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|My In-law's neighbor has decided to put up a 4 foot white wooden fence. I am thinking that this will cut the light to the garden bordering the neighbors. How will this affect the plants?
The most serious is the bed that's between the garage and the neighbors. I had install a few hosta which may not bee in deep shade, especially the corner that's underneath a tree, too. Should I start moving the Hosta to the side with more light and think more about deep shade plants. Can I install some mirrors to redirect some light to darken corners?
Follow-Up Postings:
- Posted by gardengal48 PNW zone 8 (My Page) on Sun, Apr 8, 12 at 13:48
|I think you are over-worrying the situation :-) A 4' tall fence is hardly sufficient to block much light, plus the fact that it is (or will be) white means it will continue to reflect a lot of light. And hostas can grow just fine in almost complete shade, not that I think that's what you'll be facing.
FWIW, even my solid 6' tall fence failed to block much light in summer/the growing season. And I live pretty far north so that the sun is not as high from the horizon as it is further south.
- Posted by gardenweed_z6a 6a CT (My Page) on Sun, Apr 8, 12 at 18:32
|I have a full shade garden bed on the north side of my house that's filled with shade-loving perennials including nearly a dozen hostas. The bed gets plenty of bright light but the sun never shines on it. Everything thrives in that bed.
- Posted by ken_adrian z5 (My Page) on Mon, Apr 9, 12 at 8:56
|My In-law's neighbor has decided to put up a 4 foot white wooden fence.
==>> absolutely perfect.. you should send them some muffins.. good fences.. make good neighbors ...
and a 4 foot fence.. will have absolutely no impact on any plants ...
in the olden days.. camera peeps had photometers ... its all about the INTENSITY of the light available ... and a 4 foot fence.. is not really going to impact the intensity of the light [and notice i am not saying sun] ... enough to put any plant in decline ...
and if by fall.. it does.. then move the plant.. and send the neighbor more muffins.. for putting in the fence .. lol ..
very .. very few.. plants .. require full direct sun .. and most of those are production plants ... think food.. foo foo flowers [giant roses,dinner plate dahlia] ... fruit trees.. etc ... they need the suns energy.. for the long season flower and food production ... and frankly. MOST garden plants.. are very forgiving in said need ...
all that said.. yippee on the fence.. and most of us.. would consider this a challenge.. not a problem ... not a worry ... in a true gardeners garden ... [which your will be soon] ... no plant is 'permanently' put in one spot ... if it struggles.. we move it.. in the next proper season ...[which means.. never in july/august]
ps: a 12 foot cinderblock wall on the other hand.. probably would be a problem .. and i am thinking you are equating the two .. on some level ...
|Actually, where I live, a 6' wooden fence can make some difference, not so much with light but with moisture. As the rain in summer nearly always comes with wind from the West, the area immediately behind the fence receives little water and needs extra watering. One can see that after the rain the fence is wet on one side and (nearly) dry on the other.
|You could always grow vines on the fence. I have clematis growing on both sides of my yard which has a 4 1/2 ft fence. The clematis growing on the fence which is shaded a bit still blooms even tho it doesn't get a lot of sun and is drier than the other side of the yard.
- Posted by mistascott 7A (My Page) on Mon, Apr 9, 12 at 11:36
|Usually the sun gets high enough that a fence only really blocks light in the early AM or late afternoon. So, I don't think you need to worry to much, especially with hosta which can take a great deal of shade.
|I am thinking that this isn't an issue for most of the yard. The only issue I have is the path next to the garage. Once they put up the fence, the only light path will be up and to the back of the garage and there are trees over the garage too so even the up output is limited. There are a few hostas growing there now, I guess I have to wait for the fence to go up to see what it will look like.
- Posted by ken_adrian z5 (My Page) on Tue, Apr 10, 12 at 9:04
|did you post a pic of the garage area .. long ago ???
it was dark to start with.. the fence is not going to help ...
are any of the trees yours ... and can they be pruned up???
repost the pic.. or bring up the old post..
This is what the area looks like. Note that I have removed the weeds in the area and planted two hostas, brunnera, tiarella, Heuchera, and a dwarf iris. So far, All have survived except the heuchera and dwarf iris. The former died probably because it's probably not a shade plant. The dwarf iris probably died either it was not a shade plant or it was planted incorrectly (it was done by my brother in law and it did not look like it was planted correctly).
