I'll be at InterAccess tomorrow for their open house event and I'll be giving a short talk about (fly)light with an introduction to making LED matrices, programming PIC chips, and finally serial communications with Processing. So more or less, everything I know about electronics. :)
More info about the other open house events below. (I'm in bold.)
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This Saturday: Open House at InterAccess's new space, 9 Ossington Avenue
Plus, workshops and more studio events
Ever wondered how interactive installations are made? Curious about electronics? Want to learn how to be a VJ? Do you just want to know more about what goes on in a media arts production environment? Come to InterAccess this fall, the place where art and technology meet — take a workshop, chat with studio members, take a tour and listen to electronic artists talk about their work.
Saturday, September 24, 11 a.m. to 5 p.m.
In celebration of Toronto’s Arts Week and the opening of our new studio space, InterAccess is holding a special Open House this Saturday September 24 that will showcase our facilities and some of the activities that take place within the studio. The activities schedule is as follows:
12 - 1 p.m. -- Rob Cruickshank's Electronic Mobile: Come and see the creative possibilities that our basic electronics offers. Rob Cruickshank’s Electronic Mobile is made only of materials covered in our Electronics Workshop. (Our next Electronics workshop will run on Saturday November 5th).
1 - 2 p.m. -- Pearl Chen shows you how to make your own LED sculpture: During this “mini-workshop,” Pearl will show you how to program a home-made LED matrix using a PIC programmer. A do-it-yourself booklet will also be provided.
2 - 3 p.m. -- Surround Sound Concert: featuring the works from Sound Travels artist residency that took place in our studio this past August. Works by Lewis Kaye, David Ogborn and more. Curated by Darren Copeland.
3:30 - 4:30pm - Jeremy Rotsztain's LifeCycle: Life-Imitating Creative Systems: Jeremy’s work is an autonomous, life-imitating video installation that creates concrete non-representational digital paintings in real-time.
Thursday September 29, 7 p.m.
Dorkbot Toronto -- a free, bimonthly event featuring "people doing strange things with technology." This month, presentations by Brendan Wypich, Owen Milburn and more.
Through November 7
Rarely seen works by Vera Frenkel, David Rokeby, Nell Tenhaaf and Norman White. Gallery hours: Tuesday through Saturday, 12 to 5 p.m. Exhibition continues through November 7, 2005, as InterAccess proudly presents an additional site-specific work by David Rokeby as part of "Interactive '05," November 4 through 7 at the Toronto International Art Fair, Metro Toronto Convention Centre, 255 Front Street West. Admission is free.
With such materials as fishing line, styrofoam cups, drinking straws, and scotch tape, Tara Donovan makes mundane objects into suprising sculptures.
via: Hi-Res! Feed
related: Stryolight (issue #4 of ReadyMade, 2002)
(via eyebeam reBlog)
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The ROCKET SYSTEM is part of the N55 SPACE PROGRAMME, which aims at creating space for persons and making space technology accessible and useful in everyday life situations.
(via wmmna)
LED Touch Sensing... work in progress by Jeff Han.
(via PixelSumo)
]]>One particular read, MetroPop, has won my heart since their full-on illustration issue (Winter 2003). Their current issue (May/June 2005) pops off the shelf with a very distinctive black and white cover. Yes, the model is beautiful but what are those sexy overlays??
Flip to the fashion spread and nestled among "photography" and "make-up & hair" in the list of credits you'll find: "generative art particle attractions - tom carden".
I love this cross breeding of fashion photography and computer art. You'll find more info about Tom Carden and his work on his processing sketchbook.
Carden was first approached by photographer Clayton James Cubitt who is fast becoming a favourite of mine.
Read an interview with Cardin by Cubitt.
And take a look at the "making of" in the Processing gallery.
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Under half a year ago, I don't think Kent knew any 3D. How he pulled off L'Or Rouge in such a short time, I don't know, but I'm super impressed.
]]>The entry went something like... blah blah, borrow a gps unit from the York Quay staff, blah blah, it was lots of fun, blah blah something, climbed over bushes, blah, until Sept 11, blah blah.
Yeah........
Instead, how's about a picture of what you're missing out on until you check it out yourself:
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I recently picked up -- and finished reading in a mere week... a major feat for a procrastinator such as myself -- Hackers & Painters: Big Ideas from the Computer Age by Paul Graham. With it's glossy cover and theoretical writing, I was suprised to see the O'Reilly name on it but this one is definetely a keeper.
In a collection of 15 short essays, Graham tackles such topics as:
Q: Why are nerds unpopular?
A: They have better things to do
Q: How do you get rich?
A: Generate 'wealth' (making things other people want) instead of stealing it
Q: Which programming language reins supreme?
A: Lisp (according to him, but he's got some good arguments for dynamic data typing over static typing, critiques of the OOP frenzy, and why 'hacker' languages like Perl, Python, and Ruby might be messy now but give it a few years....)
