Google60 is Norbert Landsteiner’s art piece that tries to convey what google.com search would have looked like back in the 60′s — when IBM System 360 monsters ruled the machine rooms. An absolute gem for all the 360 nerds left out there.

Absolutely awesome art piece by James Cochrane (who just happens to be from my hometown….Toronto). For the nerds out there following bits of technology make up the “orchestra”:

• Atari 800xl and Floppy Drive
• 3.5 Inch Hard Drive
• Adaptec 2940UW SCSI Card
• TI-99/4A and Tape Drive
• 8 Inch Floppy Drive
• HP ScanJet 3C
• Eico Oscilloscope

Check out Alex Roman’s “The Third & The Seventh” video. Absolutely amazing and right up there with some of the best produced pieces of art I’ve seen on the net. The amazing part is that except some small compositing elements, the rest of the movie is ALL 3D. Watch it in full screen for the full effect (and turn up your sound to 11) :-).

Yah, I know, Wallpaper…..boring…..right? Well, take a look at the walls over at Desktopography and I think you’ll agree they are special. My Favourite right now (has lots of Toronto themes).

Here is a 20 minute video of a fantastic (stunning, mind blowing, awesome, whatever….) projection mapping performance put on during the Ingravid Festival in Figueres, Spain.

Telenoika Audiovisual Mapping @ Ingravid Festival, Figueres 9/2009 [FULL] from Telenoika on Vimeo.

// català
Mapeig audiovisual de l’Associació Cultural Telenoika a la façana del Teatre Jardí, en la primera edició del festival Ingravid de Figueres. 20 min.

// english
Audiovisual Mapping made by the Telenoika Cultural Association into the Jardí Theater facade, on the first edition of Ingravid Festival in Figueres. 20 min.

Crèdits / Credits :
Omar Àlvarez, Miki Arregui, Miguel Gozalbo, Kasero, Eloi Maduell, Santi Vilanova :: from Telenoika.NET -2009-

Agraiments / Thanks to :
Assoc.Cultural Telenoika
Mas Queló
Festival Ingràvid
LABfàbrica.NET
BAF General de Catalunya

Contact ? mapping@telenoika.net
www.telenoika.net
www.festivalingravid.cat
www.labfabrica.net
www.playmodes.com
www.baf.cat

[Warping and video-player software developped by Eloi Maduell from Playmodes.com with Openframeworks.cc libs. Software will be available for downloading soon at www.playmodes.com]

Toronto Nuit Blanche was a blast. For those of you who don’t know:

Nuit Blanche (literally White Night or All-Nighter in French) is an annual all-night arts festival. Its exact beginning is disputed between Paris, St Petersburg, and Berlin, but, taking elements from all of these, the idea of a night-time festival of the arts has spread around the world since 1997, taking hold from Montreal to Madrid and Lima to Leeds. A Nuit Blanche will typically have museums, private and public art galleries, and other cultural institutions open and free of charge, with the centre of the city itself being turned into a de facto art gallery, providing space for art installations, performances (music, film, dance, performance art), themed social gatherings, and other activities.

This year the local Toronto Artist and Ryerson Image Arts Student, Mike Lawrie and I have entered a Independent project — Multitorch — under the Ryerson University/Faculty of Communications And Design’s Lightup the Night. The project involves a 23′x13′ (26′ diagonal) projection weighing in at 4096×2048 pixels driven by a multitouch engine. Up to 10 Infrared LED torches are handed out to the audience and the system will allow them to interact with the projection in front of them. As far as we know this is the largest (and highest resolution) multitouch screen deployed to date. The project uses CCV (Community Core Vision) tool for tracking, OSC (Open Sound Control) for communication and a 4500 line custom java visual engine. Here is a short 5:00 minute Timelapse video.

So what happens when an artist combines a 3D gaming engine, the power of blender and processing and a dash of human powered mechanical abomination? :-) Bince McKelvie describes his project:

Lb to Sf via bike is an interactive installation/game that documents a bike trip my friend and I took from long beach to san francisco. The user rides a stationary bike through a the 3d world by pedaling forward and steering with the bike handle bars. The world consists of three mini games and a huge chunk of the california coast. I am going to be releasing a version that is playable on a computer without the hardware soon. It is made with the blender game engine, a bit of processing, a wii controller and the makingthings board.