The fence when it is put up will be on the left of the tree. I am concern that this mean the area will only get light from the top and from the front and back. The tree limbs are quite high so there's no trimming them.
I am wondering if one can add a mirror on the garage to pipe in some light?
- Posted by purpleinopp 8b AL (My Page) on Wed, Apr 11, 12 at 10:00
|So this area will now be between 2 fences? And this photo was taken before you started working the area? Will anybody even be able to see the plants?
- Posted by ken_adrian z5 (My Page) on Wed, Apr 11, 12 at 11:12
|it is the area i recalled ...
in any house.. as a child or an adult.. this type of area.. to me ... is known as a storage area ...
if the plants were planted this year.. they did NOT fail due to sun issues ... it takes a whole growing season for such ...
as to what will grow there ... only you will know.. after you fail and succeed many times ... and that is how we all learned to cope with less than prime areas in our gardens..
there is not going to be any hard and fast answers for you ...
off the cuff.. most iris [you dont mention the type, where i am looking anyway] are full sun ... its the relative size of the flowers to foliage.. or the shear number.. that is the usual clue ...
and i dont recall.. why you are so fixated on this area ... is that the whole yard???? [grandmas house in the city had a backyard just a bit bigger.. lol]
ps: and yes.. painting the garage white would add reflected light ... but i dont know about mirrors ...
ps: have you considered a self standing hammock???? some speakers.. luau lights .. and dreams of the south pacific????
Here is a link that might be useful: link
|Think of this area as an experimental shade garden. The in-laws complain that only weeds grow there and was able to just dump tons of gravel there. I convinced them to give the shade plant idea a try. Doing so, I was able to experiment with planting a bunch of different plants there and see how they react. So far, I have discovered that heuchera are not shade plants no matter what the internet say and probably this is true for dwarf irises, too (also listed as a shade plant). I also planted a toad lily, but some animal mysteriously tore it up (everyone is a critic these days).
The shade garden is at the end of the sun garden and is somewhat of a nice transition. I am thinking eventually it will become fill with hostas because the inlaws like hostas and this appears to be a good place to grow them (as oppose to underneath the silver maple).
I am also working on their sun garden part, too. It currently holds several bee balm, a helenium, several aster, allium, lilies, columbine, hyacinth, Siberian squill, and some roses.
- Posted by ken_adrian z5 (My Page) on Thu, Apr 12, 12 at 7:57
|Think of this area as an experimental shade garden.
==>> as a newbie.. that is exactly.. what you should be doing.. and when and IF you fail.. see my recommendation ...
combining the two.. if someday you wish to work with pots ... you could move pots in and out of the dark tropical sitting area ...
i dont understand how you are working in that much gravel???
- Posted by purpleinopp 8b AL (My Page) on Thu, Apr 12, 12 at 10:30
|I appreciate your motivation, but unless it really is bigger than it looks in the pic, this would just be a pathway area for me. Hostas next to a path sound lovely. I think you should cheer for the neighbor for fencing their weeds IN, looks abandoned. That should help a lot on your side once you get past all of the sprouting seeds already in the ground.
|This area could be a beautiful passage. There are many shade-loving plants--tiarellas, brunnera, japanese forest grass, bleeding hearts just to name a few. Raised planters, attached window boxes, trellises for interest. This is an area not worthy of being used for storage.
Here is a link that might be useful: Inspiration
Thank you so much for the link the article. It has given me inspiration and ideas.
|ken_adrian wrote: no plant is 'permanently' put in one spot ... if it struggles.. we move it
Definitely and I really like the process of moving a plant...very much therapeutic for me.
.. in the next proper season ...[which means.. never in july/august]
For sure it is optimal to wait until spring or fall to do the move but personally I have had few issues doing it anytime in the summer. Just be extra careful when extracting the plant from its current location, use wonderful soil with good amendments and WATER, WATER, WATER.
- Posted by ken_adrian z5 (My Page) on Sun, Apr 15, 12 at 9:08
|hey molly
w/o rereading the whole fact scenario ... i was under the impression it was a dead end ...
i like the look of your link pic ... and working from that concept.. if it is a deadend..
put a bench or some chairs at the end ...
rather than a passage.. it would be a SECRET GARDEN ...
of course.. i could be wrong on the passage part ...
|Ken, i love working with little areas like this...a secret garden would be soooo cool.
