2009 Spring: COLA 3950/5950 Art for the People/Art on wheels

I am really interested in the social aspects of the technology we have available and how it can be an essential tool for allowing marginalized voices an opportunity to be heard. I also feel that interaction between citizens and the public space around them is not only a way to claim space for the community, but also initiate discussion and debate on issues within the community.
One of those issues I feel strongly about is the gentrification of culture and character taking place in our own backyards – the destruction and ‘redevelopment’ of historic buildings and neighborhoods in exchange for expensive, cookie-cutter condos or townhouses - at the hands of greedy, capitalistic developers.
One area in immediate danger of destruction is campus’s very own historic Florence Court. For those not familiar with Florence Court, it is a one of a kind historic landmark on University Ave. It is home to a small, yet diverse community of students, musicians, and artists. This unique and beautiful environment where a community has thrived for decades is in immediate danger of destruction due to a proposed redevelopment plan to erect a college apartment complex where 5 historic houses stand, and convert a significant portion of the historic courtyard to a paved driveway. The five historic houses will be demolished and/or relocated.
Florence Court is not just a home – from DIY music venues to late-night bonfires and spontaneous outside concerts – Florence Court is truly a community space we cannot afford to loose.
This is where Guerilla style projections come in - I would like to remind the community of Clark Gassen's (evil developer) heinous destruction plans and also give the community of Florence Court a forum to have their voice heard. I plan to do a quick guerrilla style projection piece on FloCo visible from 35W bridge using simple text. My goal is for the documentation to be made available to the numerous grassroots organizations dedicated to the cause. I will place several posters in FloCo asking residents to leave their opinions, comments, or whatever else they would like the community to know about the development plans or about Clark Gassen. I will then collect the posters and compose a simple – yet effective – short text piece.
Equipment needed:
1-2 projectors & all cables, mounting gear, power sources etc
Video camera for documentation
Laptop with laser tag software?
Laser pointer?
Speakers (I plan to feature some of FloCo’s resident music)
I plan to use my own laptop with software for text piece
*I know I am late - i literally have not slept in the past 4 days as I have been finishing up writing my thesis research paper. I do not feel the late posting of this entry will have any effect on the overall quality of my final project and with my project scheduled on the last possible day I am confident that
the project should go as planned. Kara

Posted by spic0053 at 6:02 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

My final project will be a documentation of "place" for a few people (probably only two actually, given the time restraints-- we've got to get to frat row for the parties! ;-)) and will be composed of two side by side projectors: one of livedraw and one of a light board. I have pre-recorded conversations about place and where each individual has been, photos of them/pictures/videos if applicable, etc. The lightboard will be a place for each of the people to interact and sort of comment on their already existent commentary (the recording). I am hoping that this will create a sense a unique set-up both for the viewer and interacting interviewee. I will move around the livedraw contents while the interviewer is on the light board

it sounds like this will be projected from the tracks under the 14th ave bridge in dinkytown? I would like to go scope the space out before we project, but I know we said we can't go further than dinkytownish area so that we can get over to frat row in a timely fashion.

So, I will need:
-2 projectors
-light board
-camera and stand to project light board (I believe this is how this works, if something else is possible, let me know
-speakers
-required cables, etc. for the aforementioned stuff + power source

ALSO I NEED A SAVE SETTINGS FUNCTION ON LIVE-DRAW. thanks!

Sorry it took me so long to get this up here, I've been moving and don't have any internet!

Posted by zabe0056 at 9:44 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Ryan Murphy
Final Project
MAW 2009

There will be 3 stations.

Stations 1 and 2 will be musical projections. This includes John’s GMS and my color organ and drum sampler. I think John and I will both be using our own computers. My hope is that we can run audio from both computers out one set of speakers. We will need a projector for each laptop.

Station 3 will be the laser tag set up. For this I will need one projector and one computer. According to Andrea I may be able to use the MAW 17” macbook pro for the computer. I will need one projector and one 640 480 firewire camera.

Gear:

4 magic arms
1 laptop (MAW 17” macbook pro)
3 projectors
3 power cords
3 VGA
3 Adaptors
1 Firewire camera
1 firewire cable
1 laser pointer
2 speakers
2 power cables
2 1/8” to stereo 1/4“ converter
1 small mixer to mix to computers to speakers

Posted by murph523 at 7:58 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Hello all,
A reminder that I would like a full detailed description of your final project by the end of the day TODAY.
This description should include:
1) what the project is about
2) where the site will be
3) what equipment you need (please be VERY detailed, include every cable and accessory)

Here is the line up as we decided it on thursday.
Please note when you are scheduled to perform. If you have a conflict or better plan, please tell me immediately.

Please also note that each outing as a "ride boss"; i expect that person to do all the coordination, organizaton, leading....

