I am excited to announce that I just received an Alternative Exposure Grant for a future iteration of Hacking for Artists! Hacking sessions will begin next spring and consist of weekly workshops for Bay Area artists who want to incorporate computer programming and electronics into their practices. Details will be announced soon.
I recently hacked together a program that produces slit-scans of users’ desktops. Custom software slowly scans across the screen, taking about four minutes to complete, creating still images which illustrate both the spatial arrangement of software windows and the temporal flows of users’ activities. I have been distributing it without telling people what it does and asking them to send me the results. They produce fascinating maps of how people use their computers as their private activity is laid bare. Here are a few low resolution examples (all reproduced here with consent from users):
Katie, artist, Minneapolis
Matt; curator, writer, artist; Oakland
Rachel, artist, New York
Mark, programmer, Oakland
And head over to the photo blog for some snapshots from October.
Firefox recently added a tool that visualizes the code of a webpage in 3-D, allowing you to spin it around, zoom in, and click on individual elements. Using jQuery, I began creating a cityscape of sorts which can only be viewed in the 3-D mode:
You can play with it online if you have the latest version of Firefox: nicklally.com/ff3d/city/. Right-click, select “Inspect Element”, then click on the 3D button. More hidden 3-D objects to come…
Nik and I have been compiling a list of links to resources useful for artists interested in incorporating digital media into their work. These are some of our favorite resources and we hope they can help you build just about anything. Let me know if you find this list useful or if you have any additions–this is a growing work in progress.
I’ll be hanging out on the street showing sound reactive software which gathers ambient street noise (footsteps, traffic, conversations, etc) and renders them as 3D particle systems in real time. For more info, see the GAFFTA website.
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.
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).
RSS Feed