Perhaps in your zone the plants you tried which did not work do need more sun? Down here we keep them all outa the sun and your little trouble spot is perfect for them.
Our hostas and heuchera struggle and most people don't want to do the watering necessary to keep them going. Most of the time the heuchera just up and die on us.. I won't even waste my money on them or the bleeding hearts either.
Hostas if given enough water and fertilizer survive but never get as big and lush as they do up north. Its _almost_ not worth the effort down here.
Why don't you try some ferns that are hardy to your zone?
|It's not a dead end and goes to the back of the garage, where there's junk and a kayak there. The neighbor's side has a bench at the end. Frankly, the in-laws don't really use that side to access the stuff, so it's essentially can be treated as a dead end.
The secret garden is mostly what I was shooting for. Ideally, one should put something at the end of it to give it a focal point, a statue or something hanging, etc. I joke that one can put a Empress Wu hosta at the end of the path way.
|Malvalena, there is a huge difference between Zone 5 and 7. I am Zone 6 and have no problems with these plants. Ferns would be a great idea...ostrich fern!
Paul, go for the secret garden!
|Malvalena, I'm sorry, I misread your post. Ferns are a great idea.
|Mollydog: :)
|Which clematis would work best in this situation? Shade and stays relatively small
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text:
|Weymouth New Testament (WNT)
|New International Version (NIV)
|1 I am telling you the truth as a Christian man--it is no falsehood, for my conscience enlightened, as it is, by the Holy Spirit adds its testimony to mine--
|1 I speak the truth in Christ--I am not lying, my conscience confirms it in the Holy Spirit--
|2 when I declare that I have deep grief and unceasing anguish of heart.
|2 I have great sorrow and unceasing anguish in my heart.
|3 For I could pray to be accursed from Christ on behalf of my brethren, my human kinsfolk--for such the Israelites are.
|3 For I could wish that I myself were cursed and cut off from Christ for the sake of my brothers, those of my own race,
|4 To them belongs recognition as God's sons, and they have His glorious Presence and the Covenants, and the giving of the Law, and the Temple service, and the ancient Promises.
|4 the people of Israel. Theirs is the adoption as sons; theirs the divine glory, the covenants, the receiving of the law, the temple worship and the promises.
|5 To them the Patriarchs belong, and from them in respect of His human lineage came the Christ, who is exalted above all, God blessed throughout the Ages. Amen.
|5 Theirs are the patriarchs, and from them is traced the human ancestry of Christ, who is God over all, forever praised! Amen.
|6 Not however that God's word has failed; for all who have sprung from Israel do not count as Israel,
|6 It is not as though God's word had failed. For not all who are descended from Israel are Israel.
|7 nor because they are Abraham's true children. But the promise was "Through Isaac shall your posterity be reckoned."
|7 Nor because they are his descendants are they all Abraham's children. On the contrary, "It is through Isaac that your offspring will be reckoned."
|8 In other words, it is not the children by natural descent who count as God's children, but the children made such by the promise are regarded as Abraham's posterity.
|8 In other words, it is not the natural children who are God's children, but it is the children of the promise who are regarded as Abraham's offspring.
|9 For the words are the language of promise and run thus, "About this time next year I will come, and Sarah shall have a son."
|9 For this was how the promise was stated: "At the appointed time I will return, and Sarah will have a son."
|10 Nor is that all: later on there was Rebecca too. She was soon to bear two children to her husband, our forefather Isaac--
|10 Not only that, but Rebekah's children had one and the same father, our father Isaac.
|11 and even then, though they were not then born and had not done anything either good or evil, yet in order that God's electing purpose might not be frustrated, based, as it was, not on their actions but on the will of Him who called them, she was told,
|11 Yet, before the twins were born or had done anything good or bad--in order that God's purpose in election might stand:
|12 "The elder of them will be bondservant to the younger."
|12 not by works but by him who calls--she was told, "The older will serve the younger."
|13 This agrees with the other Scripture which says, "Jacob I have loved, but Esau I have hated."
|13 Just as it is written: "Jacob I loved, but Esau I hated."