-------
WHEN: wed 5/13/09
WHO: john, tim, maj, sinan
WHERE: downtown: @ Art Institute, (images of site here)
RIDE BOSS: john
-----
WHEN: fri 5/15/09, 5.30pm
WHO: Ryan, Lyric, Kara, Michael
WHERE: People Serving People: Portland and Washington
RIDE BOSS: ryan
-----
WHEN: fri 5/15/09, 8pm
WHO: brit, maj, tim?, andrea?
WHERE: Art-A-Whirl, see here for pictures of the site.
RIDE BOSS: ali
-----
WHEN: sun 5/17/09, 8pm
WHO: inna, kara, danika, steph, inna, brit
WHERE: Dinkytown/frat-row/east site river banks.
RIDE BOSS: steph/inna

Posted by Ali Momeni at 6:24 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)

View Larger Map

Hey, MAW mates. I have schedule my final project outing for next Wednesday, May 13 at the location shown. It's a parking lot right next to Art Institutes where I teach (9th and Hennepin, downtown). I thought this would be a great way to expose MAW to students at Ai. I'm planning on using a projector and speakers from the school, so all you have to do is show up. Here's the publicity paragraph that's going out to students and alumni:

John Keston will be performing using his Gestural Music Sequencer or GMS on Wednesday, May 13, 2009 in the parking lot next to Art Institutes International Minnesota, 15 South 9th Street, Minneapolis, Minnesota. The GMS was written in Processing.org by Ai instructor, Unearthed Music recording artist, and AudioCookbook.org founder John Keston. His tool analyzes video input and converts it into a sequence of musical information in real-time. The live video image will be projected on the building while the musical response to the images is amplified through a sound system. For more information about the GMS visit audiocookbook.org/tag/gms/. All Ai students, staff, alumni, and the public are welcome to attend this free performance. A drawing will be held (for WDIM students only) giving away two passes to the Flashbelt conference.

Posted by kest0053 at 7:31 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

So I have a couple ideas for my final project. First, I was thinking about a map of the world composed of faces. I could find pictures of people indigenous to every modern day country creating a sort of collage of every continent in the world. Then when clicked on, every continent can have it’s own view which includes names of the countries as well (it wouldn’t be on the larger scale for sake of aesthetics). This way, whoever is interacting with the project can pick a country, see what the people who are from there look like, and write something. I was also thinking about having a fact or just something interesting about each of the pictures/places. The idea of this project would be to see a cool color scheme across the world of faces, and have the immediate ability to point out where you (as the viewer) are from or what have you. I was thinking that if there were any way to use google earth as a tool for the project things could get a lot more interesting. As far as a way to develop this project—I am thinking maybe there would be some way with livedraw? I’m sure talking to Ali or Andrea would help. I would like to project it somewhere South maybe at Franklin and Cedar. Somewhere with a lot of different colored faces to make things more interesting.

Other idea-- several faces all in the same place making different “faces” accompanied with poetry. For this, I think a building with lots of curves would be the coolest. Weisman maybe (would that work with the metal)?

Posted by zabe0056 at 11:38 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

With my recent prairie burning videos, I began contemplating the question of destruction versus rehabilitation—what, really, are the positive and negative aspects of complete destruction, such as in a nature conservation effort to revitalize and maintain a space? This concept applies differently to public space, infrastructure, and housing, for example, with many economic and social factors tied in. Obliterating a building to begin anew might provide the opportunity for new technological innovation, greener production, etc. However, the consequential costs of the new structure, be it housing, for example, might exclude various classes of people who were previously experiencing sustainable-living in the area.
Going back to the prairie burn, the thought always pops into my head as to what’s happening at the micro-level during the fire. What we see are spreading flames, billows of smoke, black, singeing… The activity at the micro-level must be equally as excited—desperate I suppose. I’d like to imagine this level, explore it and see what it looks like. The hand-held microscope we were introduced to a few class periods ago could be incorporated into what might be an experimental set-up, with dirt, controlled flame and other works.
I initially began simply with aesthetics in mind—how to combine images from nature in more of an abstract, pattern-illuminating exercise. From that, the fire in the prairie burns delivered quite an obvious statement, one that led me to the considerations above. With the abstraction led to the idea of what kind of things in nature are apparent versus those that are not revealed, which then led to a consideration of the more unseen aspects of urban areas. For example, often while refurbishing efforts go into more visibly public spaces, involving leisure, “thematizing” districts with convention centers, sports complexes, the more underlying structure might experience neglect, such as roads, sewer systems. The question then: what allows for a space to be favored, whereas another might sit, unused, and what can we do to transform this? Should there be any transforming? How can we reinterpret a space to serve artistic purposes? For an interesting geographical read, the novel Tropic of Orange looks at space and its potential from a really unique perspective.

