karla's starred items in Google Reader

Playful Design – Creating game experiences in everyday interfaces

2012-05-24T06:56:12Z

Most recently John Ferrara published a book called “Playful Design“, that tries to bridge the gap between “everyday user-interfaces” and “game design“. It is aimed at user-experience-designers, who want to try to make their apps more sticky and more meaningful for the users. Here is the link to the Table of Contents.

The “Netmagazine” published an edited version of the chapter “Ten tips for building a better game“, with sentences like this:

“Consider what makes a game intrinsically interesting. You’ll find a lot of creative opportunity in games that make the player think through interesting choices instead of executing twitch responses.”

All in all, this book looks like a very nice lecture for both game- and user-experience-designers.

How to survive a robot uprising (the animation)

2012-05-13T22:41:22Z

Just stumbled upon this animated version of the still great book / project “How to survive a robot uprising by Daniel H. Wilson. It explains in shot, how to act on robots, if they get really hostile and out of control.

Audiovisual Mappings [21 de mayo, Barcelona]

2012-05-20T11:08:34Z

This talk will address how graphical representations of sound can change the way we hear, and how audio can trick our eyes into seeing strange things. Fredrik Olofsson will demonstrate some audiovisual perception tricks and experiments he has made using the programming language SuperCollider. Simple sounds and simple graphics interconnected and combined quickly become complex and fun phenomena.

Fredrik Olofsson was trained as a composer at the Royal University College of Music in Stockholm. As part of MusicalFieldsForever he has exhibited interactive art at museums and galleries. He currently teaches at the University of Arts of Berlin and is a frequent contributor within the SuperCollider open source community. He is also one of the founding members of TOPLAP, a collective that popularized the use of live coding.

21.05.2012, 18:00h
Escola Superior de Música de Catalunya (ESMUC), aula 349. Edifici l’Auditori.
Entrada lliure / Entrada libre / Free admission

Más información en L’ull cec

Voltage into Generative Pixels, and Other Lo-Fi, Recycled Art

2012-05-10T19:05:35Z

Today on Create Digital Music, we examine DeFunct/ReFunct, the latest installment of a touring (Ireland, France, Germany) collective working with repurposed, rescued refuse technology:

Art From Trash, as ReFunct Media Makes a Symphony from Obsolete Gear [Videos]

The group works both in sounds and image, so here I’ll echo what I say there in visual form. (I feel, far from conflicted, that I’ve done my job if I find things that fit into both sites.)

Benjamin Galoun [aka Recyclism] makes work that, of all of these, is perhaps the most elemental. It’s just voltage applied to a screen, but in the mechanical preparation resembles nothing so nearly as a music box, “playing” generative pixels.

AbstracTris is a LoTech generative pixel art device. The pixels are directly controlled by applying voltage to the side pins of the GameBoy LCD screen.

Other works, too, played with low fidelity, downsampling and upcycling, direct application of voltage and circuit bending, and the creative misuse of gear, from Gijs Gieskes’ audiovisual instruments to rescued tubes doing wonderfully-glitchy things. Images:

From Gijs Gieskes, the Hypnotoad and a video sampler (seen, from top):

/ HSS3 Hypnotoad
The Hypnotoad is a character from the television series Futurama, it hypnotizes
everyone that looks at it, by generating a drone sound and wobbeling it’s eyes.
A Youtube user made a video loop of this Hypnotoad, that is about 10 minutes long. The HSS3 Hypnotoad is a hardware version of this Youtube video, that can run forever.

/ GVS1b
The GVS1b is a video sampler, that can be used to sample small clips of composite video and play them back in a grayscale depth of 1.5 bit.
In the exhibition setup there is a viewfinder used as a display, and a small security camera that films the person operating the GVS1b so the person can sample itself.