|14 What then are we to infer? That there is injustice in God?
|14 What then shall we say? Is God unjust? Not at all!
|15 No, indeed; the solution is found in His words to Moses, "Wherever I show mercy it shall be nothing but mercy, and wherever I show compassion it shall be simply compassion."
|15 For he says to Moses, "I will have mercy on whom I have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I have compassion."
|16 And from this we learn that everything is dependent not on man's will or endeavour, but upon God who has mercy. For the Scripture said to Pharaoh,
|16 It does not, therefore, depend on man's desire or effort, but on God's mercy.
|17 "It is for this very purpose that I have lifted you so high--that I may make manifest in you My power, and that My name may be proclaimed far and wide in all the earth."
|17 For the Scripture says to Pharaoh: "I raised you up for this very purpose, that I might display my power in you and that my name might be proclaimed in all the earth."
|18 This is a proof that wherever He chooses He shows mercy, and wherever he chooses He hardens the heart.
|18 Therefore God has mercy on whom he wants to have mercy, and he hardens whom he wants to harden.
|19 "Why then does God still find fault?" you will ask; "for who is resisting His will?"
|19 One of you will say to me: "Then why does God still blame us? For who resists his will?"
|20 Nay, but who are you, a mere man, that you should cavil against GOD? Shall the thing moulded say to him who moulded it, "Why have you made me thus?"
|20 But who are you, O man, to talk back to God? "Shall what is formed say to him who formed it, 'Why did you make me like this?' "
|21 Or has not the potter rightful power over the clay to make out of the same lump one vessel for more honourable and another for less honourable uses?
|21 Does not the potter have the right to make out of the same lump of clay some pottery for noble purposes and some for common use?
|22 And what if God, while choosing to make manifest the terrors of His anger and to show what is possible with Him, has yet borne with long-forbearing patience with the subjects of His anger who stand ready for destruction,
|22 What if God, choosing to show his wrath and make his power known, bore with great patience the objects of his wrath--prepared for destruction?
|23 in order to make known His infinite goodness towards the subjects of His mercy whom He has prepared beforehand for glory,
|23 What if he did this to make the riches of his glory known to the objects of his mercy, whom he prepared in advance for glory--
|24 even towards us whom He has called not only from among the Jews but also from among the Gentiles?
|24 even us, whom he also called, not only from the Jews but also from the Gentiles?
|25 So also in Hosea He says, "I will call that nation My People which was not My People, and I will call her beloved who was not beloved.
|25 As he says in Hosea: "I will call them 'my people' who are not my people; and I will call her 'my loved one' who is not my loved one,"
|26 And in the place where it was said to them, `No people of Mine are you,' there shall they be called sons of the everliving God."
|26 and, "It will happen that in the very place where it was said to them, 'You are not my people,' they will be called 'sons of the living God.' "
|27 And Isaiah cries aloud concerning Israel, "Though the number of the sons of Israel be like the sands of the sea, only a remnant of them shall be saved;
|27 Isaiah cries out concerning Israel: "Though the number of the Israelites be like the sand by the sea, only the remnant will be saved.
|28 for the Lord will hold a reckoning upon the earth, making it efficacious and brief."
|28 For the Lord will carry out his sentence on earth with speed and finality."
|29 Even as Isaiah says in an earlier place, "Were it not that the Lord, the God of Hosts, had left us some few descendants, we should have become like Sodom, and have come to resemble Gomorrah."
|29 It is just as Isaiah said previously: "Unless the Lord Almighty had left us descendants, we would have become like Sodom, we would have been like Gomorrah."
|30 To what conclusion does this bring us? Why, that the Gentiles, who were not in pursuit of righteousness, have overtaken it--a righteousness, however, which arises from faith;
|30 What then shall we say? That the Gentiles, who did not pursue righteousness, have obtained it, a righteousness that is by faith;
|31 while the descendants of Israel, who were in pursuit of a Law that could give righteousness, have not arrived at one.
|31 but Israel, who pursued a law of righteousness, has not attained it.
|32 And why? Because they were pursuing a righteousness which should arise not from faith, but from what they regarded as merit. They stuck their foot against the stone which lay in their way;
|32 Why not? Because they pursued it not by faith but as if it were by works. They stumbled over the "stumbling stone."
