03:53
Jonathan McCabe: The Origami Butterfly Method
Last week I opened an exhibition by Canberra artist Jonathan McCabe – The Origami Butterfly Method. The show presents a family of images made with a supremely elegant – and as far as I know original – generative technique. The Method goes something like this. Imagine a square sheet of paper, and mark a dot somewhere on it and record its position. Fold the paper along a random axis, and watch where the dot ends up, recording this position. Repeat this thirty-two times. Use a weighted average of that list of points to determine the colour (or at least hue and brightness) of that original point. Now repeat, using the same folds, for as many points on the square as you like (say, several million). What I love about this is that despite the intensely tactile quality of the surfaces, these images have no “thing” to them: they’re visualisations of transformations of space – traces of topological history. This generative technique has lots of neat features. It’s resolution-independent (you can sample as many points as you like), the procedure is simple and compact (32 folds) and because it’s a sequence, it’s richly connected with image structure: the first fold is the most significant in controlling macro-structure, and the last fold influences the smallest level of detail. McCabe uses genetic algorithms to search and “optimise” the space of possible fold sequences / images. Oh and also, he’s making animations out of them. In this exhibition McCabe printed high-res images onto 72cm square canvases, in (very affordable) editions of one. More than half this show at The Front gallery, Lyneham, sold on the opening night.
McCabe isn’t plugged in to the generative arts scene – I had to ask him to make this site so I could write this post. Maybe that’s part of the reason his work seems so fresh – he’s been refining these techniques by himself for quite a while. After seeing this show I think the work could do with some attention: it’s got “retinality” to burn but underneath that is a generative technique that is poetic in itself.
15:28
The ever-trusty del.icio.us/TomC feed brings news of a debate related to the Processing or Die thread a while back. A blog post over on Grand Text Auto about a lecture by C.E.B. Reas at the Human Systems | Digital Bodies conference has drawn some interesting comments about “procedural literacy” and discussion of general terminology.
Michael Mateas, associate Professor at Georgia Institute of Technology, has posted a link to his paper "Procedural Literacy: Educating the New Media Practitioner" (PDF). In it he argues that a knowledge of computational processes (i.e. procedural literacy) is a requirement for anyone seriously intending to deal with the so-called “new media”. It’s slightly on the techy side of things, but has some interesting historical references (Papert, Kay, Nelson etc.) as well as some fresh takes on the basic problem of computing for the humanities. For instance, he proposes (writing) games as the perfect vehicle for understanding a procedural approach. Interestingly, another participant in the discussion, Ian Bogost, has a book out on MIT Press entitled Unit Operations : An Approach to Videogame Criticism.
The idea of computational literacy extends beyond what is traditionally considered code. Our favorite Norwegian blogger heroine, Jill Walker, forced her electronic literature students to learn HTML and CSS in order to set up their own blogs. While HTML lacks any active computational component, it can still potentially hold a transformative experience in terms of understanding how computers “think”. Just ask all the Myspace kids.
And of course there is always the dogmatic Open Source view as to why you should learn to code: If you can’t hack it, it will control your life.
18:19
Jannis Kreft: Generative Audiovisual Systems (rappers Monarch & Thec)
Jannis Kreft (aka "Dein Lieblinsgestalter") has documented his diploma project for Joachim Sauter’s class at Universität der Künste in Berlin. Entitled "Generative Audiovisual Systems", the project is a performatice live show using VVVV to generate interactive sets for rappers Monarch & Thec.
Abstract visuals are normally seen illustrating electronic music, while hip hop typically features ubiquitous booty videos. Kreft breaks the norm, only referencing traditional hip hop aesthetics with an interactive Lowrider model (seen top left). Using IR camera tracking, projections onto the bodies of the performers can be isolated from the rest of the set.
See Kreft’s site for details, including step-by-step progress reports, and be sure to look for the hilarious bluescreen photos. The site also holds documentation of other audiovisual projects Kreft has been creating for media design studio Art+Com.
Respect to the German generative massive. Peace, I’m out.
10:22
Ed Burton from Soda has given some feedback on Tuesday’sSodaPlay 2.0 entry. He hastens to point out that Playforge is not strictly a XML framework just for SodaConstructor, but rather a general application framework that will form the base of all future SodaPlay applications. That way all projects based on Playforge will benefit from common services such as user authentication, persistence etc.
Here are some further explanations from Ed:
Currently Sodaplay.com is the home of the spring and mass editor and simulator Sodaconstructor together with the remarkably diverse models that hundreds of thousands of talented users have learnt to create with it. Here we launch our vision of Sodaplay 2.0 as an evolving ecology of applications of which a redeveloped Sodaconstructor will be just one. These applications can be created, modified, extended and shared by Sodaplay users themselves.
By giving a community of users that includes teachers, students, hobbyists and developers the ability to not only use but also modify and create applications that benefit from shared services such as online storage and discussion we seek to nurture a creative ecosystem of innovation that can develop and tailor applications to fit into multiple contexts spanning art, science, learning and play.
What is Playforge?
Playforge is the term we use for the underlying framework that Sodaplay 2.0 will be an instance of. Sodaplay applications such as Sodaconstructor and Sodacities will benefit from common Playforge services such as user authentication, persistence and discussion. Playforge will also make it possible to modify the user interface of an application by simply editing an XML file, or extend the behaviour of an application by augmenting it with additional java code all without the need to re-write the original applications source code.