ReFunct Media 2.0
Karl Klomp / Benjamin Gaulon / Gijs Gieskes

In the “Practice of Everyday Life” Michel de Certeau investigates the ways in which users-commonly assumed to be passive and guided by established rules-operate. He asserts: “This goal will be achieved if everyday practices, “ways of operating” or doing things, no longer appear as merely obscure background of social activity, and if a body of theoretical questions, methods, categories, and perspectives, by penetrating this obscurity, make it possible to articulate them.”
“ReFunct Media” is a multimedia installation that (re)uses numerous “obsolete” electronic devices (digital and analogue media players and receivers). Those devices are hacked, misused and combined into a large and complex chain of elements. To use an ecological analogy they “interact” in different symbiotic relationships such as mutualism, parasitism and commensalism.

Voluntarily complex and unstable, “ReFunct Media” isn’t proposing answers to the questions raised by e-waste, planned obsolescence and sustainable design strategies. Rather, as an installation it experiments and explores unchallenged possibilities of ‘obsolete’ electronic and digital media technologies and our relationship with technologies and consumption.

Electronic Instant Camera by Niklas Roy

Electronic Instant Camera is a combination of an analog b/w videocamera and a thermal receipt printer. The device is something in between a Polaroid camera and a digital camera. The camera doesn’t store the pictures on film or digital medium, but prints a photo directly on a roll of cheap receipt paper while it is taking it. As this all happens very slow, people have to stay still for about three minutes until a full portrait photo is taken.

Photos: LEAP gallery Berlin, Trevor Good

It’s well worth reading the program notes for ReFunct, as it includes some lovely essays on glitch and aesthetics:
Benjamin Gaulon: “Hardware hacking and recycling strategies in an age of technological obsolescence”
Garnet Hertz & Jussi Parikka: “Five Principles of Zombie Media”
Rosa Menkman: “The moment(um) of void”
Alessandro Ludovico: “Circuit Bending: Repurposing The Past”
Eduardo Navas: “The Aesthetics Of Representation In Circuit Bending”
Phillip Stearns: “Error, Noise, Glitch: The Art of the Algorithmic Unconscious”
Defunct/ReFunct Catalog [PDF]

Piccolo is an Open, $70 CNC-bot That Will Draw For You

2012-05-09T17:41:23Z

Piccolo is like candy for people who like robots and drawing machines. It’s affordable, cute, and downright fun. It’s going to be on your Christmas in July wanted list. How awesome is it? Let us count the ways:

It’s under US$70.
It’s Arduino-compatible.
It works with Processing – ideal for drawing experiments.
It’s open source hardware.
It’s easy to assemble.
You can make 2D and 3D things – and it appears to excel as a drawing machine.
Connect it to Arduino, and you can make your own sensor-driven drawings and other creations.

I’m really excited to meet the creators when they speak at the Open Design Symposium in Linz, Austria, and present this workshop at LiWoLi afterward.
http://www.open-design.at/
http://www.liwoli.at/

I’ve signed up for their workshop, so hopefully will be building and testing one of these myself. I’ll let you know how it goes. I’m also speaking and performing at the event, talking about Open Design and music, and, of course, our MeeBlip. (I hope I can find some way of connecting MeeBlip and Piccolo, too. Wish me luck.)

Piccolo is the creation of the brilliantly-named Diatom Studio, in collaboration with Cheng Xu and Huaishu Peng from the CoDe Lab.
More: http://www.piccolo.cc/

ZèppelinExpandit2012 / Zona Franca [25 de mayo, Barcelona]

2012-05-08T15:41:45Z

ZèppelinExpandit2012 se dedica principalmente al paisaje sonoro de los límites de la Ciudad de Barcelona. La consciencia de los límites es un elemento fundamental de la identidad de toda entidad. Es en este sentido que elaboramos la idea ensencial del proyecto de ZèppelinExpandit2012 : la creación de una base de datos abierta, compuesta de paisajes sonoros de los límites de los distritos barceloneses con los municipios de la periferia de la ciudad y el mar: Ciutat Vella, Sants-Montjuïc, Les Corts, Sarrià-Sant Gervasi, Horta-Guinardó, Nou Barris, Sant Andreu y Sant Martí.