Great video showing a bizarre and novel way of creating a gesture based interface. You literally touch nothing….Air…..and the interface does the rest. Pretty interesting project. According to Justin Schunick of the team at Northeastern University, the interface uses an array of copper electrodes to sense a certain change in the electric field created by the device. The black material covering the electrodes shows how the interface can be hidden beneath surfaces to create a completely invisible interface. It is simple black felt you can buy at any fabric store. The total cost of this prototype was around $60.00 USD.

They created custom software to communicate with the microcontroller running the show with C++. This enables the use of the device as a new type of XYZ computer mouse. Think nintendo wii controller without the controller — or minority report without the gloves. This can potentially be revolutionary as far as HCI goes.

Once again Toronto celebrated Nuit Blanche this past weekend (October 04-05). I did not go to last years event, but had attended the very first one (best one thus far IMHO) in 2006. Although the event this year went without a hitch, there were a lot of intoxicated people on the streets and the whole atmosphere was different than first year. From what I understand, news sources are reporting 1,000,000 people. I don’t know about you, but that was seriously pushing the capacities of some of the events/venues.

I went downtown around 8:00 PM with Camera and tripod in tow and after seeing the see of people at dundas square decided to get a coffee from the nearby Tim Hortons and chill in my office at Ryerson — just next door. Well timmies was packed, one untrained cashier trying to please 15-20 people in line, I gave up. Next I dropped my gear off in the office and decided to head over to the New/Old Metro (Dominion) on gould street. Nuked some pasta and wolfed down some chocolate — figuring the sugar should help keep me awake. I went outside again around 9:30 PM and noticed that Ryerson exhibits were still drowning in people…..back to the office to watch the latest Indiana Jones.

Back out around midnight, well the scene had changed. Less people/kids, more intoxicated teens/tweens, but now it was easier to navigate the streets and exhibits. I decided to start with Katherine Lannin’s “House of Leaves” installation since it was close. Due to the line up I decided to go to where people were exiting and took a couple of snaps. Pretty neat installation, but very busy even at midnight.

The House of Leaves, (a title partly inspired by the fictional book under the same name written by author, Mark Z. Danielewski) is an installation made of thousands of pages from books torn from their binding and fixed to the outer walls of two buildings located at Ryerson University Campus (sandwiched between the Student Campus Centre and O’Keefe House).

Lannin transforms this walkway asking us to reinterpret how we think about public space. The pages completely consume the space transforming it into an ethereal cave like structure.

Passing through the installed work pedestrian traffic stirs and ruffles the pages; an effect that imbues the space with the sense that it is a living organism, a fiction itself, created by other fictions.

Next came the Devonian Square and Annick Mitchell and Sholem Dolgoy’s Sitting Ducks installation, except that (again) people totally ignored the fact that this was a ART INSTALLATION and (some) started “duck hunting”. Now maybe the artist didn’t care, or even encouraged it, don’t know. What I do know is that a lot of those ducks got taken pre-maturely.

Be part of nature in the city and visit the ducks of Devonian Pond – located in the heart of the Ryerson University campus. For one night only, the live ducks that traditionally visit the pond will be replaced by hundreds of environmentally friendly man-made ducks – bedazzled with light and playfullly moving throughout the water.

Adventurous and more serious duck enthusiasts can try their hand at ‘hunting’ specially marked ducks behind an unusually equipped duck blind. Just how far has the man/nature discourse really come? Even if you aren’t a hunter, this will definitely be a supernatural urban experience.

I then made my way through the crowd and ended up watching the end of Jonathan Aitkens “Dislocation” show. Very impressive, but sadly my images came out blurry. I skipped the installations inside Heaslip House — it was a zoo in there — and took some pictures from Arpad Szoke’s Sculptural Installation, “Polly”, in front. The Strobe light was acting like a big magnet for the crowds, and it took a while to find a spot to plunck down my tripod.

I then walked over to Dundas Square to see if I could grab a image that screamed “Fifteen Seconds” and I think I got it.

