1:26 AM December 2, 2005 Comments 2 TrackBack 0
Alleyscape
"The assignment is to create an immersive city/street-scape that represents or communicates an impression of Downtown Los Angeles. Motivation for this topic is the realization that all of the streets of the world will soon be imaged in an Aspen-Movie-Map-like way. We would like to explore alternative representations that will be possible with such data."
I felt conflicted with this assignment. The interesting stuff in this subject, as I see it, emerges when you have unique ways of interacting with map(s) or have large amounts of data and consider the implications and possibilities of it. The former was attempted by Andrew and Jenova to a degree, but not to a terribly interesting degree; it’s only a week after all. The latter I think is perhaps more of what a week long assignment on this subject should’ve been about. This being how I felt, I sought instead to create a self-expressive map, one that went against ideas of utility, commerce, and perhaps a (understandable) fetishism with technology. So, I documented some things that are likely to go undocumented in an “Aspen” world map.
The details and personality of urban landscapes are fascinating to me. They’re filled with surprises and interesting things to find, if you’re looking; alleyways in particular. Self-expression and self-masturbation abounds in graffiti, along with layers of decay, wear and renewal that give one a strong sense of history.
I was downtown doing an assignment first and foremost, but I was also there with friends on a beautiful day. I’m new to a large city, but these two certainly aren’t. Because of this, I thought including them in the setting of an alleyway worked particularly well.
I’ve created stereo, color correct, seamless panoramas to make money. No desire to repeat that tedium in school really. I didn’t pay too close of attention to how many pictures I was taking, or how much of an overlap there was. I experimented by changing my focal length and let the auto-exposure do what it wanted. I tried to capture areas that I personally felt intrigued with, such as the diagonals of the alleyway buildings, the graffiti on the door, the engravings in the wall around the door, the car, and the giggling, seemingly at home grad students.
The looseness of the composition I think goes along with the subject matter. It’s more of a collage than a seamless immersive experience. “Urban” art seems to be a lot of collage and appropriation: think Hip Hop. The composition breaks with traditional forms. It’s incomplete, and almost “torn”, not unlike a poster or piece of artwork on an urban surface that’s been torn in an attempted removal.
I enjoyed creating this, but felt like the assignment wasn't conceived correctly and was even confusing. I read: "explore alternative representations that will be possible with such data." as saying: "the data has been recorded and it's like the Aspen movie map, now experiment with representing that data." I take issue with the decisions of what will be recorded in the first place and why. My guess as to what will be recorded (shopping store fronts and residences) I find incredibly dull. As far as finding alternative representations for this particular data…I passed.
1:24 AM November 30, 2004 Comments 1 TrackBack 0
musical / visual interface .3
Third iteration of a simple interface for improvisational music and visual creation.
2:23 AM May 4, 2004 Comments 0 TrackBack 0
Interactive Writing Final
This piece explores the theme of "progress" (societal, technological, spiritual, human, etc.) It was designed to create an experience of poetic verses along with interelated / metaphorical images and sounds.
My favorite work of my first year.
(Navigation: use arrow keys to dolly and pan. Hold down shift key to tilt, and have fun getting it level again! Will try and improve the navigation at some point. If the camera doesn't move, click once on the director movie to get its attention.)
2:14 AM May 1, 2004 Comments 0 TrackBack 0
musical / visual interface .2
Building off of the previous example. This is an element of an envisioned larger virtual immersive narrative environment in which different areas and elements provide opportunities for improvisational music and visual composition, as well as meaningful and engaging experiences.
Created in MAYA and exported into Shockwave. The "light-bulbs" hanging from the branches will be notes that are playable with the mouse. Navigate the space with arrow keys.
2:26 AM April 25, 2004 Comments 0 TrackBack 0
dream
A piece representing a fantastical dream I had.
Navigation: Use arrow keys and mouse. Apologies if you get flipped around, the interface was quick and dirty.
Was fun to make. Kind of hints a bit at a type of larger immersive environment I'd like to create.
2:37 AM April 20, 2004 Comments 0 TrackBack 0
musical / visual interface .1
Initial experiement in creating a musical / visual interface.
2:34 AM Comments 0 TrackBack 0