Festival: NODE08 / Jannis Urle Kilian Kreft: EnBW Lichtspiel

VVVV has slowly but steadily been gaining fame as a tool for realtime video synthesis. Artists like David Dessens, Jannis Urle Kilian Kreft (see image above) and Thomas Hitthaler (aka Ampop) have amply proven its maturity as a platform for live visuals, interactive installations and generative graphics. For more proof, take a look at MESO’s media design projects. Their work for Salzzeitreise Berchtesgaden looks spectacular.

Now a group of VVVV users have decided to celebrate their community by setting up a festival called NODE08. Set to take place in Frankfurt next April, the event will be part of the Luminale light art festival. In addition to an exhibition it will feature workshops and lectures on VVVV-related subjects, as well as a club night for the VVVV Fan Club to strut their stuff.

The NODEo8 organizers are currently looking for submissions, so if you’re working with VVVV and light you should head over to their submission page. The participants will have their work shown as part of the Luminale programme, which should give extra attention beyond the usual media art crowd.

Other VVVV posts: Seelenlose Automaten, *#07 video, Reality Foam, Sanch TV, Dein Lieblingsgestalter.

John Maeda: Fireball

Here is an interesting John Maeda quote found over on Brian Steen's blog:

«My early computer art experiments led to the dynamic graphics common on websites today. You know what I’m talking about — all that stuff flying around on the computer screen while you’re trying to concentrate — that’s me. I am partially to blame for the unrelenting stream of “eye candy” littering the information landscape. I am sorry, and for a long while I have wished to do something about it.»

Now, the quote is from his book "The Laws of Simplicity", which gives some much-needed context. Nevertheless, it’s an interesting statement. Were it not for his status as a pioneer and his instrumental role in establishing the field of computational design, it would simply seem like hubris. In one simple statement, he not only takes credit for a field of work, but he also not-so-subtly implies that it has no value. That’s a tall order.

Even if one agrees with Maeda that the current interest in visual complexity is a bad thing, the whole debate around simplicity sounds strangely like the legibility wars of the 1990’s. Faced with digital typography that broke every rule and layered graphics that refused to obey any grid, the ruling masters of Modernism (including Maeda’s hero Paul Rand) denounced the new movement as style over substance – eye candy. However, the subsequent resurgence of Helvetica and diagonal grids showed that ultimately minimalism and maximalism are just styles, there for the choosing.

Maeda’s thoughts on simplicity are of course laudable, presenting a strategy for dealing with the difficulties of a technological society. But when applied to visual styles, it should be remembered that simplicity, like minimalism, can also be, well, boring. Not everyone likes their reality the same way.

Interestingly, the early work that Maeda seems to be disowning with the above statement is also the work his fame is built on. Compared to his more recent output such as the Nature series, the early pieces are visually much bolder and more vibrant. The sheer joy of form documented in his seminal Maeda @ Media book from 2001 seems strangely lacking in his newer works.

The derogatory term “eye candy” has plagued digital art since its inception, and has often been used to deride generative visuals in particular. It’s strange then to hear it used by an artist whose work is so firmly concerned with optical formalism. It seems much like throwing rocks while inside a glass house.

Still, a man should always be respected for trying to kill his darlings. We wish you luck, Mr. Maeda.

(Related reading: Mitchell Whitelaw: More is more: Multiplicity and Generative Art, Douglas Cedric Stanley: Complexity and Gestalt, The Cult of the Ugly)

Lia: Work from Turux.at

The early-to-mid 1990’s were an interesting time. “Multimedia” was a hot buzzword, and people were wondering if CD-ROM and Internet was here to stay. Macromedia Director ruled the world of interactive graphics, and World Wide Web and HTML was finally transforming the Internet into a visual environment.

Early experiments using the web for art purposes quickly became iconic: Jodi hacked HTML, Form Art was briefly defined as a genre, Net.art considered ironic approaches to art production via this new channel and artists like Stanza explored Director as a tool for generative graphics.