Daniel Olson’s work, “Fifteen Seconds”, is inspired by Andy Warhol’s famous dictum, “In the future, everyone will be world-famous for fifteen minutes.” From a small guard tower equipped with a follow spot – a familiar scenario appearing in countless films – Olson will highlight certain people, transforming them into instant celebrities. In this performance everyone is offered the chance to have their moment of fame, as they make their grand entrances and exits. “Fifteen Seconds” plays with our often simultaneous and conflicting desires for attention, security and privacy. While some may enjoy the limelight, for others this attention may coincide with our greatest insecurity, vulnerability and isolation.

Next on the agenda was Sam the Record Man’s Sign. You see I’d always wanted to photograph it, but for some reason or other didn’t. Then Sam went under and the sign was turned off for what seemed like forever. Well, although it wasn’t in the official program, Ryerson (the new owners of the buildings) decided to turn the signs on one more time before they get taken down and stored starting tomorrow (October 06). THANKS!!!! :-).

Zombies were next on the list with Jillian McDonald’s “Zombies in Condoland”. Although I missed the initial “ceremonies”, just as I was about to leave, I caught the tail end of the Zombies march. Man these people were scaaarryyy :-). I specially love the look of the dude with glasses….priceless.

Zombies in Condoland is a series of night actions that mimic a film screening set for a low-budget horror film such as the type made famous by George Romero whose latest film, “Diary of a Zombie”, was filmed in Toronto.

Anyone can participate and be a zombie. Zombies are encouraged to come in character – nurse zombie, business person zombie, geek zombie, sports zombie. They are encouraged also to do their makeup en route, in cafes, bars, and mass transit. There will also be make-up tents and zombie clothing available on site.

The best shot of the night — atleast as far as framing/timing goes — was the following. Too bad I did not have my 1DMKII camera body with me. The 5D’s focusing was just not fast enough to keep up.

I then decided to leave the undead alone and walked up Elizabeth Street to check out Adam Brown’s Video Installation — “Time Piece”.

In “Time-Piece”, Adam David Brown has produced a sequence of images that show the moon moving through its 27 different phases, from new moon to crescent to full moon and back again. Time has been compressed so that we can observe all the phases of the moon in a relatively short period of time rather than spread out over the length of a month. “Time-Piece” will appear much larger than if it were observed in nature, giving us an opportunity to look at the moon in a way that we never have before; a larger, faster moon, revealing itself to us again and again, steadily rising and falling.

Right next door was Roy Kohn’s multimedia installation — Meeky. I figured the line up was just too long to waste time at 2:30 AM. Took a couple of pic’s of the crowd and left.

I then got on the subway at Queen’s Park station and headed south to Queen station to check out Fujiwara Takahiro’s beautiful “Into the Blue” Sculpture. For a change I was able to get close and also noticed that the crowds were dying down slowly. I was finally starting to enjoy the events.

Fujiwara Takahiro’s “Into the Blue” is a giant, illuminated, transparent cone-shaped balloon. Its shape is achieved through the stacking of inflatable donut-shaped soft acrylic tubes of successively diminishing sizes. Floating in the middle of the Eaton Centre, “Into the Blue” will present two distinct faces. From a distance, it will reflect and refract the surrounding light. Up close, one will be able to walk beneath the work and experience it as an environment. Looking up into the interior will present a dazzling light array, refracted through the complex layers of soft acrylic material.

Next on the list was Domaine de l’angle #2, 2008 over at Massey Hall, a short hop away from Eaton Centre. I personally thought that this was the coolest installation of all. You know you’ve done something right when almost every single teenager — and some adults as well — are wondering “Where is the Art?”. Man some people are just too dense. Thanks BGL ;-).

The Quebec City-based art collective BGL is known for installations that take over architecture and wryly comment on institutional space. BGL will construct a 40 metre long drop ceiling in the alley of St. Enoch’s Square beside Massey Hall, framing the dumpsters, recycling bins and other life of the alleyway in the cool fluorescent light of the modern office.

