Andrea Gershuny: Looking Outwards #2 (Assignment 03)
Ebru Kurbak + Mahir Mustafa Yavuz: “News Knitter”
This project uses Perl to collect and analyze data from global and local (Turkish) RSS news feeds. Then, using Processing, the data is “visualized” and the visualizations knitted into sweaters using knitting machines. Those sweaters are then put up for sale (currently I’m on the waitlist to buy a sweater once some more are ready.) What I like about this project is that it converts something which often feels abstract and distant (the news) and converts it into something very personal and tangible (a sweater). I just wish I knew more about what the visualizations meant–I’m not exactly sure how the data is quantified or visualized but there seem to be four different types of patterns. I also wish the colors were defined by the news inputs (or maybe they are, I’m not sure). I love this project as it is, but, similar to how I wished the drawing robot included more variables, I wish this project included more variables as well.
Everyware [Hyunwoo Bang + Yunsil Heo]: “Cloud Pink”
“Cloud Pink” is an installation by Everyware, a “creative computing group” composed of Korean artists Hyunwoo Bang and Yunsil Heo. In this installation, drifting pink clouds are projected onto a sheet stretched horizontally overhead. Two kinects “watch” the sheet and, wherever it is touched, swirls of blue clouds appear. What I like about this piece is the ethereal, dreamlike quality, as if you were a little kid daydreaming yourself touching the clouds. It’s a simple piece without pretense or ego and it really makes me wish I could see it in real life–I especially want to feel what that fabric feels like; it seems so wonderfully stretchy and kind of heavy but still translucent (I am kinda of a fabric nerd though, so that might just be me). At first, when viewing this piece, I thought it would be nice to have some sort of ambient music accompanying it in the background, but thinking about it now I think that that would bring it into the realm of cliche. As it is, I think it’s a lovely piece that seems to really captivate everyone who interacts with it.
bitcraft [Martin Schneider]: “Codex Processianus”
(I tried to embed this one but it wouldn’t work… these sample photos will have to do for now I guess.)
“Codex Processianus” is a project from openprocessing.org that creates “flow map based drawings”. I’m not sure what a flow map is,but I think it has to do with the flow of a fluid across or through an object; in this case, the objects are predetermined and you “uncover” the drawing by moving your mouse across it. The longer your mouse stays in one place, the darker/more “drawn” that area becomes. Whatever the science behind it is, this piece is a really simple way to create (or reveal) really elegant drawings. I wish there were a way to generate the object yourself, though you can change it by hitting the spacebar and see it by right clicking. There are also a few different color palettes to choose from, though my favorite is da Vinci, the one shown. I wish I knew more about how this drawing works, so I’ll have to look at the code more sometime in the future– at this point it’s a bit beyond me, I can basically understand how the code works but not the physics behind the drawing itself. Either way, it’s a fun thing to play around with that creates really elegant drawings just by waving your mouse around!