During this (golden) period, Vienna was a hotbed of experimentation. A large group of artists pushed the boundaries of abstraction in visual art as well as music, often experimenting with code-based tools. It should be noted that the term “generative art” was not in use at the time. Nevertheless, the work produced at the time clearly articulated generative and procedural approaches to sound and image synthesis, prefiguring the current interest in such work.

Among this loosely affiliated group were artists like Farmers Manual, Tina Frank, Monoscope, Pure, Lia and Dextro. The music label MEGO and the film label Sixpackfilm provided publishing outlets. Norbert Pfaffenbichler put together an overview of the scene in the exhibition Austrian Abstracts in 2006, which expanded on the previous exhibition Abstraction Now, focusing specifically on the activities of Austrian artists.

Dextro: Turux piece / c079

Early pioneers of generative Director programming, Lia and Dextro quickly became influential both inside and outside the Director community. Their mix of crisp pixels, erratic animation and blurred surfaces was unique at the time, presenting a perfect visual counterpoint to a musical scene experimenting with glitch and sound defects.

Together, they produced Turux, a seminal web site which featured Director “soundtoys” and generative visual sketches. Thanks to the site’s intentionally cryptic interface design and the “anonymous author” fad popular with the Vienna artists (many of which used pseudonyms or group names), the authorship of Turux was unclear to outsiders. Often, visitors had no idea if Lia, Dextro or Turux were actual people or just project names. Nevertheless, Turux became an important reference for the nascent scene, its fame only heightened by its obscure origin.

When the collaboration ended some time later, Turux remained online practically unchanged. As a document of a specific time period, it became a time capsule of styles and strategies.

The original Turux.org is now offline for good, having been replaced by a placeholder. But Lia and Dextro have both set up their own archives. Lia recently launched Turux.at, a partial archive of her half of the project. Included are 21 works in Director, documented as stills and interactive Shockwave movies.

Dextro’s Turux experiments have been integrated into dextro.org, which presents his work chronologically organized from his early period up to now. See the Turux subpage for a list of sketches. For an example of his newer work, see c079.

Lab[au]: PixFlow #2

Our friends at Lab[au] have sent us an update on a recent project called PixFlow #2. This multi-screen piece explores emergent behaviors in particles moving through a constantly morphing vector field, producing complex behaviors over time. Particles migrate from screen to screen, hypnotically forming lines, eddies and vortices.

PixFlow was originally developed as an permanent 11-screen installation for the Grand Casino Brussels, but this new 4-screen version is slightly more portable. Designed as a modular system, it encloses the stripped hardware used in an elegant T-shaped perspex casing. The piece is run off flash memory so that it’s stable for long-term use. The architecture even allows switching to new software at a later date.

Based in Brussels, Lab[au] are veterans of media art and experimental architecture. They’ve made a mark in the past with their Mediaruimte showroom for electronic art and their collaborations with the Cimatics festival. They have also produced and curated several light pieces for the spectacular Dexia Tower media facade in downtown Brussels.

From Flickr – Erik Natzke: Skyy / Summertime / MLCP 1c

We recently posted an entry about the rise of Flickr as a community resource for artists and designers working with computational strategies. Well-known figures like Erik Natzke post documentation of their work, while Flickr groups like Processing.org, VVVV and Create Digital Motion gather a wide variety of people, with great diversity and high quality of work.

Nevertheless, there is still not a good general group dedicated to generative art and computational design. The tool-oriented groups are great, but naturally confine themselves to topics related to those platforms. The remaining handful of “digital art” groups typically suffer from varying quality and unclear guidelines. They are also frequently flooded with Photoshop collages and dubious fractals, meaning that the signal-to-noise ratio can be quite low.

From Flickr – Dave Bollinger: Tangle

As some readers may know, there is in fact already a Generator.x group on Flickr. It has sadly been inactive for some time, being originally intended to document Generator.x events. It seems like a no-brainer to repurpose what is essentially a dead group and turn it into an arena for work that is related to the scope of Generator.x.