Ed confirmed the link between SodaConstructor and the work of Karl Sims, pointing to an interview he did with Sims for sodarace.net. It is recommended reading for anyone interested in evolutionary approaches to creature design. Thanks, Ed!
14:01
Soda: Screenshots of SodaPlay 2.0 Beta (Flickr)
As mentioned in the previous post about Soda, there are some interesting new SodaConstructor developments in the works. While talking to the Soda crew in London a few weeks back I was lucky enough to get some details.
From its launch in 2000, the popularity of the SodaConstructor project exceeded all expectations. It was intended to be a simple experiment with Java, spring dynamics and meccano-like creatures, but quickly became a runaway hit with mentions in fashion magazines and the popular press. Something about SodaConstructor gets to people. You can call it the LEGO effect or draw parallels to the popularity of "god games", but put simply SodaConstructor is just good clean fun.
Today, SodaConstructor has over registered 200 000 users that can save their creations and show them off to others. The site sees over 200 000 visitors per month, many of whom are temporary visitors. For some users SodaConstructor has become both a serious hobby and an arena for research. There are even user-run community sites like sodaplaycentral, with serious articles on how to build "amoeba" type creatures and the workings of Multiple Stiffness Springs.
SodaPlay 2.0: The community. At first Soda was unprepared for the popularity of the project, and had no time to support or develop it further. A simple but much-needed mechanism for saving user models was added, and allowed for the Sodazoo. In 2002 SodaRace was released thanks to external support. It provided a XML file format for models, making it possible to automate model design through AI and alife strategies. With a nod to Karl Sims’ classic Evolved Virtual Creatures, SodaRace uses the metaphor of a race to evaluate the ability of different models to navigate a random terrain. It became a hit with the AI and engineering community.
Now, with the generous long-time support of NESTA Soda are working on combining the popularity and simplicity of SodaConstructor with the advanced functions of SodaRace. The result will be SodaPlay 2.0, which will combine community functions (think Flickr, with galleries, comments etc) with a XML application framework called Playforge for creating models as well as modifying the SodaConstructor environment itself. SodaPlay 2.0 is scheduled for launch sometime in the near future.
The details of the APIs and framework are still being worked on, but users will be able to customize the interface of the Constructor enviroment as well as the physical simulation being used. These modifications can be saved as “Extensions” and shared with other users. Like with SodaRace, a web API will allow communication and uploading to the SodaPlay server, so user-written applications can be used to contribute to the environment.
Other ideas like a SodaConstructor screensaver which automatically downloads models for display are in the works. As with any service, opening SodaConstructor up to users through APIs and standard file format could potentially transform how the tool is used and what results that can be produced. Constructor heads should have exciting times indeed.
I have asked the SodaPlay team to give a short explanation of PlayForge and future functions, I will post that in a follow-up when I get it.
09:48
Barcelona is always a nice place to be, but the upcoming second week in May may hold particular interest to creatives working with digital media. The reason is the OFFF festival for "Post-Digital Creation Culture". Now in its fifth year, OFFF has moved away from its Flash-oriented roots and embraced the full spectrum of experimental digital work. According to the festival site, OFFF is exploring “software aesthetics and new languages for interactive and visual expression.”
The festival’s biggest pull is probably the presentations by a core of well-known creatives, with names like Kyle Cooper, Weworkforthem, Nando Costa and many more. This year the list is also conspicuously full of names from the computational design and generative art fields: Ben Fry, Golan Levin, Casey Reas, Marcos Weskamp, Zach Lieberman etc. It’s an interesting mix, and while the actual program of events hasn’t been announced yet there are sure to be some good presentations.
A special partner event of OFFF is the EXTEND: Advanced Processing Workshop. Co-produced by OFFF and Hangar (an art centre for the audiovisual arts), the one-week EXTEND workshop will be led by Ben Fry, Casey Reaz, Zachary Lieberman and Marius Watz. The workshop is intended for artists and designers who already know how to code, but who would like to experiment with new topics, learn how to extend the Processing tool itself or just play around in a constructive environment.
The workshop fee is set at a low EUR 50, so it should be accessible to freelancers without design agencies who can bankroll them. The number of places are limited, however. To be accepted, applicants must submit a personal biography and a description of previous experience with Processing.
Application deadline is 21 April. See the following call for more information.
00:01
This is mostly of interest for Norwegian and Nordic readers, but the experimental network organization PNEK (i.e. “Production Network for Electronic Art”) has published a report on the first four years of their exists. PNEK was created to promote collaboration and knowledge production in the Norwegian electronic art scene, and was one of supporters of the Generator.x events in Oslo last year.
For more information about the PNEK and the Norwegian network model for the support of electronic art, read this previous post. Last year a decision was made to continue the PNEK project past its initial four year trial period, but the details of the future of the organization and in particular its finances are uncertain.
The report is unfortunately only available in Norwegian. While much of the statistics and straight facts are only relevant to PNEK, there is also an article by Grethe Melby about the network function in Norway. This could be of interest to other countries looking for a model for supporting the electronic arts.
Download the report here:
http://pnek.no/pnekrapport_2001_2005.pdf (PDF, 4 MB)
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution- NonCommercial- ShareAlike 2.5 License.
This license applies to blog entries only.