Some ideas for the patch that I would like to incorporate into a composition would be flipping videos horizontally, upside down, as they would help to create new levels of abstraction.

Posted by luca0103 at 2:30 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

My project will involve lichens and bioluminescent creatures. I'm interested in self-generated light - like the light that trees and grass and all living things take on in the hour before the sun rises, preparing to bloom with their own inner light. Lichens are a familiar sight this far north, while bioluminescent algae come from further away, brought by sailors with tales of a "milky sea." I hope to invoke biorhythms and chronobiology as a way of understanding rhythm as a crucial element of life on earth.

Posted by Timothy at 11:43 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

For my final project I was thinking of somehow incorporating recent still images with sound/music image manipulation/text, with an environmental theme. (I have no idea how to do this, but I think it might be possible??)

My initial idea is that there would be some sort of camera set up, taking continuous but timed apart images of people that are walking by. The pictures would then be projected in sequence, during which I would be able to manipulate the image by playing music (live). The specific notes of the sound would create different words and occasionally different photo manipulations that would also be on the projection. The texts that would appear would be different quotes or words relating to our current environmental crisis, and the manipulations would possibly distort or blur the images.

I was hoping that this project would be somewhat interactive, and that people could easily be aware of the placement of the camera and the fact that it is taking photos of them. This would mean that the projection would have to be placed in a place with high people traffic and congestion, so I’m not completely sure where I’d want to perform it but I was thinking like The Mall of America or somewhere by Coffman.

This entire idea came to me because from the beginning I knew that I really wanted to incorporate music and images, but also somehow make it live action and interactive. It’s also important me to have some sort of political or social meaning, and I feel that our current environment is the biggest and most important issue we currently face. I would hope that by showing this project I could communicate some environmental awareness in an unusual manner, while still making it entertaining and amusing.

I definitely have a lot of concerns about my ideas. It would most likely take some serious program creating and skills and such that I certainly do not possess. Does this project sound too farfetched? It could easily be altered as to make it a little more plausible and easier to do in the small amount of time given to create it. All I know is I’m going to need some serious help and guidance, but am excited to see any form of my vision come together. I also love to collaborate! :)

Posted by rafns004 at 11:24 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Well Steph, I think you have a grand idea. I was also thinking of doing something along the lines of that project before I read your post. I think it would be hilarious to do something on fraternity row, but also a really strong statement. This should be something we discuss in class! I would like to also do more stop motion stuff. I had a great time making a short animation and I thought it would be fun to elaborate more on that and do more stop motion cartoon-like videos. Also, I think it would be neat to project under the St. Anthony main bridge area, where Andrea showed us her video where there was an actor also. So in combination with all these things,, I thought it would be rad to make a stop motion that would be projected underneath that spot because I like to hang out there a lot, and I have some friends in bands that I would ask to play under that spot but have the animation to interact with the band, kind of bother them a little bit. So it could be an interactive concert which would just be fun to watch.

But I have many more ideas, and would love to collaborate with other people (and Steph, we should talk about doing a public display of how women are treated, because that's something I feel strongly about)

Posted by royze002 at 10:01 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

For my final project I would like to focus on a community involvement outing. People Serving People is an organization dedicated to helping families with emergency housing needs. I think an outing to their shelter would be a positive experience. I am thinking of focusing mainly on the kids who are staying there, so drawing and other simple things the kids will be able to pick up and try right away would be best I think. Maybe kids will want to make cutouts but I think just simple drawing projections would be cool.
It would be nice if we could introduce some other cool high tech things like a laser drawer. I remember when I was kid I was super fascinated with the long distance capabilities of lasers. If I could have used one to paint on a building I would have been blown away no doubt.
Other ideas would be to use live video projections that could have weird effects. Even simply using the built in effects in photo booth might do the trick. We could let the kids take pictures of themselves and then write on the pictures with the laser pointer.
I am envisioning my participation in this would be in setting up the opportunity for these other people to come and play with all the cool gear MAW has and offer an unexpected experience to the families.