|33 in agreement with the statement of Scripture, "See, I am placing on Mount Zion a stone for people to stumble at, and a rock for them to trip over, and yet he whose faith rests upon it shall never have reason to feel ashamed."
|33 As it is written: "See, I lay in Zion a stone that causes men to stumble and a rock that makes them fall, and the one who trusts in him will never be put to shame."
|The Weymouth New Testament is in the public domain. (Weymouth New Testament - Holy Bible )
|Scripture quoted by permission. Quotations designated (NIV) are from THE HOLY BIBLE: NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION®. NIV®. Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984 by Biblica. All rights reserved worldwide. (New International Version Bible Online)

subset: commoncrawl


text:
Please note that these notes are of no
value whatsoever for any kind of educational purpose, especially if you want to pass a
test or speak intelligently on the subject!
The hand-cranked street organ began life in
the eighteenth century as a little tiny hand-cranked table organ that was designed to
teach song birds how to sing pretty little songs. These bird organs were called serinettes
in French, but then they have a different word for everything.
Here a gentle lady is cranking her serinette, proof positive that folks in the 1700's
had way too much time on their hands.
Serinettes contained all the basic elements of the modern street
organ - bellows, pipes, and a way of making the pipes sound at the right time, which in
this case was a barrel with little pins sticking out of it. These pins would hit keys
which in turn would open valves which let air go to the pipes.
The serinette was soon adopted by wandering troubadours and other
ne'er-do-wells.The only problem with serinettes was that they produced a very
small, bird-like sound. As performers demanded a fuller sound, organs were built with
larger pipes and bellows, and interchangeable barrels. Thus the instruments we would
recognize as barrel organs were developed.
This scruffy looking character is shown
playing a serinette in about 1772.
Wandering troubadours did this for a living, seldom passing the hat for local charities.
Note the cool boots.
Barrel organs were very popular, at least
with organ grinders. They were considered a nuisance by many people, not only due to their
abundance in major cities, but due to the repetitive nature of their repertoire. Many
makers required that their instruments be returned to the factory for a new barrel to be
installed, so most grinders simply didn't bother. They were content to grind out the same
old few songs day after day after day after day - you get the picture.
One British journalist of the day noted that an itinerant organ grinder was paid "for
his silence and not his sounds".
To read an
incredibly depressing story about an organ grinder's life in the 1800's, click here.
To read an 1871
account of thievishness on the part of wandering crank musicians, click here.
To read a
romanticized view of an organ grinder, with images from an 1894 magazine article and other
images, click
To read how monkeys
were trained by immigrant organ grinders in the 1800's, click here.
Here is a rare old photograph of a grinder
and his cart-mounted organ on the Isle of Wight, from the early part of this century. From
the author's collection.
The ability to easily change the music of
a hand-cranked street organ was the result of the application of weaving technology to the
organ. Jacquard looms were controlled by cards in which holes were punched. These holes
were read by a mechanism on the loom, and the pattern was reproduced exactly every time.
(This same technology was used as punch cards in the early days of electronic computers.)
Taking a page from the weaver's book, this method of controlling musical instruments, and
specifically an organ, was first used in 1861. However, just as things got rolling with
this new technology, so did the reproducing phonograph, and the hand-cranked street organ
was relegated to museums and memories.
Of course, the mechanical organ continued to develop into dance organs and the magnificent
street organs you can still hear in the streets of Amsterdam, but small, hand-cranked
street organs are a rare treat today!
This is neither the author nor one of his
instruments, but rather a figure used in the Mexican Dio de los Muertes celebrations. Handsome organist, huge organ, and ugly
From the author's collection.
�2001 Flora & Company - All Rights Reserved.


text:
If i were a man i'd want to be either Idris Elba or Garnet Hertz. You know Elba, he was gangster Stringer Bell in The Wire and a detective in Luther. Now Garnet Hertz is neither of that (to my knowledge) but he's the guy everybody wants to talk to at media art, tech or design conferences because his works play with several levels of engagement: from instant entertainment to deep reflection on DIY culture, design processes and technological progress. Hertz makes robots controlled by cockroaches, video game systems that you can literally drive around, he gives talks about Zombie Media and has just crafted a magazine about critical technical practice and critically-engaged maker culture that puts us all (us being media people) to shame.
