SCAMPI

The Logic is Hardly Cartesian

2009-05-11T16:32:00.000-07:00

Today I found this peculiar but amazing book by Jacques Carelman in the LCC Library.

Ethnomusicology

2009-05-03T07:14:00.000-07:00

A series of pictures depicting Frances Densmore

at the Smithsonian Institution in 1916 during a

session with Blackfoot chief Mountain Chief for

the Bureau of American Ethnology.

I am currently reading a book called 'Sound and Sentiment' by Steven Feld. It is the study of sound as a cultural system among the Kaluli people of New Guinea. Felds intention is to uncover the codes of sound communication and how this relates to the quality of life in the Kaluli community.

This started me thinking about 'ethnomusicology' which is defined by the study of social and cultural aspects of music and dance in local and global contexts, or the study of people making music. If we were to have a sound cultural system in London what would it be and what historical and mythical references would we draw from.

2009-02-12T03:14:00.001-08:00

I see Beats

2009-02-09T12:06:00.000-08:00

I See Beats from Kyle McDonald on Vimeo.

Interactive installation by Kyle McDonald. It is a beat sequencer where you’ll need a few people with mobile phones to create a sound. You have to hold up your phone with the screen lit, a webcam tracks your position and puts your phone on the sequencer grid.

2009-02-09T12:01:00.000-08:00

Awesome!

Drawing with your voice

2009-02-09T11:45:00.001-08:00

Not only is this a good idea but these images are nice too. Ze Frank has made a flash drawing tool that responds to your voices volume - Low Volume = line curve counterclockwise , Medium Volume = straight line and a High Volume= turn the line to the right.

Similar to this is the SonicWireSculpture - http://pitaru.com/sws/

Pollocks Toy Museum

2009-02-09T10:37:00.000-08:00

On Friday after finishing my origami fireworks, I decided to go to the 'Pollocks Toy Museum' just off Goodge St. The Museum takes its name from Benjamin Pollock, the last of the Victorian Toy Theater Printers. I was really impressed how jam packed it was, with toys and games dating from the 1900s to today. I paid four pounds to get in and was told the exhibition starts at the bottom of the stairs, I found myself going further and further up the stairs into tiny rooms with creaky floorboards, where the toys seemed to get creepier, definitely recommended.

2009-02-05T07:12:00.000-08:00

2009-02-02T08:27:00.000-08:00

Flowers -- Wearing Over Ear

When I was five years old my uncle would pick the snapdragons from our garden and put them on my ears as ear rings.

Conflicting answers are found to the question of the symbolism of wearing a flower behind the right ear. According to Volume 8 of Peoples of the Earth, Polynesia and Micronesia, a flower behind the right ear means that the wearer is looking for a sweetheart. However, Alice Coats, in Flowers and Their Histories, mentions that "in the South Sea Islands a red hibiscus flower worn behind the left ear signifies 'I desire a lover'; behind the right ear 'I have a lover' and behind both ears 'I have one lover, but desire another'". Also, an article in National Geographic from October 1962, p.581, states "She wears blooms over the left ear to signify that she is unmarried." A "Dear Abby" column from the September 14, 1989 San Francisco Chronicle, also states: "If a girl wears a flower over her left ear, it means she's uninvolved, approachable. A flower worn over her right ear means she is spoken for, romantically involved, so hands off."

2009-02-02T08:22:00.000-08:00

2009-02-02T08:20:00.000-08:00

2009-02-01T15:01:00.000-08:00

Beautiful and colourful origami flowers found at - http://origami-ya.cocolog-nifty.com/origamiya/

2009-02-01T13:44:00.000-08:00

I found these cute 'build it yourself Mechanical Garden' projects.

Blooming Tropical Flower:
The basic sidewinder gear train controls a long arm that pushes a flexible wire through a plastic cup. The flower blooms when the wire is pushed up and closes when the wire is pulled down. The slip gear on the sidewinder gear controls keeps the gear train from breaking up when the lever arm reaches its stop points.

The flower is made from 5 Popsicle sticks hot glued to a small round piece of foam rubber. The Popsicle sticks were decorated with foam rubber and toilet paper. The stamen are pipe cleaners with a bead on the end. The pistil is the round piece of foam rubber on which the Popsicle sticks are glued.

Swaying Grass:

A power top gear train pushes a beam with grass blades attached. When the beam hits a touch sensor, the motor reverses and a rubber band pulls the beam back. The control program repeats the sequence when the wind is blowing.