The shelter is just down the street from the metrodome and the building itself may be a a good place to project onto.

http://www.peopleservingpeople.org/index.php

Posted by murph523 at 9:58 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

My final project idea is going to deal with life and cyclic motion that everything and body takes a complete part in. Wether is in Nature with the different seasons, life and death, the water cycle (perciptation, flow and evaporation), or the the "banal" cycle of our lives such as waking up, go to work (or school), eat, sleep, and repeat. For this theme, I would like trying to address both the beauty of the worldly cycle found in nature and in our lives, and also focus on the negatives that this cycle can produce, and what we can do to both respect and influence this cycle of life positively (or something of that nature.)
For a projection space, I would want to try to do it on the witches hat tower in prospect park. What I have in mind for my projection is to encircle the entire perimeter in projections and then have all the projections display a figure (not sure what, but it has to move) and have that figure 'circle around all of the projections in a fluid and proportionally correct manner in order to exemplify the sense of cycle, literally. Each projection background would then have a different setting that this figure would travel through, such as nature background, cityscape, and other backgrounds to show that there are many unique (even down to man made cycles, such as cities with traffic) cycles, and how they are possibly all attached. I am sure this might be confusing, but i am thinking that the idea itself might work.
Obviously there are some logistical things that need to be resolved, the biggest one probably being the use of multiple projections to project a cycle of one figure through every projector. I am thinking this might be possible through livedraw, but it could definantly be tricky. Also hauling that many projectors out to one area and have them all attached to computers could also be extremely cumbersome. I would not know what to do if it rained or if the weather did not permit, as there would be no 'centralized' operating area.
I am not sure if this is even a plausible feat, but one can dream!

Posted by grab0155 at 7:40 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Focusing on the idea of identity in a public sphere, bringing the private ideas and inner workings of who we are, to the forefront of a space is what I wanted to focus on. Often times storytelling is how we accomplish things, or the things we wear or how we speak. These things not only exciting me they want to be the emphasis of my final project. This is a very tentative prospectus because I feel like this idea has only manifested itself recently to me.

“How do I incorporate this?” is better asked in the question of “how do we represent ourselves when it is what we want to be portrayed as?” I would like to program the Max Patch to do a program similar to the projecting faces onto bigger buildings or something like a portrait that the person can alter while they use the audio to tell stories about themselves and their experiences. When you get people to talk, they will tell you a whole lot of information about their lives. I was thinking of doing this projection either at the Obama show in collaboration with Sinan’s piece or… on a cultural center spot in Minneapolis.. what about the public library downtown?

Posted by elizabeth furani at 8:21 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

For my final project I would like to do a performance using the GMS, a gestural music sequencer that I've been developing in Processing (processing.org). The application samples video and displays it inverted so it looks as though you’re looking into a mirror. Each frame is analyzed for brightness, then the X and Y data of the brightest pixel is converted into a MIDI note. The X axis is used to select a pitch, while the Y axis determines the dynamics. As users move, dance, gesture, or draw, notes are generated based on a predetermined scale. Currently the available scales are pentatonic minor, whole tone, major, minor, and chromatic, all of which can be dynamically selected during a performance. Other dynamic controls include transposition, sustain, duration selection (manual or randomized with probability distributions), BPM adjustment, and note randomization. A "free" mode allows the durations to be manipulated by the mean brightness of the video input. The application works especially well in dark lighting while using a light source to control the sequencer.

Continue reading "GMS The Gestural Music Sequencer" »

Posted by kest0053 at 7:20 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

I actually have two projects in mind:

The first project shares the aesthetic qualities of the “heads on barb barker” outing we did in the class earlier this year. As a trans person, I am interested in change and fluidity in people’s identities and bodies over time...

Continue reading "Final project idea" »

Posted by goknu001 at 10:48 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Posted by goknu001 at 10:07 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Sooo. I have a concept, but I'm not really sure how I want to/can effectively portray my ideas/frustrations/ticks.

Continue reading "Assignment #1: Project Proposal" »

Posted by Stephanie Taylor at 2:09 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Please write a 1-3 paragraph paper describing your initial direction and/or inspiration for a final project. The final project for Art on Wheels will be a projection outing, in a public space, were each student will present a work for video. Works that use real-time technologies (camera, live-drawing, live performance of a real-time patch) are strongly recommended. Work that purposefully invite participation by viewers are also strongly recommended.

The description should include at least:
-The location you have selected and its connection to the content of your final project
-The instruments you wish to use for the projection
-Your primary concerns/needs/worries/forecasts about what will make the project successful.

Please post your proposal to the blog as an entry (not as a comment to this post); please assign the category "Final Project" to the post. Feel free to use images/google-street-views/drawings to strengthen and clarify your proposal.

Ali

Posted by Ali Momeni at 4:08 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Here's video of me testing my Gestural Music Sequencer. Perhaps we can use it at an outing or on the Mississippi trip. As you can see the video has been mirrored so it's easier to follow your own movements. The X axis of the brightest pixel in each frame is used to determine the pitch, while the Y axis is the dynamics. The application outputs MIDI data that I'm routing to Reason. I've programmed the up and down arrows on the keyboard to increase or decrease a multiplier that, along with the 15 fps frame rate, determines the time between each note on event. I've also enabled a group of keys to adjust the transposition.

Posted by kest0053 at 6:18 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)