hackingforartists.com

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.

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). 

I projected some live reactive video filters for the Dragging an Ox through Water show last week. Above is a photo of the “Bubble Filter” in action. 

Above are stills from four of the filter modes. Modes can be selected by pressing the 1-5 keys or the “b” and “w” keys. The modes are as follows:

1: Unfiltered video
2: Black and White Bubble Filter
3: Colored Bubble Filter
4: Grey/Red Frame Difference Filter (based on the “Frame Differencing” sketch by Golan Levin)
5: Grey/Red Frame Difference Filter w/noise (based on the “Frame Differencing” sketch by Golan Levin)
B: Black screen
W: White screen

If you have a built in video camera on your computer, you can load up the sketch in Processing and start playing with live filtered video. 

Processing Code

In this program, each bubble has a note (in C major) associated with it. When a silhouette in the video feed overlaps with the bubble, the note is sent to an audio program (Reason, in this case) in the form of a midi note. The bubbles can be moved left and right using an Arduino equipped with an accelerometer.

Processing Code

Similar to the above, but now two video feeds are incorporated. Now bubbles can only be played if they overlap with red sections of the video. Red sections are created when two silhouettes from separate video feeds overlap, so cooperation between people in the two video feeds is necessary to create notes. 

Processing Code

Both these programs build on the programs from my previous two posts. 

In this project, people in two separate rooms are videotaped. The two video feeds are fed through Processing, converted into silhouettes and superimposed over each other. Both rooms receive the same projection of the superimposed silhouettes. When silhouettes from the two rooms overlap, the overlapped area turns red and a midi note is sent to an external audio program (Reason, in this case).

The video feeds are initialized using a background subtraction technique, so only new objects in the space (ie: people) are fed back as silhouettes. The program sends midi notes using the RWMidi library. The program contains four different modes, some in which participants hear the same sounds, some in which they hear different sounds. All notes are currently in the C major scale. 

My version sounds like this (all sounds can be modulated in the sound program you choose):

Processing Code