And now for a more rigorous bio of the artist:
Doctor Garnet Hertz is a Fulbright Scholar and contemporary artist whose work explores themes of technological progress, innovation, do-it-yourself culture and interdisciplinarity. His work often involves building real-world technologies that are designed to take his audience into a speculative future gone humorously astray. In the process, Hertz's work inverts the idea that technology needs to be faster, more efficient or higher resolution: innovation is born out of human emotion, historical tradition, and creative obsession.
Hertz is Co-Director of the Values in Design Lab at UC Irvine, is Artist in Residence / Research Scientist in Informatics at UC Irvine and is Faculty in the Media Design Program at Art Center College of Design.
Hi Garnet! I'm very intrigued by Videodome. Can you explain us what the experience of using it will be like? Can the person whose head is inside the big helmet move around? What will he or she perceive and how? And is what they see broadcast in any way to a broader audience?
Videodome is a project that I'm developing that explores different types of virtual reality without the use of a computer. Instead of a computer, I'm using a large number of miniature "spy" videocameras connected to many televisions. At this point, the project has two main physical structures: a helmet-like globe containing the cameras and a two meter diameter geodesic dome covered in televisions. These two components will be configured in different ways -with inner-and-outer facing cameras and screens, for example- to creatively explore the process of mediated sensation, perception and reality.
The initial configuration simulates being inside of someone else's head. To do this, I've constructed a wearable panopticon-style helmet - a clear plastic globe with a diameter of 45cm that has 48 cameras that face inward toward the person's head. Each camera is connected with cables to a flat panel television, and the group of televisions are arranged in a dome with screens facing inward. The screens form a low-tech VR-style cave that show the person's face turned inside-out.
At this point, this project is local and live with no transmission or recording - it's goal is to be analog. If I was going to do recordings of the camera array, it might be fun to try to do it with a mountain of VHS VCRs.
A major theme in my work is the exploration of inefficiencies and intentionally doing things the wrong way, and I have a recurring interest in poking fun at virtual reality. I love graceful kludges, rural folk machinery, and chindogu, and building Videodome is like trying to build a realtime immersive imaging system with parts that don't cost more than $10.
From a technical perspective, the project is a RAID - a redundant array of inexpensive devices - and is easy to reconfigure. It's just a $10 camera, a cable, and an old television multiplied many times. The cameras can be positioned to face outward on the helmet, or the camera cluster can be put on a dog or a tree - or the televisions can be arranged on a floor, in different shapes or on the side of a building. For me, it's a return to the spirit of video installation artists like Dan Graham or Nam June Paik when the format of video still had a sense of technological magic.
When my sons (aged 7 and 9) first played with a typewriter, their perception of it is that it was a very fast computer that instantly printed letters as fast as you typed them. And - if you think about it from the perspective of the time it takes between hitting a keystroke and when the letter is rendered on paper - the typewriter beats a supercomputer every time. In a similar way, an analog video camera is like a streaming video server with zero lag - typewriters, analog video cameras and other devices from media history are still very high performance and interactive devices in their own limited ways. The project is aimed at exploiting the high performance component of an old technology - it's a bit of a novelty at a time where digital cameras are thickly layered in technical infrastructure. You just plug an analog camera and it's instantly streaming video, although your network is only as long as your video cable.
The project is influenced by a few projects, especially Michael Maranda's Sphereorama (1991), Kenji Kawakami's 360' Panorama Camera (1995), and Hyungkoo Lee's Objectuals (2002) - and the idea to use a mountain of cheap cameras initially came from my friend Jason Torchinsky. It's scheduled to premiere in San Jose at an exhibition that Madeline Schwartzman is curating related to her book "See Yourself Sensing". The piece is not in the book, but I'm very happy the project is included in the show - in my opinion her book is the most brilliant contemporary art books I've seen in a long time.
Judging by the reaction the project OutRun received in gaming, gadget, vehicle blogs and magazines, have you ever thought of modifying the work and giving it a commercial existence, making it something that rich kids could buy?