If you are a Flickr user creating work using computational strategies, please join the group and contribute to the community. Add old favorites as well as new work, post exhibition announcements in the discussion area and generally make yourself at home. As long as your images are clearly related to the topics of Generator.x, it doesn’t matter what tool or material was used to produce them.

A Generator.x Flickr badge to display images from the group is in the works. We’re looking forward to seeing what you’ll post!

Update: The Flickr badge has been implemented (using the excellent phpFlickr library), and can be seen in the sidebar on the left.

Ebru Kurbak / Mahir M. Yavuz: Newsknitter

While the generative potential of knitting should be obvious (it has pixels, it follows rules), a new project by Turkish artists Ebru Kurbak and Mahir Yavuz shows the full computational potential of the medium: Newsknitter combines computerized knitting technology with live internet feeds to produce the ultimate in customized sweaters. Using the daily news as a data source, a software generates different visualizations which are then finalized as patterns ready for knitting.

Newsknitter will be shown at the Ars Electronica festival this week as part of their Campus 2.0 exhibition at Kunstuniversität Linz. On display will be 10 unique sweaters generated by the Newsknitter software. The sweaters were produced at TETAS Tekstil in Istanbul, using Shima Seiki knitting hardware.

The Newsknitter web site does not indicate whether custom garments will eventually be for sale, even though it would seem an obvious extension of the project. Too bad the daily news typically makes for a grim way to commemorate one’s birthday or other significant date.

For a different take on generative knitting, see this old post: Freddie Robins: How to make a piece of work when you’re too tired to make decisions.

[Link via pöfmagazine]

Tropism: Commonwealth vs. Joshua Davis

Currently on display at the Espeis gallery in Williamsburg, Tropism is a collaboration between New York product design studio Commonwealth and generative artist Joshua Davis. Inspired by the endless variations of form in the plant world, they have worked together to create a series of computer-designed vases imprinted with generative graphics.

For his images, Joshua Davis first created a library of elements by sampling shapes from an old book on floral mechanics. He then recombined these into complex organic compositions using a generative algorithm. A selection of the resulting images were either printed or output digitally as ceramic paint transfers, ready for application to the physical objects.

Influenced by the perforated ceramics of Edmond Lachenal, Commonwealth used Maya to produce a curved and perforated model using surface subdivision. A stereolithographic (SLA) 3D print of the model was then output to create a mould for casting. The finished vases were produced by Boehm Porcelain, with Davis’ images being applied to the the vases during the firing process.

Joshua Davis w/ Zoe Coombes & David Francisco Boira of Commonwealth / Prints

The final result is a series of one-off objects that are at once high-tech and organic. Their smooth curves and unconventional form signal their origin in digital processes, but the tactility of the porcelain counteracts any sense of sterile techno-fetishism. Davis’ organic forms creep and crawl over the surface of the vases, reenforcing the link to natural processes.

The vases are available in a limited run of 21, each featuring a unique motif by Joshua Davis. The large-scale prints on paper shown in the exhibition are also for sale. Contact Maxalot for information about available works.

The "Vs." series is curated by Max Akkerman and Lotje Sodderland of Barcelona gallery Maxalot. The series has so far featured Commonwealth collaborations with Kenzo Minami and Michael C. Place of Build. Upcoming is an exhibiton of Commonwealth vs. Matt Pyke of Universal Everything.

Relevant links

• Maxalot's page about Tropism
• Tropism Flickr set from Joshua Davis
• Tropism Flickr set from Commonwealth

Refill Seven: Laser cut skateboards
Shown: Alife, Michael C. Place, Vernon Courtland Johnson

Australian skateboard mag Refill has put together an interesting exhibition of laser engraved skateboards under the title Refill Seven. 80 artists were asked to design each their deck, which were then produced in a limited edition of 50 copies each. Price? $500.