Next up, Distillery District. I got on Kings street’s Blue line and started exploring the galleries. Lots of neat stuff here, too bad it was getting a bit late (4:00 AM).

I met a group of artists there for whom I have no information, but all I can say is….FILM Heaven…..Ahhhh, nothing like a EIKI mono speaker “chirping” through the otherwise silent night.

That was magic. I took a bunch of pics here, which was located right beside the Balzac Coffee place. At this point the Neurons were having problem firing, so I decided to get a coffee. But my luck, Balzac’s had just closed….Hmmmm, okay more sugar…..couple of Twix bars.

I left Gooderham and Worts totally satisfied and high on sugar at around 5:00 AM grabbed the first street car at 5:30 AM and came back downtown. Got off at Yonge and King and walked up to City Hall to check out the Stereoscope, a Project Blinkedlights installation from Berlin, Germany. But before that I just had to have a Hotdog as I was getting pretty hungry. Let me tell you there is nothing like an old, leathery hotdog first thing in the morning (6:00 AM I think).

Stereoscope is an interactive light installation at Toronto City Hall. This installation by the German group Project Blinkenlights transforms the landmark towers into a huge display screen by arranging lamps behind each of the 960 windows of the building. From dusk till dawn, the façade will serve as an ever-changing and evolving kaleidoscope of graphic animations automatically generated and interactively orchestrated. The public can influence “Stereoscope” through a variety of interfaces including smartphones, the web and physical controllers located at Nathan Phillips Square.

In 2001, Project Blinkenlights became famous in Berlin as the first large-scale interactive media that could be controlled by a simple mobile phone. The project that later became known as “Blinkenlights” spawned a follow-up installation of even greater dimensions and scope at the Blibiothèque Nationale de France in Paris, France. Project Blinkenlights develops all technology on its own. The computer software used to run this project is published under an open-source license.

I spent a bit of time wondering the square until I found the ramp to the (supposedly) restricted terrace. The crowds were down to a handfull of people and it was great to just sit on the floor and absorb the blinkie lights in (almost) silence.

It was 6:30′ish AM and the sun was coming out soon so I decided to go to the other side of the square and take a picture of the fountains.

By the time I walked over to University and Queen it was about 7:30 AM and I was in no mood to ride the subway — which turned out to be closed until 9:00 AM — so I grabbed a cab and came home to my wonderful BED :-).

Hopefully next year there will be more people going around with questions like “Where is the art? Can you see the Art?” and such. That to me means….mission accomplished….Art is working. People start to THINK…..what a novel idea :-). At this point please remember — specially now with elections coming up — without art, we might as well start peeling bananas and banging coconuts on rocks. Thanks for hanging in there and see you all next year.

Not sure if this madness will be the next big thing for the Demo Scene, but it sure is nice to see some the younger generation using their talents to come up with these circuits. In the old days — yeah I’m gonna date myself now — I used to do Demo programming on the C-64 and the Amiga 1000 later on, we had dedicated processors and although we did some heavy duty low-level programming, it wasn’t too bad.

The stuff that Linus Akesson and his buddies have come up with are actually brilliant in that they are very analog in nature. Don’t get me wrong, it is a micro doing all that, but the thought process behind the algorithm is very analog…..here is a excerpt of what it all entails:

One display line takes 24 μs, and is followed by a 7.75 μs break called the horizontal blanking period. After 480 such lines, there’s a longer break (1428.75 μs, equal to 45 full display lines) before it all starts over. Two digital signals are used to synchronize the sender (graphics card, custom demo hardware etc.) and the receiver (monitor).
[...]
Sound is generated during the horizontal blanking periods. That gives a sample rate of 31496 kHz. Of course, only the really timing critical part (waveform generation) is performed during the horizontal blanking. Melody, rhythm, amplitude envelopes, arpeggios etc. are handled by a playroutine which gets called once for every video frame, during vertical blanking.

Have a peek at the video…..It’s mind blowing :-)

Head over to wordle.net and try your hand at creating a work of art using only words. It’s fun and if you’re lucky will only entertain you for a couple of hours (not days). Now back to WRDL for more ANMTD WRD PLY FN.