En este primer concierto de ZeppelinExpandit2012, Lali Barrière presenta el resultado de una meditación sonora para ocho altavoces que la Orquesta del Caos ha pedido a la artista sobre el archivo BarcelonaSoLimit. En Zona franca, el nuevo trabajo de Lali Barrière, las grabaciones contribuyen a la creación de un macrocosmos envolvente que se encuentra y convive con un mundo sonoro más personal; un microcosmos discreto de intervenciones con objetos y dispositivos ligado a la inestabilidad del gesto.

Sala Mirador del CCCB 25/05/2012 . 20:00

Más información

Beca de Intercambio en Culturas Mediales / Chile / Hangar

2012-05-02T23:11:34Z

Aún queda un día para la aplicación.

Deadline 07-05-2012

La Beca de Intercambio en Culturas Mediales se plantea como un programa que permita la reflexión y la práctica de la relación arte y ciencia, mediante la vinculación entre artistas, astrónomos y otros profesionales de diversos paises.
En esta ocasión el programa presenta un proyecto basado en un intercambio entre la Corporación Chilena del Video de Chile y Hangar de España, en co-producción con el Area de Nuevos Medios del CNCA (Consejo Nacional de la Cultura y las Artes), el Centro Cultural de España y AECID, con el objetivo de nutrir y llevar a la práctica el desarrollo de una experiencia concreta de vinculación entre un artista y la comunidad de astrónomos que trabajan en la red de observatorios de ESO (Observatorio Europeo del Sur), concretamente en el observatorio Paranal y/o Alma.

Plataforma Cultura Digital es un laboratorio que promueve e impulsa la investigación, producción, creación y conocimiento del arte contemporáneo, a través de procesos de formación y reflexión mediante el uso de antiguas y nuevas tecnologías aplicadas al arte, la ciencia y la sociedad. PCD, facilita el desarrollo de procesos creativos asesorando en las actividades que realiza, tales como seminarios, obras, talleres, presentaciones, exposiciones, vínculadas siempre al ámbito de la investigación y la creación.

La iniciativa de la residencia busca el diálogo directo mediante acciones de transferencia de conocimiento. Este contacto directo con astrónomos, material científico e infraestructura tecnológica y el contexto geográfico, será de gran importancia para sustentar las bases de este programa.

Duración de la residencia en Chile: 3 meses, con base en Santiago y viajando esporádicamente al norte: septiembre, octubre y noviembre de 2012.

La participación en este concurso está abierta a todos los/las artistas visuales de nacionalidad española o extranjeros que vivan en España.

+ info http://hangar.org/es/beques/convocatories-beques/beca-hangar-plataforma-digital-cultural-santiago-de-chile-2012/

Gramofonía lúdica [hasta el 3 de junio, Figueres]

2012-05-02T15:20:54Z

En el Museu del Joguet de Catalunya (Figueres) se inauguró el pasado 28 de abril una exposición titulada Gramofonía lúdica (discos con juegos y juegos con discos). Se trata de una exposición temporal gratuita procedente de la colección de objetos gramofónicos de Anki Toner.

La muestra recoge juguetes que incluyen discos, ¿o discos que incluyen juguetes? Algunos de los juegos podrían haber estado hechos en otros soportes sonoros, otros aprovechan las características físicas del disco de manera que no se podría intercambiar por otro formato –utilizando el disco como ruleta, por ejemplo. Algunos discos no están grabados, se utilizan sus cualidades puramente físicas para otras funciones, otros tienen una función sonora: juegos que consisten en adivinar qué suena, o discos con cortes inesperados creados para el juego de las sillas.

La exposición estará abierta hasta el 3 de junio.

Fundación Botín Visual Arts Grants 2012

2012-04-16T17:42:57Z

Fundación Botín, a Spanish institution created in 1964, launches a call for the Visual Arts Grants and the Art Workshop to be directed by Lothar Baumgarten. The call is international.