Dancing Flowers:
A Fwd-Rev-Rt-Lt Chassis, modified for the micro motors and MIT programmable Cricket, makes the rose turn and the daisy sway. The program loops around a right turn and then a left turn.

Found at www.build-it-yourself.com/project-mechanical-garden/garden plants

2009-02-01T13:12:00.000-08:00

This is exactly what type of mechanism I have been thinking about ever since I put my flowering Tea Buds in hot water.

Oribotics [network] was a unique art and technology installation in the Atrium at Federation Square, Melbourne, Australia, drawing on cutting edge research in biology, computing, and scientific origami. Visitors discoverer living biomimetic works attached to the glass panes of the Atrium’s Fracture Galleries.

The robots, rooted to the architecture, their faceted folded mechanical blossoms attracting data, moving in response to the physical audience and stimuli from online users at www.oribotics.net. In Oribotics [network] each robot was individually connected to the vastness of the internet, to local mobile phones, and wifi networks, enabling interaction via mobile devices and the web.

Visitors came with their laptops, PDAs, or mobile phones, started up their wifi connections and ‘networked’ with the oribots. Or point your browser to www.oribotics.net and explored the virtual world of the oribots digestion. Witnessing the results of four years development of intricately folded designs integrated with robotic mechanisms.

2009-02-01T06:28:00.000-08:00

Images found at http://ffffound.com/

2009-01-31T15:55:00.000-08:00

I like this interactive but tactile six foot interactive starfish that was exhibited at the Kinetica show ' Life Forms' in 2006.

2009-01-28T08:57:00.001-08:00

The elaborate wood construction is modeled on a computer; human beings assume the role of the processors.

The installation was inspired by the physiological experiments Etienne Jules Marey conducted in the 19th century and is meant to expand Marey´s work into the field of intimacy.

Marey is famous for his research onchronophotography. But before experimenting with photography, Marey was building all sorts of pneumatic systems to better understand and measure precisely body movements, from heart beats to the way a bird flies. For example, one of these systems measured the way lips were moving during speech and his research was fundamental for the field of medical imagery.

He was successful in selling a portable instrument called Sphygmographe to measure the pulse. He hooked up horses with pneumatic sensors to study how they run (a work which inspired Muybridge and had him prove that prove that Marey was right when he wrote that a galloping horse for a brief moment had all four hooves off the ground) or construct sophisticated apparatus that he attached to the wings of birds to measure their precise movements while they are flying.

Marey’s Sphygmograph

“Conservation of Intimacy�? received an award for the way it combines artistic, scientific, technological and cultural aspects, and shows that interaction functions best when each individual protagonist takes the actions of the others into account: Intimacy as the essential component of social interaction.

The exhibition at the OK Centrum also showed another of Lubell´s works which i liked a lot. Cheek to Cheek allows you to dance with youself, well... "cheek to cheek". You done a strange wooden helmet, sit on a stool and have to move about so that bladders beneath the seat transmit air to bladders pressed against your cheeks.

During his talk, he highlighted some of his installations. The most surprising one...and the Synapse Sweetly Singing have visitors crank themselves inside a coffin than use a network of tin-can telephones to communicate with other visitors in the gallery.

That guy rocks. He reminded me of Theo Jansen, an artist quietly doing his own thing without wondering whether it is cool, innovative, whether it fits in the art system or not.

My pics.
Source of Marey images.

2009-01-27T16:36:00.000-08:00

Beautiful window displays by Zoe Bradley.

http://www.zoebradley.com/home.html

2009-01-27T16:29:00.000-08:00

Born in 1935 Pierre Mayer has already had a life which has taken him into many different directions.
He started performing magic tricks at the age of 5, influenced by his father’s magic store and the conjuring virus has never left him.

Pierre’s art education and inclination for oil painting led him to the Louvres Museum in Paris where he painted reproductions of masters in his early years.

Pierre subsequently owned a chain of 5 electronic stores in Paris, and his varied hobbies included collecting mechanical music, vintage toy and automata. On early visits to Cabaret Mechanical Theatre in London he admired the work of Paul Spooner, however it is only in the last two years that he has decided to make pieces of his own, and Pierre wanted a different concept for his pieces, than those he had seen at CMT, and so he focused on his experience and creativity with magic and conjuring when designing his pieces.

I love this little orange tree, it is beautifully mechanic, and you can see how it works.