Laser cutting is getting a lot of attention recently as one of the first digital fabrication technologies to become truly cheap and accessible. It can easily be used for “printing” images into unusual materials, or for constructing parts for complex forms. Usages include custom signage, jewelry design, models in paper or plastic etc.

In terms of laser cutting used as an image medium, Refill Seven is one of the most interesting examples to date. Skate and surf culture has always been fond of customization, so laser engraving skateboards makes perfect sense. Most of the pieces are in the baroque style popular with skaters, with only a few examples of abstract work. There doesn’t seem to be any computational pieces, so in that sense the uniquely digital nature of the technology has been passed over.

Technically, the project is very advanced. A rotating clamp was used to ensure smooth engraving even in non-flat areas. For obvious reasons laser cutting is oriented towards lines, but here filled areas are smoothly drawn. According to Wired Magazine a resolution of 1200 DPI was achieved, which is far beyond most current laser cutting.

For another take on skateboard customization, check out Mekanism Skateboard’s new collaboration with Peter Zimmermann, an established German painter. Zimmermann painted 60 blank boards with epoxy resin, giving a three-dimensional textured surface that is spectacularly colorful.

The Zimmermann boards are intended for the art market rather than teenage skaters, and have so far proven very popular with art collectors. A previous Mekanism collab with John Maeda was blogged on Generator.x in 2005.

Related links:

• Refill 7 on Flickr
• Wired article about Refill 7
• Digital Fabrication Flickr pool
• Search for laser cutting on Flickr

Neil Banas: rain-penlike-smallbasins-full (section) / Jim Soliven: HTorsion

Flickr surfing is no longer a waste of time. Beautiful works like Neil Banas’ rain-penlike-smallbasins-full or Jim Soliven’s HTorsion make even idle searching worthwhile. Both can be found in the Processing Pool, which has a generally high level of quality. For more excellent examples, see Paul Prudence "Flickr fruits" on Dataisnature.

Despite its bias towards photography, Flickr is rapidly becoming one of the most important resources for generative artists. Its image storage facilities are of obvious use in any art practice, but it’s the social infrastructure that makes it a killer app for artists. In seconds an image can be uploaded and shared with a larger community that can give feedback on the work, while image pools makes it easy to see work by other artists and make new contact.

Flickr can’t replace personal web sites or blogs for in-depth information, but it allows for a sense of immediacy and interaction that those channels lack. While portfolio sites generally show only finished work, Flickr makes it easy to publish work-in-progress and rough sketches that would otherwise never be published.

Sadly, Flickr policy dictates that non-photographic images are not the focus of the service, with some resulting weirdness and frustration. But that still hasn’t stopped artists like Joshua Davis, Golan Levin and Lia from publishing excellent documentation of their work that is far more comprehensive than their personal web sites could ever be.

Caveat emptor: Like any commercial service, Flickr is not a democracy. Nor is it perfect. The dreaded NIPSA (Not In Public Site Areas) policy and the new content filters that have replaced it has made life on Flickr a little pleasant than it used to be. Some people might be more comfortable with alternatives like ComputerLove or deviantART…

Recommended starting points for generative art on Flickr

• Processing pool
• VVVV pool
• Jitter pool
• Generator.x pool
• Generative & Evolutionary Art pool (Warning: Varying quality…)

This is a follow-up of sorts to the post about Norwich International Animation Festival. One of the few installation works at the festival was a wonderful kinetic sculpture, The Harrachov Exchange.

This sculpture came out of the work on the short film Harrachov, directed by Matt Hulse & Joost van Veen. The film combines live action, stop-frame animation and the mentioned sculpture to describe how an unnamed force assembles an obscene machine out of scrap parts. The film has almost sexual undertones, with implications of seduction and violation underpinning the process of assembly.

Designed and constructed by Guy Bishop, the resulting installation is like a reluctant mechanical jazz ensemble, producing tortured rhythms from thumps and squeaks. See for yourselves..

Video: Harrachov Exchange installation
(Matt Hulse, Guy Bishop and Joost van Veen)