Recently some peers in my New Media program were pitching there idea for a project that involved a layered map where each layer floated in air above the other. It brought back memories of sitting in magic shops in Toronto talking to magicians as a kid. (more…)
This past weekend (March 16th-19th) my program department at Ryerson University went on a group tip to NYC to look at art, have fun and gallivant about the city. A few of my friends and I went to The Met to see a new media exhibit that we had heard was on at the time. Overall we were disappointed with the quality and amount of work that was on display except for one work that impressed all of us. The piece is entitled Motion and Rest #2 by Jim Campbell (American, born 1956) which featured a simple 24 x 32 white LED grid board. On the board was the silhouette of a man walking and then stopping but what was really fascinating was the illusion that the sparsely placed LEDs gave of a full silhouette.
I tried staring at it from all angles convinced that the black board behind it was also some kind of display that was filling in the gaps between the lights only to discover my eyes were tricking me. The sign beside the piece stated that it was done using motion capture techniques. The piece also reminded me of Julian Opie’s work here in Toronto in both the AGO and on Bloor street featuring silhouettes of people walking along the street. For me out of the ten or so pieces there at Closed Circuit: Video and New Media exhibit this was the work that stood out from the rest. It has sparked an interest in me to explore the basic concept of light in art and light as art.
Perhaps it was the minimalism that Campbell achieved through the piece in which he was able to strip the human motion of walking down to the most basic possible visualization. No clothes, no hairstyles, no eye contact with the subject but yet the way in which they walk communicates a large amount of information about the person. Campbell even emphasized this minimalist subject matter even further by parring his medium down to as little as possible consisting of a few hundred white LEDs.
For my physical computing class we were given 2 weeks to make a device that took an input action, gave it a context and then produced an output. We had a list of possible inputs, contexts and outputs and I chose to have dancing as my input, a necklace as my context and colour as my output. I made an necklace of flashing LEDs that turned on and off as the person wearing it danced back and forth. So using the two circuits previously posted (the reindeer antlers and the christmas bulb necklace) I took components and knowledge I learned by ripping the apart and applied it to this project.
I started by sketching out my circuit in a very informal way.
I just came back from a 9 day vacation in southern California, my family + girlfriend stayed in a layed back surfer town right between LA and San Diego called Cardiff By The Sea. Some of the worlds top surfers live there do the beaches are great and there’s a nice easy going mood all through out the town. We spent most of our time in and around the LA area and on one of our days visited Rodeo Dr. in Beverly Hills. Ironically one of the few New Media/artistic type things I came across on the trip was here, one of the most “commercial” areas in the world. In the window of Louis Vuitton there was a series of large and bright lamp-like pieces of art shining out onto the street. The piece was by Olafur Eliasson who is a Danish artist that was commissioned by the fashion designer to create a Christmas window display. It’s an interesting creation that I find comments on the relationship between human nature, experience and desire. When a window shopper goes by the see this lamp that looks like an eye staring back at them while they also see the reflection of themselves in the window, as you can see in my photos. It also comments somewhat on window shopping and how many people look into windows with “eyes of desire” for a certain product. Louis Vuitton is certainly known for being able to create that desire for their fashion products in consumers. Overall it was an interesting artwork that made you stop and look at it deeply. Here are some more photos I took from different angles:
This is something that has long irked me and been the source of several anry tirads at the IE team, as other can varify. It is with great pleasure I present you with this…
The Solution To Many Web Designers Problems
I’ll be using this a lot now to fix those finnicky images on my site 
In case you don’t know me, I’m an absolute lover of interfaces and usability. For at least 3 months now I’ve been ready Information Architects notebook/blog religiously. Information Architects is a Japanese design, branding and usability firm that is headed by Lover Reichenstein in Tokyo but started inZurich. He has the most intelligent writings on design I’ve seen in my browsing of these here tubes. Oliver definitely has the biggest influence on my personal philosophy and design beliefs he pretty much is a god in my books. I’ve had the pleasure of exchanging emails with him lately and he’s given me some insightful personal advice on life, design and university professors. What’s really great is that both Oliver and Moritz have this wonderful skill that makes me feel like every blog post was written for me personally and what I’m currently interested in. That’s the sign of a great writter!
(*Note that I am actually not one for reading blogs but this is one great exception —and yes the irony this is post on my blog yadah yadah yadah…)
edit: my mistake Moritz is not apart of iA anymore
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