2009-01-02T13:57:00.000-08:00

bp vid
Uploaded by jerricens

Wes Anderson directs a Japanese commercial with Brad Pitt in it , and apparently its a remake of the 1953 French film “Les Vacances de Monseieur Hulot.”

2008-12-13T18:29:00.000-08:00

Its a Dogs Life!These dog houses from the 1950s are amazing!

2008-12-09T03:21:00.000-08:00

2008-11-22T10:57:00.000-08:00

I love this interactive 'Push and store cabinet' by Chung-Tang Ho/Tong.

Chung-Tang Ho created a bookshelf that changes shape during use, a solid volume that opens up when books are stored in it. The volume of the moved space becomes literally visible through the beams of wood sticking out. This way the volume of the cabinet could be doubled.

2008-11-22T04:02:00.000-08:00

Bottoms up doorbell by Peter van der Jagt- http://www.droog.com/

What we know as a doorbell, a square box, does not actually indicate its function. In Bottoms up nothing is hidden. The sound is created and symbolized by the crystal wineglasses. The guests are announced with a musical toast of this doorbell.

Material
wineglasses, electromagnet, stainless steel
Size
25 x 9 x 24 cm
Year
1994

2008-11-22T03:24:00.000-08:00

http://www.microwavefest.net/festival2008/

http://www.interface.ufg.ac.at/christa-laurent/

Life Writer

Life Writer consits of an old-style type writer that evokes the area of analogue text processing. In addition a normal piece of paper is used as projection screen and the position of the projection is always matched with the position of the type writer roll. When users type text into the keys of the type writer, the resulting letters appear as projected characters on the normal paper. When users then push the carriage return, the letters on screen transform into small black and white artificial life creatures that appear to float on the paper of the type writer itself. The creatures are based on genetic algorithms where text is used as the genetic code that determines the behaviour and movements of the creatures. The algorithms were developed for one of our previpus works called Life Spacies [2] and here the text functions as genetic code for the creation of artifical life creatures.

As in the Life Spacies system the artificial creatures created by the act of typing can be faster or slower depending on their genetic code and body shape. All of the artificial life creatures also need to eat text in order to stay alive and when users type a new text the creatures will quickly try to snap up these characters from the paper in order to get energy. Once creatures have eaten enough text they can also reproduce and have off-spring so eventuelly the screen can become very full when creatures a fed well.

The user can also push the creatures around when using the scroll of the typing machines cylinder. She can for example push the creatures back into the machine which will crush them or scroll the creatures off the screen alltogether, making new place for new creatures.

By connecting the act of typing to the act of creation of life, Life Writer deals with the idea of creating an open-ended artwork where user-creature and creature-creature interaction become essential to the creation of digital life and where an emergent systems of life-like art emerges on the boundaries between analog and digital worlds.

2008-11-15T16:06:00.000-08:00

2008-11-09T08:33:00.000-08:00

Today I discovered the Museumpark in Rotterdam, and it was lovely. It was full of lots of different people and of all ages. The people in Rotterdam really appreciate the art work and the museum park, and actually take time to look at the exhibits it was refreshing.

I went to the Kunsthal museum -http://www.kunsthal.nl to see the exhibition they have about HAIR by photographer Herlinde Koelbl. Herlinde Koelbl looked for people with extraordinary hair-do's over a period of six years. I have to say I really enjoyed the exhibition, it took the idea of hair to a new level it showed that she had been researching the topic for six years. There was even plates of real hair at the exhibition. I liked the gross hair pictures the best!

2008-11-08T14:25:00.000-08:00

3. Damien Hirst -http://www.fortheloveofgod.nl/
Im not really sure about the art work but I like this website -very interactive.

'For the Love of God' is a platinum cast of a human skull encrusted with 8,601 flawless diamonds. Set on the forehead is a large, pear-shaped light fancy pink diamond, called the Skull Star Diamond. The teeth are from the original skull. It was hailed worldwide and generated enormous publicity when first unveiled in 2007 at London’s White Cube. Dutch art historian Rudi Fuchs described it as “a supernatural skull, almost heavenly”. He relates Hirst’s work to the memento mori and vanitas motifs popular in the Dutch Golden Age. For the Love of God and Hirst’s personal selection of works from the Rijksmuseum collection reveal how fear of death has provided a theme in art over the centuries. Appropriately, For the Love of God appears in the Philips Wing, surrounded by the Masterpieces of the Golden Age.