Kasseler Dokumentarfilm- und Videofest

2012-04-17T13:48:04Z

When: Fri Jul 20, 2012

Where: Germany
Event Status: confirmed
Event Description: Deadline: July 20, 2012 Entry form and rules of participation: www.kasselerdokfest.de/submit For the 29th time the festival will present the diversity of regional, national and international documentary work in all its variation. About 250 international short and feature length documentary films as well as experimental and artistic works will be presented during the six days of the festival. The program is complemented by the media art exhibition Monitoring, audiovisual performances and VJ-ing at the DokfestLounge, the workshop seminar interfiction, the DokfestForum and several events dedicated to young Hessian filmmakers. All in all, it adds up to a profile that is unique among the festival scene. The Kassel Documentary Film and Video Festival 2012 will take place for the 29th time from November 13 to 18. We now invite all filmmakers, artists, VJs, distributors, producers, gallery owners, universities or institutions to submit their most current works and projects for the 29th Kassel Documentary Film and Video Festival. The entire film program as well as the works for the exhibition Monitoring and the performance program will be selected from all submissions. Up to 60 works will be nominated for the four awards of the festival. Also we will invite and try to enable all participating authors and artists to come to Kassel during the festival and to join us for discussions. AWARDS A selection of the films presented in the festival program will be nominated for one of the four awards. The festival grants three money prizes with a total worth of 11,500 Euro and one production grant. The awards are dedicated to the participating authors and artists. Independent juries decide about the allocation of the awards. The Golden Key awards the best documentary submitted by a young director. It is endowed with 5,000 € and supported by the City of Kassel. The Golden Hercules, worth 3,000 €, awards an outstanding production from the region of Northern Hesse. It's sponsored by the Machbar GmbH, a corporate communications company headquartered in Kassel. The software company Micromata GmbH continuously supports the Golden Cube with 3,500 € in prize money. It awards the best installation of the exhibition Monitoring. Moreover, both the festival and the Werkleitz - Centre for Media Art present the A38-Production Grant Kassel-Halle. It is a desired objective to produce a new cinematic work which also appeals to a younger audience and addresses this younger audience on an eye-to-eye level. Thanks to the kind support of the LPR Hessen and the Medienanstalt Sachsen-Anhalt (regulatory authorities for commercial broadcasting in Hesse and Saxony-Anhalt) the grant includes up to 4,000 € for living and traveling expenses and up to additional 4,000 € for allowance in kind. Please use comfortable online entry form at: www.kasselerdokfest.de/submit We are looking forward to your entries and to an inspiring 29th edition of the Dokfest in Kassel! Best regards, the Dokfest-team Kasseler Dokumentarfilm- und Videofest c/o Filmladen Kassel e. V. Geothestraße 31, 34117 Kassel Fon: +49.561.707 64 21/12 Fax: +49.561.707 64 33 www.kasselerdokfest.de dokfest@kasselerdokfest.de

Vídeo del stream de la presentación del work in progress de...

2012-05-01T06:31:35Z

Vídeo del stream de la presentación del work in progress de ZOOMWOOZ ::: Karla Kracht & Andrés Beladíez - martadero cochabamba

Ensayando…

2012-04-30T03:03:35Z

Ensayando…

Esculturas con gomas elásticas de Hong Sungchul

2012-04-29T08:35:30Z

El artista coreano Hong Sungchul (1969, Seúl) crea instalaciones tridimensionales, que se caracterizan por la utilización de gomas elásticas verticalmente tensadas en las que hay impresa una imagen. El resultado es un conjunto escultórico con el que el espectador tiene que jugar para encontrar el ángulo desde el cual podrá ver la totalidad de la imagen en plena definición.

Vida 14

2012-04-29T12:25:18Z

Over the last decade, in the same formal space, VIDA has been bringing together inter-disciplinary projects that respond to new development in Artificial Live. By means of formal strategies that defy the boundaries between existing practices, these projects offer new ways of reflecting on what we understand by life.

SubWars, un cortometraje de Sean Soong

2012-04-24T12:33:24Z

Una persona mayor busca sitio en un vagón del metro, viendo que nadie le ofrece asiento decide poner remedio de una manera bastante peculiar…

Este es el argumento de SubWars, un cortometraje de lo mas irónico, con un claro homenaje a la saga de Star Wars. Como podreis ver a continuación nada parece tener sentido en la historia de Sean Soong, pero el resultado seguro que os sorprenderá de manera positiva. La animación encaja muy bien con la historia dándole un toque profesional, teniendo en cuenta que el proyecto lo ha desarrollado en la Universidad de Comunicación de China.