The original car is actually for sale, but it's priced at $100,000 - so it would take a very rich kid to purchase it. I've floated the idea of purchasing the original car to a few obscenely rich people like Jay Leno but as of right now it's still for sale. There was a glimmer of hope when the billionaire owner of Lego, Kjeld Kirk Kristiansen, drove the original project in Denmark. He clearly had a lot of fun driving the project - and he had the money to pay to replace anything he crashed into - but I don't think he thought I was serious when I proposed to trade him for one of his Ferraris.
I generally don't pursue the monetization or commercialization of my projects - I tend to enjoy focusing on research and the exploratory prototyping phases of technological development. At this point I'm comfortably paid to do my artwork, so I'd rather spend my time focusing on building new projects.
That said, if anybody is interested in the original vehicle or working on porting the concept into a more commercially viable platform, I'm open to ideas.
And more generally, have you ever been tempted to work more closely with the gaming industry or any other industry? Surely they'd welcome creative people like you?
I used to work in the design industry through advertising agencies, film production houses, and by doing product prototyping, and at that time my slogan for much that work was "Making Your Shitty Idea a Reality". There were a few exceptions of situations where you have a blank slate and a blank check that I found enjoyable, but for the most part I've found it uninspiring.
There are significant exceptions to this - I think of Julian Bleecker at Nokia for example - I think there's a lot of room in research positions that might be rewarding. It also may be that most of my experience in industry was in the 1990s when I had a thinner portfolio and CV; maybe there are a lot of places that would be a good fit.
I generally like the quirks of the art world and academia; I usually find my colleagues in these environments to be interesting, intelligent and strange in a fun way. Both of my current appointments - full time at UC Irvine in Informatics and part time at Art Center in Media Design - are great because of the people and the projects they're working on. Paul Dourish, Gillian Hayes, Don Patterson, Geof Bowker, Anne Burdick, Tim Durfee, Ben Hooker, Chris Csikszentmihalyi and everybody else I work with - they're all brilliant and fun to be around. And for now I generally get to do whatever I want, so I can't complain.
You wrote in your statement page: "I believe that industry and academia often draw false distinctions between experts and amateurs, hardware and software, mind and body, and science and creativity, and my goal is to meld these polarities in the projects I develop. Many of our greatest social challenges and technological opportunities now lie in these connection points." How can experts / amateurs connection lead to technological opportunities? Also what can experts learn from amateurs?
I'm interested in leveraging DIY, hackerspace and amateur cultures for a number of reasons. I believe that innovation and breakthroughs happen when individuals go beyond their standard frames of reference and discipline to learn new skills on their own: breakthroughs often require us to become amateurs in a new field, in other words. During the process of learning new things, we often cobble together materials, figure things out informally, and explore things on our own. For this reason, DIY culture and doing things in nonstandard or non-expert ways are useful models for how innovation is done.
I've also seen a significant cultural surge toward DIY electronics, physical computing, and hands-on "making" over the last decade. The turn toward physical making is partly due to people being tired of mass produced consumer Walmart culture - they're tired of having disposable, spiritless and generic junk. DIY electronics is also partially in response against the trend of conceiving information and knowledge as virtual things. Platforms like the Arduino - which started out filling a niche within the physical computing community - has grown to be quite widely implemented in multiple fields of design.
I also think that higher education has become increasingly detached from physical objects. I think that this is a mistake: I believe that innovation and education needs to be engaged with the real world, get dirt under its fingernails, and learn the skill of working hard at problems that are often ambiguous. Universities needs to combine hands-on construction and skill with advanced knowledge and concepts in order to effectively innovate in research - and for workforce development.
If i understood correctly, the hand-made zine on critically-engaged making were printed in only 300 copies and given out for free. i do suspect that far more than 300 people would love to get their hands on it. Most would even be happy to pay for it. The content is brilliant, so is the format. Are you planning to change the distribution model?
Yes - the project is called Critical Making and I the documentation for the project is at http://conceptlab.com/criticalmaking/. There's been an outpouring of interest in expanding this project and there are clearly a lot of people involved in DIY or maker communities that don't fit into the "family-friendly kit-based weekend-project" focus of Make Magazine. The initial idea was to do an actual photocopied zine with a bunch of people I admire and to give it away for free - although this has become a much bigger project with almost 350 pages of content from about 60 contributors. It's nicely grown into a pack of zines, a little like Ginko Press's "McLuhan Unbound" project.
