Archive for November, 2006
I haven’t been posting much in the last 3 weeks because of my current project. There’s a long way to go but I thought I’d put a little image of the 2nd prototype online and some images of it in action. I’ll have to set up a project blog soon to start documenting it. These are only small prototypes to explore potential behaviors and gestures my work could perform. The 3rd Prototype is currently getting built and should be able to not just draw but also observe Prototype 2’s drawings as gestures and maybe even messages.
Obviously the work of Conrad Shawcross has some aesthetic comparisons and so too the photography of Gjon Mili (see below) but the intentions of my work are quite different. Within an architectural context I am using robotics and spatial light drawings to explore ideas of architectures potential to communicate, respond and perform for its inhabitants. I’m simultaniously working on methods of live interactive notation techniques implanted into traditional plan and section projections to explore the idea of turning the traditional architectural drawing into an interactive interface to choreograph my architectural perfomers.
While ideas of using light to draw are almost as old as photography itself. Artists such as László Moholy-Nagy and the Lucio Fontana explored these ideas in the mid-20th Century. Recent developments in computation have led to new work such of Swedish design firm Front’s 3D tracking and rapid prototyping project, Karl Willis’ Light Tracer and PIPS:lab’s Luma2solator and graf. There are also a number of recent music videos and experimental films using this techniques such pikapika’s light animations.
November 30th, 2006
See Video
In an effort to handle its nighttime public urination problem, cities are considering installing urinals that disappear below street level during the day. Unlike the automated, self-cleaning toilets planned for Toronto and Vancouver, which are enclosed booths with doors that that automatically open after a set time period, the Urilift system is a two-meter high stainless steel cylinder with three alcoves, each with a urinal, and no doors By day, the Urilift is lowered below street level for a nice clean look. Then at night, an operator comes by with a remote and the Urilift hydraulically lifts to sidewalk level in about two minutes. Full Article via Slashdot
November 20th, 2006
SandScape is a tangible interface for designing and understanding landscapes through a variety of computational simulations using sand. Users view these simulations as they are projected on the surface of a sand model that represents the terrain. The users can choose from a variety of different simulations that highlight either the height, slope, contours, shadows, drainage or aspect of the landscape model.
See Video
The users can alter the form of the landscape model by manipulating sand while seeing the resultant effects of computational analysis generated and projected on the surface of sand in real-time. The project demonstrates an alternative form of computer interface (tangible user interface) that takes advantage of our natural ability to understand and manipulate physical forms while still harnessing the power of computational simulation to help in our understanding of a model representation. via WMMNA
November 16th, 2006
Only a couple of posts ago I showed the novel uses of Electroluminescence in electrical cabling to create awareness of power use but perhaps soon the transfer of energy will become entirely invisible. US researchers have outlined a relatively simple system that could deliver power to devices such as laptop computers or MP3 players wirelessly. The team of physicists have investigated "resonance", a phenomenon that causes an object to vibrate when energy of a certain frequency is applied as a method of transferring energy to a wide range of devices. Instead of using acoustic vibrations, the team’s system exploits the resonance of electromagnetic waves. Electromagnetic radiation includes rad waves, infrared and X-rays. Typically, systems that use electromagnetic radiation, such as radio antennas, are not suitable for the efficient transfer of energy because they scatter energy in all directions, wasting large amounts of it into free space. To overcome this problem, the team investigated a special class of "non-radiative" objects with so-called "long-lived resonances". When energy is applied to these objects it remains bound to them, rather than escaping to space. "Tails" of energy, which can be many metres long, flicker over the surface. "If you bring another resonant object with the same frequency close enough to these tails then it turns out that the energy can tunnel from one object to another,"… read full article
November 15th, 2006
I’m going to spend a couple of weeks looking at ideas around movement, in art and architecture, If you have any suggestions, I’d love to hear from you. I’m going to start with some images from early works and lead up to whats been happening more recently.
above left – Naum Gabo’s Standing Wave, above right – an Alexander Calder Mobile
Kinetic art depends on motion for its effects. Since the early twentieth century artists have been incorporating movement into art partly to explore the possibilities of movement, partly to introduce the element of time, partly to reflect the importance of the machine and technology in the modern world, partly to explore the nature of vision. Movement has either been produced mechanically by motors or by exploiting the movements of people, air, water, and other kinetic forces in space. A pioneer of Kinetic art was Naum Gabo with his motorised Standing Wave of 1919-20. Mobiles were pioneered by Alexander Calder from about 1930. Kinetic art became a major phenomenon of the late 1950s and the 1960s.
Marcel Duchamp was the first artist in modern times to use actual movement to explore the mechanics of seeing. The above image is Rotary Glass Plates (Precision Optics), propellerlike pieces of glass painted with black and white lines and mounted on a sturdy metal rotating axle, made in 1920 with the help of his Man Ray. As the motor-driven axle turns, the lines on the separate pieces of glass appear to join up and form complete circles. The Rotary Glass Plates, however, set something of an aesthetic standard. Improvised from an unlikely assortment of materials, motorized, the movement cumbersome and somewhat alarming to watch (one dreads that a glass fragment will detach and become airborne), the overall effect remarkable–this was to become the pattern for many kinetic works over the next five decades.
Above Laszlo Moholy-Nagy’s Light-Space Modulator (1922-30), assembled from what looks like a selection of kitchen utensils, is a classic early successor, its collection of metal plates, wires and wooden balls revolving in the beam of two powerful spotlights to create a shadow dance on the adjacent walls.
November 13th, 2006
The ‘Power Aware Cord‘ transports electrical power while simultaneously visualizing energy usage. Electricial transfer is represented through glowing pulses, flow, and intensity of light.
The Power Aware Cord was developed by Anton Gustafsson and Magnus Gyllenswärd at Static!, a joint project between the Swedish Interactive Institute’s POWER and RE:FORM studios investigating interaction design as a means of increasing our awareness of how energy is used and for stimulating changes in energy behavior They believe that expressing the presence of energy through light can inspire people to explore and reflect upon the energy consumption of electrical devices in their home. The Power Aware Cord represents a different approach to green design- one not necessarily rooted in materiality, but focused on user experience and the visual representation of relevant issues. via inhabitat
November 8th, 2006
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