2008-11-08T12:46:00.000-08:00

The Giraffe Manor
Ok this is no where near Holland but this is so cool I love this picture. It is from an exclusive hotel just outside Kenya called The Giraffe Manor and it is surrounded by 140 acres of indigenous forest and it cost around £420 per night to stay there.

2008-11-08T12:31:00.000-08:00

2. http://www.mediamatic.nl

Mediamatic Lab, visiting address:
Duintjer CS
Vijzelstraat 72, 3rd floor (suite 3.10)
1017 HL Amsterdam

t: 0031 (0)20 638 9901
f: 0031 (0)20 638 7969
e: desk [at] mediamatic.nl

I like this Friend-Drink-Station they did which was a meetingplace for participants of conferences, festivals and networking events. It stimulates contact between people. When two participants meet up and scan their RFID tagged conference badge they will receive a drink voucher.

The Friend-Drink-Station works like a little game. Participants are stimulated to meet up with their network and extent it with new contacts. A free drink is not the only positive outcome, the contact is added to an online network and the Station prints out a souvenir profile of both people. Handy, at big events you usually run out of visiting cards anyway.

2008-11-08T11:50:00.000-08:00

I have been moping around a bit this week, in Rotterdam trying to get to know the place, but today when I was in the library after a lovely coffee and a look at a book of Rotterdam's cultural events, I decided to make a list of everything I want to see before I leave Holland. 1. Kom je ook? The best examples of web2.0 in cultural heritage, art & culture

OBA, Openbare Bibliotheek Amsterdam Oosterdokskade 143, 1011 DL Amsterdam (view on map) organised by: Mediamatic T +31206389901 www.mediamatic.net

(Hmm not exactly off to a good start seeing as I will be at work that day and this event cost 120 Euros I'm probably not going to go but I will put it on the list anyway.)

2008-11-06T09:18:00.001-08:00

Eunoia is the shortest word in the English Language to contain all five vowels, it means 'beautiful thinking'. It is also the name of Christian Bok's new book, a poet from Canada. Who decided to write each chapter only using words which contain the same vowel-

Hiking in British districts, I picnic in virgin firths, grinning in mirth with misfit whims, smiling if I find birch twigs, smirking if I find mint sprigs.

Midspring brings with it singing birds, six kinds, (finch, siskin, ibis, tit, pipit, swift), whistling shrill chirps, trilling chirr chirr in high pitch. Kingbirds flit in gliding flight, skimming limpid springs, dipping wingtips in rills which brim with living things: krill, shrimp, brill - fish with gilt fins, which swim in flitting zigs. Might Virgil find bliss implicit in this primitivism? Might I mimic him in print if I find his writings inspiring?

Im not too sure about his poems but I like the idea of using language in a scientific/ mathematical way. Its probably very good for your memory.

2008-10-07T08:53:00.000-07:00

My Intership at Kinetica (www.kinetica-museum.org) is still going well and I am meeting some really great like-minded people. Last Thursday was the opening night for their Creatures Great and Small Exhibition in association with the Concrete and Glass festival. The exhibition is open untill the 19th of October (closed Sunday 5th&12th) includes work from Jack Pavlik, Nik Ramage, Balint Bolygo, Daniel Chadwick, Tom Wilkinson, Tim Lewis, Jim Bond, Reuben Margolin, Ray Lee and Roger Vilder.

2008-10-01T16:25:00.000-07:00

I really want to start a new project to do with language and phonetics, and how interactive design could be used as a tool for learning. I am dyslexic as most people seem to be these days!But I have been one for 12 years as I was diagnosed when I was nine. I was luckily to have parents who were interested in my education and I did a book called Toe by Toe everyday for 20 minutes untill I was 10 or 11. I have to say it probably changed my life I went from struggling with reading and writing etc, to being in set 1 or 2 for all of my subjects I also got As or Bs at gcse so its interesting to see not only that I had improved but I had improved consistently with all my subjects. I am trying to get my hands on the book again to see if I can remember anything from it, and to see if it was a good as I remember. I think basically the book was a break down of the english language but made for dyslexics. I dream that one day my boyfriend and I who does english language linguistics will open up an Interactive Language Museum. I know we are a bit mad but I actually think if it did happen it would be really great. Anyway I want to use this new inspiration to start a mini project, post some more soon.