Os dejamos con el vídeo.

Vía: Catsuka

Pruebas filmando la maqueta con una camara cutre Camera tests on...

2012-04-28T06:38:27Z

Pruebas filmando la maqueta con una camara cutre

Camera tests on the model (with a shabby camera)

Tests with the mini-wifi-cameras

2012-04-24T05:21:00Z

Tests with the mini-wifi-cameras

La Casa Encendida nos ofrece una mirada al universo de Daniel Johnston

2012-04-28T07:10:13Z

Del 20 de abril al 10 de junio de 2012. La Casa Encendida, Madrid.

‘Visiones simbólicas. Una mirada al universo de Daniel Johnston’, es más que una exposición que podemos ver estos días en La Casa Encendida. Se trata de un recorrido por las obsesiones, pasiones y angustias vitales del artista estadounidense, a través de la música, dibujos, proyecciones, un documental, etc. Toda su simbología al descubierto.

Personajes de su infancia, como el Capitán América, el Increíble Hulk, el Diablo o el Fantasma Casper, con otros de creación propia, enigmáticos y oscuros, como Polka Dot Underwear Guy (el tipo de los calzoncillos de lunares), Joe The Boxer (Joe “El Boxeador”) y su álter ego, la Rana Jeremiah, se muestran como espejos de su realidad personal y nos ayudan a dibujar el perfil del artista, a establecer conexiones entre todos los aspectos que conforman su universo creativo.

Desde finales de los 80, Daniel Johnston (Sacramento, 1961) es una figura de culto. Un creador único con una historia personal dura y enternecedora, marcada por el amor, la religión, los conflictos familiares, el sufrimiento y sus problemas psicológicos, temas que están indivisiblemente ligados a sus dibujos a lápiz y rotulador. Una faceta que desarrolla desde hace más de 30 años, cuando grababa maquetas con una rudimentaria grabadora de casete en el garaje de su casa, antes de convertirse en una leyenda de la música indie. A pesar de todo el fenómeno creado a su alrededor y de su deseo de dar a conocer su trabajo, él habla de sí mismo como una persona normal, “un niño que olvidó crecer y que pasa todo el día escribiendo canciones y dibujando”.

In Translucent Glass Grids, Nature’s Patterns, Revealed

2012-04-26T13:27:16Z

Up close, nature’s patterns represent nothing so much as elegant geometry, or even, perhaps, pixels. Rendered as an translucent array, organic patterns become a dance of digital pixels in a work in North Carolina. The creators describe it nicely, so it’s best to reflect on their description – and recall that nature can be an endless source of inspiration.

There’s an extra revelation here, too: low-power displays could be the future. And that’s excellent news for nature.

Patterned by Nature was commissioned by the North Carolina Museum of Natural Sciences for the newly-built Nature Research Center in Raleigh, North Carolina. The exhibit celebrates our abstraction of nature’s infinite complexity into patterns through the scientific process, and through our perceptions. It brings to light the similarity of patterns in our universe, across all scales of space and time.
10 feet wide and 90 feet in length, this sculptural ribbon winds through the five story atrium of the museum and is made of 3600 tiles of LCD glass. It runs on roughly 75 watts, less power than a laptop computer. Animations are created by independently varying the transparency of each piece of glass.
The content cycles through twenty programs, ranging from clouds to rain drops to colonies of bacteria to flocking birds to geese to cuttlefish skin to pulsating black holes. The animations were created through a combination of algorithmic software modeling of natural phenomena and compositing of actual footage.
An eight channel soundtrack accompanies the animations on the ribbon, giving visitors clues to the identity of the pixelated movements. In addition, two screens show high resolution imagery and text revealing the content on the ribbon at any moment.
Patterned by Nature was created by
Plebian Design – plebiandesign.com
Hypersonic Design & Engineering – hypersoniced.com
and
Sosolimited – sosolimited.com

We finally moved to the exhibition room… Working on the setup of...

2012-04-22T21:19:00Z

We finally moved to the exhibition room… Working on the setup of the performance/installation.