And, of course, why hackers are more like painters than (computer) scientists.
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You all know that I love DIY. So when I first heard about Make magazine, I've been lusting after a copy for months.
Chapters/Indigo in Canada doesn't carry them so I've been planning to order it from Amazon for eons while sustaining myself with the Make blog.
However, a friend just got back into town having been away doing intense nerd-related business for a year, including a Microsoft conference where Make makers had made an appearance. And so he bestowed upon me the best travel souvenir a geek girl like me could get: the premier issue.
I was so inspired after reading it that I pulled out my sewing machine (remember, I'm still a girl) and craftied up myself a cute shirt, among various hemline fixes. I was even enthusiastic enough to pull out my screwdriver and fix the broken toilet seat in my apartment that has been falling apart for a week.
But I digress... back to the magazine! Among my favourites:
- The Life Hacks article on yak shaving (which refers to "Any seemingly pointless activity which is actually necessary to solve a problem which solves a problem which, several levels of recursion later, solves the real problem you're working on") and why problem solving geeks are most prone to partaking in this activity.
- The "toolkit" resource section in the back which reviews essential must-haves. One such review for Kleer Drain (a gadget that de-clogs drains) was so eloquently written, I felt myself wanting to run to Home Depot right then and there.
So here's a couple of sketches using the PIC chip instead of the Basic Stamp. Meant to post these a long time ago -- sorry.
The version below uses a vector board in order to get a more permament curcuit. I didn't want to solder my PIC chip right into the board (otherwise, I wouldn't ever be able to re-program them), so instead I used header pins as placeholders. Solder those into the board instead and pop the PIC chips in and out as needed. Great for the wires to the LED matrix and serial comm port too.
You can buy blank vector boards at Supremetronics on Queen Street West for 65 cents each. 18-pin machine pins were $0.70 each. You can get a single line of 32-pins too -- $1.15 each.
Cheap and easy if you're making one or two boards. If you're making more, I highly recommend just shelling out the extra cash upfront for printed curcuit boards (PCBs). (And I speak from personal experience here! It took me a full 3-4 days to make only 10 vector board curcuits.)
Electrical connections are made by bending any available wires or leads so they touch or almost touch. A dab of solder will keep it in place and bridge any gaps. (I kind of overdid it... you really don't need to glob on so much solder.)
]]>(Come on! This is an urban game waiting to happen!! *still waiting with fingers crossed*)
Image from http://ds5.agh.edu.pl/~grzanka/krzyze/ linked from the Urban Screens blog
And now, finally, there is an entire conference (Urban Screens 2005) dedicated to discussing the non-commercial potential of video billboards, among other urban displays:
Traditionally a venue for corporate advertising, what could these "urban screens" accomplish if commercial agendas weren't at the helm?Come September, a panel of international experts in the arts, urban studies and digital culture, will gather at the Stedelijk Museum in Amsterdam, to explore this question. The conference entitled, Urban Screens 2005: Discovering the Potential of Outdoor Screens in Urban Society, strategizes for the de-commercialization of digital displays.
As the program poses, "How can we change from consumer entertainment to participation of a wide range of users, involving [all] in the production of space?" The 2-day conference is organized into four categories: Shaping the Urban Media-Scapes, Addressing the Social Value and Civic Culture through Participation, Opening the Commercial Use of Outdoor Screens, and the Future Technology of Outdoor Screens. Combined, these topics suggest tools for urban dwellers to take responsibility for their digital landscape.
via Rhizome
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Well, I guess it's kind of late for announcements but if you haven't heard, I'm currently in InterAccess' Emerging Artist Show.
Every year, InterAccess selects an "emerging curator" who, in turn, selects about 4-5 recent graduates who do work within the new media field. So this year, (fly)light will be on display from now until August 6th.
I'm really excited about haven been picked but gallery artist I am not. In fact, the main reason why I am in the show is because of this blog... (Does this make me an "emerging blogger"?)
Anyways, if you drop by InterAccess, you'll find a little phamphlet I made up to go with (fly)light. I hope to make a couple more phamphlets later on but mini-issue #1 focuses on programming the PIC16F627 / PIC16F628.
For all you web and/or lazy people, you can download the .pdf version here (page 1) and here (page 2) or here (zipped up). It's suppose to be double-sided so print page 1 first and then print page 2 on the back.
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Isn't it crazy when you think you're so original and that you're doing something no one else has ever done before only to find out that someone on the other side of the planet is doing something eerily similiar? Wild.
Brendan's GreenHouse:
The dolsa wind is an entirely new kind of vehicle. It is based on the concept of "Riding Music"and "Making Music." Like a glider soaring quietly on the wind, to ride the dolsa wind is to ride joyfully in your own private sphere of sound.via Treehugger]]>