Yeah, now I know what I am gonna do with the packing foam that comes with the purchase of our next 50 Dell Servers. Michael Salter’s creations can be viewed at San Jose Museum of Art, Robots:Evolution of a Cultural Icon, up thru 10/08. Totally cool and creative. Definitely one for the “I wish I’d thought of that” category :-). You can also watch Michael build the behemoth from the ground up below.

giant styrobot from michael salter on Vimeo.

MOTU–It’s simply stunning….Here is the non-embed link. Lots more background info on the production here.

MUTO a wall-painted animation by BLU from blu on Vimeo.

Browsing through Flickr sets I came across ninecormorants sets from Montreal Expo 1967 and New York Expo 1964. Believe it or not these photos were found on the street in Cambridge, MA. They were originally glued onto scrapbook sheets. They are all originals and as far as he can tell were taken by Lillian Seymour. Very vintage and a great visual story.

Well earlier today I “found” ffffound.com and I have to say, it’s imagery heaven.

FFFFOUND! is a web service that not only allows the users to post and share their favorite images found on the web, but also dynamically recommends each user’s tastes and interests for an inspirational image-bookmarking experience!!

FFFFOUND! has an almost analog feel that tends to suck you in, so be careful, FFFFOUND! will pretty much take over your browsing life with mind-altering art and design images.

Okay so it’s not totally free. Follow this link to Richard Boxes website where he documents how he powered up 1301 florescent lamps without plugging them in. You see he used the electromagnetic field generated by the powerlines overhead to get the lamps to glow.

Found this while having a beer in Stuttgart, Germany. Video of the excellent paper presented by Shai Avidan from Mitsubishi Electric Research Laboratories (MERL) and Ariel Shamir
from The Interdisciplinary Center (IDC)/Mitsubishi Electric Research Laboratories (MERL).

From their excellent Paper titled Seam Carving for Content-Aware Image Resizing:

Seam carving is a method for content-aware resizing that changes the size of an image according to its content. This paper shows applications to aspect-ratio change, image retargeting, and object removal.

More info on the technique can be found in this PDF file.

The people over at 5VoltCore have put together a PD installation that really tests your courage and trust in machines. The installation sets up a feedback loop between computer, robot and the user. The user is right in assuming that the machine can fail, the machine can fail because the user assumes.

Let me explain, it all starts with a PD patch that controls a knife held by a robot that will try to hit the space in between the users fingers. Once the user places his/her hand under the robot, the program takes over and the knife movements slowly speed up. At this point the user will either trust the machine or they will get nervous and start sweating. The sweating will then trigger a series of short circuits inside the computer that will cause the knife to move in a more erratic manner. The question is, will the user manage to hold still and not break into a sweat as the machine is doing it’s thing. Pretty scary stuff…….

This is gotta be one of the coolest generative music projects. Make sure your browser has a working version of Java. Have fun and please don’t complain when you find out you’ve waisted your entire day at this site…….

Stumbled across this earlier today and did not get a chance to make a note of it. From the overview portion of the page:

“The Eyebeam OpenLab is a home for artists, engineers and hackers pioneering open source creativity. The first initiative of its kind, the lab is focused entirely on incubating experimental technologies and media that directly enrich the public domain.”

Sounds like my kinda place. Now you might be asking why it’s mentioned here…..well it’s N.E.R.D. content and since I’m working with a group of people at my Uni on a very similar Lab, atleast in concept, I thought it deserved a mention.

Their Facilities section describes the environment as:

“The OpenLab at Eyebeam includes a mezzanine with an extended whiteboard and projector for informal meetings; a Lab space for electronics production, software and hardware hacking and rapid prototyping with technologies such as a laser cutter and 3D printer; the Prototyping Gallery, a semi-public space adjacent to the lab allowing for ad-hoc installations and project demos where the public can view the latest developments and artists and engineers can receive feedback on prototypes; and raw studio space where artists in residence create projects and access all of the opportunities and expertise within the OpenLab, Production and Education Studios.”

Sounds like a very cool place to Hack/Create/Invent. BTW, some of their earlier projects include — for those who remember — Wifi Liberator and Laser Tag/Mobile Broadcast Unit.