I am currently running an experimental mail art service in Santa Cruz based on text messages. Everything is automated by a Python script which interacts with Google Voice and Skype. If you’re in Santa Cruz and want to participate, let me know and I can send you an invite. Here are the instructions (you’ll need to ask me for the phone number to play):

Experimental Mail Art Service, (831)xxxxxxx

Please read all of the following instructions before deciding to participate. The service requires a time commitment of approximately 1-2 hours which can be completed at your convenience.

1. THINK OF SOMEONE YOU WANT TO MAIL ART TO. They should live in Santa Cruz and be active in the public sphere. Please do not include their last name.
2. THINK OF A CLUE THAT WOULD HELP SOMEONE FIND THIS PERSON. Do not give an address! This clue should help someone find them in the public sphere. For example, you could say “he/she hangs out at Lulu’s coffeeshop” or “he/she works at the pizzeria”. Be creative!
3. DECIDE WHAT YOU WANT TO SEND HIM/HER. You should decide on something that can be made/written/gathered in an hour or less and which costs little or nothing. For example, you could say “a collage”, “a drawing of your hand” or maybe “a story about walking”. Be creative!
4. PUT STEPS 1-3 TOGETHER INTO A SINGLE SENTENCE OF 160 CHARACTERS OR LESS AND SEND IT VIA SMS/TEXT TO: 831.xxx.xxxx. Your delivery request will automatically be sent to another participant! Text messages over 160 characters will not be delivered. IMPORTANT: you are only able to send one request to the system (subsequent requests will be ignored), so make sure you get it right the first time! And it must be from a cell phone that has an unblocked number. Here is an example request: “Please send a flower to Dennis who is a regular at the Red Room”
5. MAKE SOMEONE ELSE’S DELIVERY. After you send in your request, you will receive someone’s else’s request which you will make and deliver! Please be patient–it may take a while for you to receive your delivery instructions. It is OK if you make the requested item and hand it off to someone else who is able make the delivery–just make sure it gets there.
6. INCLUDE THESE INSTRUCTIONS WITH YOUR DELIVERY AND PASS THEM ON TO ONE ADDITIONAL PERSON WHO YOU THINK WOULD LIKE TO PARTICIPATE. Please only give these instructions to two people!

Send comments/questions, bug reports (this is the Beta version!) and/or documentation of your adventures to: xxx.

I’m working with Tender Forever and Ted Passon on a performance that will take place this Tuesday at the FIAF in New York:

In collaboration with Whitney Live, Crossing the Line presents four contemporary composers “in dialogue” with pioneering filmmaker Alice Guy Blaché (1873–1968) as part of the Whitney’s upcoming retrospective of her career.

Tender Forever (Mélanie Valera), Du Yun, Tamar Muskal, and Missy Mazzoli will compose scores for films by Alice Guy Blaché, the first-ever female filmmaker, and perform live interactions with the films themselves—simultaneously investigating contemporary composition and performance.

I’m working on some interactive programming, animations and props. And I have a part in the performance. More info.

February 6th, 2009
inkjet print on Rives BFK
30″x22″

February 8th, 2009
inkjet print on Rives BFK
30″x22″

February 9th, 2009
inkjet print on Rives BFK
30″x22″

February 15th, 2009
inkjet print on Rives BFK
30″x22″

The above prints were also featured in the Rock Paper Scissors show last month.

This is a video of two people playing a video game I made using Processing last May. Each player sees a silhouette of themselves on screen whenever they move (their silhouette disappears when they are still). The player also sees a silhouette of the other player. The object of the game is to collect the blue balls while avoiding the red balls to achieve a high score. Balls can only be collected when both players’ silhouettes overlap each other and a ball, so the two players must work together. Each blue ball collected is worth one point while each red ball is worth one negative point.

I have work in the Invisible Ingredient show at Rock Paper Scissors through July 24th. I installed 19 photos (which are all up on my new Flickr page), a wall mural (entitled “Daybreak”) based on sensor data visualizations and three large data visualization prints (not pictured).

using an FFT analysis

Nik and I created this mobile sensor that broadcasts light levels and accelerometer data to an online database via text message. The above visualization was created by running around for five minutes. Light levels are represented by the opacity of blue and faster changes in tilt (when one is running with the sensor in hand, for instance) are represented by longer lines. 

We are currently working on a proper write up that will include code and schematics. 

Nik Hanselmann and I installed a sensor in the Sesnon Gallery that collects environmental data (light level, sound level, proximity and temperature) from the space and uploads them to an online database every two seconds. We developed software that creates a generative drawing that changes with the data over time. Above are screenshots of the drawings at different points in time.

We exhibited the live generative drawing in the Porter Faculty Gallery and the DANM Lounge. An online version can be viewed here: http://transmogrify.me (let it run for a few hours for a rich, complex image).