriguing project carried out by Oron Catts & Ionat Zurr in Collaboration with Guy Ben-Ary. It's an artistic research and development project into the use of tissue technologies as a medium for artistic expression.

In the last five years, we have grown tissue sculptures, "semi-living" objects, by culturing cells on artificial scaffolds in bioreactors. Ultimately, the goal of this work is to culture and sustain, for long periods, tissue constructs of varying geometrical complexity and size, and by that creating a new artistic palette.

The acquisition of living cells and tissues for artistic purposes has created concerns and has focussed attention on the ethical and social implications of creating "semi-living" objects. Thus our goal is to create a contestable vision of futuristic objects that are partly artificially constructed and partly grown/born. These semi-living objects consist of both synthetic materials and living biological matter from complex organisms. These entities (sculptures) blur the boundaries between what is born/manufactured, animate/inanimate and further challenge our perceptions and our relations toward our bodies and constructed environment.

In this project we have used pig's bone marrow stem cells and three dimensional bio-absorbable polymer scaffolds in order to grow three sets of wings.

More information about it on the website of the Pig Wing Project:

The Pig Wings installation presents the first ever wing shaped objects grown using living pig tissue, alongside the environment in which such endeavour can take place. We will attempt to present living tissue engineered pig wings that will be animated using living muscles. This absurd work presents some serious ethical questions regarding a near future where semi-living objects (objects which are partly alive and partly constructed) exists and animal organs will be transplanted into humans. What kind of relationships we will form with such objects? How are we going to treat animals with human DNA? How will we treat humans with animal parts? What will happen when these technologies will be used for purposes other then strictly saving life?

Why do I blog this? still a sunday afternoon browse, I was also wondering about tissues as a new interface (input/output) for certain technologies.

Julie Mehretu's paintings: futuristic environments

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(via), Julie Mehretu - Psychogeographic paintings:

The twelve paintings in Julie Mehretu: Drawing into Painting, curated by Douglas Fogle and originated at the Walker Art Center in 2003, are densely layered works that describe a futuristic environment capturing the sense of our time in history. (...) Mehretu’s works draw from those traditions yet her image of the urban environment depicts a post modern city. Her paintings are built from the juxtaposition of different styles of marking, each with their own character, identity and history. These dense compilations of marks create overlaps and transparencies. The resulting layered compositions exude an energy that is consistent with contemporary society. She depicts a world that is in constant motion, a world that draws from the past as it looks toward the future.

Check this one: Julie Mehretu, “Excerpt (Suprematist Evasion),” 2003, ink and acrylic on canvas, 32 x 54”.

Why do I blog this? I like these representation of (data? artifacts? vehicles? city?) flows. Wouldn't it be a nice metaphor for a physical representation of what we used to call cyberspace, a la hertzian tales? I like this concept of "invisible topographies" (see here or here).

A robot that can shit

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Nam June Paik, is a korean artist who designed (in 1964) a robot that can shit in the streets of New York and call/mingle people who pass-by. According to an interview in Wired (back in 2000), it seems that it's the only pooping robot (well except Wim Delvoye's Cloaqua which is more a machine than an anthropomorphic robot). It's called "Robot 456" and the antropomorphism in this case was related to its innovative capacity to XXX.

(Picture Photograph: Hanns Sohm | © Nam June Paik taken here)

Why do i blog this? I like some of his statements like "I make technology ridiculous", the way he manipulated technology and humour is fantastic.

L'arbre Atchoum / The sneezing tree

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This is obviously the last post of 2005. It's devoted to an interesting installation in Geneva called "L'arbre Atchoum" (The Atchoum Tree, atchoum is, in french, the sound of someone who has a flu). This project, as part of the Arbres & Lumières Festival in Geneva has been developed by Genevieve Favre and Antoine Petroff (electronics and performing). Here is how the artists describes this tree:

The tree on Place René Payot has a cold. Given a voice by astonishing, fabulous musician Daniel Bourquin, the tree neezes, sniffles, whines, complains. It's trying to rest but the approaching pedestrians passing under its branches or near its trunk distrub the tree's nap. Their presence can trigger an outburst of repetitite sneezes or even cause it to lose its temper! This lime tree, spending the winter naked, is inhabitated by scintillating lights which punctuate its moods and accompany the tone of its voice. Fifty discreet LED spotlights dot the tree's branches and light up along with the random voice samples.

Some picture I took yesterday: L'arbre Atchoum (1) L'arbre Atchoum (2)

A video is available here. If you happen to be in Geneva, go there and watch people being disturbed by the tree's screams ("Have a good meal", "Go dancing!", "Always wearing ties...") :)

Confluence of street art and knitting

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Via AEIOU I ran across an impressive article about a new and hilarious trend: the confluence of two rising cultural tides: crafting/knitting and street art in Houston Press:

"We're taking graffiti and making it warm, fuzzy and more acceptable," says AKrylik. "I like the duality there. Also, I really think there can be a lot more to the new, alternative knitting craze than meeting at the local coffee shop every Sunday afternoon to make scarves together -- not that I don't like to do that, too." (...) Poly stands guard while AKrylik puts a pink, red and gray swatch on the bike rack at Poison Girl; it's done faster than you can say "Christo." (...) These gangsta mamas have big plans: cozies for car bumpers, hats for fire hydrants, carpets for sidewalks and, if only they can get enough people, curtains for bridges and covers for water towers.

Pictures by Keith Plocek showing AKrylik and PolyCotN work:

Why do I blog this? even though this seems to be pretty funny and nice, I am convinced than this take part a broader innovative trend: connected to 'do it yourself' motivation, this kind of bricolage is meant to give some personalization feelings. It reminds me Ulla-Maaria's manifesto:

1. People get satisfaction for being able to create/craft things because they can see themselves in the objects they make. This is not possible in purchased products. 2. The things that people have made themselves have magic powers. They have hidden meanings that other people can’t see.

So what we have here in the street is a mix of handcrafted-pleasure and space-based annotations as gently pictured by Timo. In this case, it's less a matter of capturing spatial memories... well now it made me think of what Anne blogged about today... :)

MEART portrait series

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MEART and the portrait series conducted by art-group Fish and Ships.

A web cam captures portraits of viewers within the gallery space. These images are then converted into a stimulation map and used to stimulate the neurons (this is the beginning of a drawing process). A multi channel electrophysiological recording from a neuronal culture (“MEARTS brain”) is performed in Potter's lab. The resulting data sets are processed in two locations – Atlanta & the location of the arm. The processed outcome is used to control and move the drawing arm. The progress of the drawing is monitored and compared with the original portrait. The difference between the original portrait and the progressing drawing is then sent back to the lab as another stimulation map to complete the feedback loop and this whole process continues until a threshold of marks on paper is passed. This is the end of a drawing

distellamap: visualizing goto instructions on atari 2600 code

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Via the excellent french blog gamism, Ben Fry's new project: distellamap: a computer generated visualization that depictes all the "goto" connections in Atari 2600 games.

Seeing the operation of code in Atari 2600 games. Like any other game console, Atari 2600 cartridges contained executable code also commingled with data. This lists the code as columns of assembly language. Most of it is math or conditional statements (if x is true, go to y), so each time there’s “go to” a curve is drawn from that point to its destination.

Why do I blog this? it's an interesting way to visualize a video-game 'space' with a different perspective.