2008-10-01T16:06:00.000-07:00

Im working for a great company at the moment called Kinetica. They used to have a museum in Spitalfields but are currently on a touring exhibition program- they do talks, workshops and exhibitions all over the UK and Europe. They are sponsored by the Arts council and their work is kinetic art, cybernetics and robotic installations that are involved with science and nature and engineering. I have been helping them with their most recent exhibition at the rove gallery in Hoxton Square. I got to meet some really great artist two from america - Jack Pavlik and Reuben Margolin and Nik Ramage.

Nik Ramage

Reuben Margolin

Jack Pavlik

2008-10-01T16:02:00.001-07:00

I am going to Holland in November to help design an Interactive Architecture type building, which is going to be sooo much fun. The Architecture in Holland is just so playful and fun but also sustainable and thoughtful.

2008-08-11T05:26:00.000-07:00

Business cards in films

American Psycho

Flixster - Share Movies

The Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless mind; the card falls on the floor and joel reads

"Clementine Kruczynski has had Joel Barish erased from her memory. Please never mention their relationship to her again. Thank you."

In I heart huckabees, the existentialists have cards this somehow makes things more real.

Business Cards

2008-08-11T04:46:00.000-07:00

I really hate the thought of business cards, but I think it might be a good idea to make them. I've been thinking about how I could make mine different, useful even. I like this guys idea of making them 3d.

Business Card holders

2008-08-11T04:25:00.001-07:00

Attention to detail. What makes people really pay attention?What makes a idea good?I think it has a lot to do with the attention to detail. Some of my favorite films are that of Wes Andersons and he creates this ambience in his films; its like a treat for all the senses. So whilst you are watching the film you are actually watching rather than thinking of something else.

2008-07-17T12:40:00.000-07:00

Im not kidding I need this...a watch that helps you make decisions. As the seconds tick round you either see the word YES or NO displayed on the watch face, so when you need to make a decision you just look at your watch face. I think this could come in handy when you don't really want to go someone you can just blame it on the watch 'the watch wants what it wants'. You can also buy this at the Kinetica shop for £69.95.

2008-07-17T12:29:00.000-07:00

Kinetica are a London based company that curate Interactive exhibitions but they also have a shop where you can buy little interactive toys at quite a reasonable price, I like this little guy called 'tengu' who reacts to the noises around him.

2008-07-13T08:36:00.000-07:00

Yesterday , there was the Annual Gala Parade in Addingham Village where I have lived since I was 6. It amazes me that people can still be bothered to do it but there is a good sense of community here, and I cant help but feel that it is a better way of life up here compared to London (where I study). I'm probably letting the media get to me with all the crime statistics but I've been living in London for two years and I don't think I will ever feel very safe there unless I miraculously come into a large sum of money and be able to afford a nice flat in a nice area. Also I think most of the food I buy is of lower quality. However I do get that feeling when I am about to leave London that I will be missing out on the next interactive exhibition or the latest Art and Culture. Maybe I have just been softened to living here in the Yorkshire Dales?

2008-06-30T04:26:00.000-07:00

I've been working for the London festival of architecture, and its been pretty fun actually although I am working for free. Yesterday I was in charge of this exhibition by BIG a group of architects, designers and builders from Copenhagen. They have a really playful feel to their work especially this centre piece which is a model of Lego Towers made out of 250,000 lego bricks. The idea behind it is that they wanted to create practical design which takes into account how contemporary life is constantly changing and evolving. For example they take into account things like living, leisure, working and shopping.

Visualizing Sound.

2008-06-23T08:08:00.000-07:00

Visualizing Sound. I really like these images and how the pieces become interactive. I like the chair because its an object which has been manipulated and so becomes something else, and the simple idea of cymatics, but it works very well.

2008-02-08T14:33:00.000-08:00

2008-02-08T14:13:00.000-08:00

Today was awesome, we let our robot roam free in a battle field. Its main job was to save injured soldiers!We did a bit of stop frame animation and filming of the robot.

2008-02-08T13:54:00.000-08:00

I was looking at my ikea lights, so I could get some ideas for lighting for the haddonhall estate project, we were thinking of putting lights in the trees.

2008-02-08T13:32:00.000-08:00

I tried making some origami but my swan looks more like a penguin!I want to try make some origami for valentines days and put messages inside them.

2008-02-08T10:57:00.000-08:00

7/02/08 - Today I received a parcel in the post from a lovely lady in glasgow, inside was a present!It was rapped in newspaper and silver ribbon and inside was an address book, and a mini cupcake which had lipgloss inside. Gillian informed me that I should have an address book now I am 21.