I'm still going to give the 300 copies away for free - and I'm making a special edition for the contributors - but I haven't yet determined what to do after my initial run. I'm currently talking to some different people and presses, and I'm open to ideas.
At this point, I'm not inclined to just slap an open source license on the content and put a PDF of it online. I'd ideally like the project as only available as a photocopied object that somebody hand produced - but I realize that this may not be practical. I'd consider an academic or art press, distributing it through the contributors, or returning to a zine model of people sending cash in an envelope to an address.
There's an interesting push against electronic books happening - instead of the format of physical books dying, there's a fresh crop of bookmaking work that fetishizes the physical page. I wouldn't term it as a "zombification" of books, but a useful opportunity to rethink what physical components of a book are valuable.
For my Critical Making project, if people want copies or are interested in this as a publishing/distribution project, let me know. I'll send you a copy too, Régine - but the contents of this collection of zines is a whole other conversation... we should talk about it after I've shipped them off.
One of my favourite projects on your homepage must be the customized taco (food) truck that would go around communities and give D.I.Y. laboratory for circuit bending. Is it going to happen soon?
This project, with an official title of Repurposing Obsolescence: Teaching DIY Science, Technology and Engineering Practices to Adolescents in Underserved Communities, will design, develop and test Do-It-Yourself (DIY) hands-on workshops to introduce and teach middle school kids in underserved communities technology and design by customizing and repurposing e-waste technology, like old electronic toys. Right now the major outcome of the project will be the creation of a workshop kit that covers the processes of learning DIY electronics for distribution to after school programs and other informal educational venues.
My team has implemented a number of pilot projects over the last three years that demonstrate the ability of hands-on DIY electronics curricula to motivate and encourage students and to enable them to acquire a deeper understanding of core engineering, mathematics and science concepts by introducing creative and artistic use of circuit bending,ì the creative short circuiting of electronic devices that make sound.
I'm interested in extending maker culture into different environments, and I think the approach is useful in getting kids interested in learning about how things work. In this project, I'm particularly interested in reaching out to communities that normally wouldn't have the resources in their schools to explore art or electronics. Sadly, California has a growing list of schools that have slashed art or any items that aren't part of the standardized test structure. Hands-on education - with shop, woodworking and art classes - have been removed from most schools. This is doing an incredible disservice to kids, and it's especially bad in communities that don't have a lot of resources. It's not teaching people how to think, be creative or holistic problem solving - it's teaching people how to memorize things to get a high score on a test.
I think circuit bending is a great antithesis to a standardized test. It doesn't have one right answer. It uses your hands. It makes noise and can be dangerous. It can be very simple or incredibly complicated. It involves genuine exploration and discovery. In a nutshell, I think it's a better model for how life works than a test on paper, and I think the United States would be a better place and have a more skilled and creative workforce (and more interesting artwork) if more kids were taught things like circuit bending at an early age. The scientific hypothesis of the project is that this approach will lower barriers to experimenting with custom-built electronic instruments and lead to greater participation and success of people pursuing secondary education.
So, my challenge in this project is to develop hands-on workshops, kits and curriculum that work within the educational system of the United States, or at least Southern California. I also want it to work for people with English as a second language, and as a result have translated prototypes of the curriculum into Spanish, Chinese, Korean and French - but within Southern California, Spanish is my main focus.
My vision is to extend this work through the development of a mobile D.I.Y. laboratory to more easily bring our specialized infrastructure to underserved communities. In other words, have a vehicle that acts as a "bookmobile" to bring specialized resources to groups and communities that lack educational infrastructure. The initial idea for this "makermobile" would be to have it in the form of a customized taco (food) truck, a common component of Los Angeles and Orange County culture. This vehicle would transport workshop mentors and specialized tools and would serve as a public platform to disseminate the workshop materials. I've envisioned that the vehicle would need to be really cool - with lowrider hydraulic suspension, nice rims, and a cool paint job - as a form of propaganda to get kids excited.
I've recently got funding to develop the curriculum and hardware component of this project, but I don't yet have funding to buy a vehicle. As it turns out, purchasing a vehicle through a university or research funds is usually problematic - it doesn't fit into the standard categories of research equipment, especially a pimped out lowrider taco truck.
Do you think schools, and education in general, isn't doing enough to make young people 'techno-literate'?
I think kids generally get quite a bit of informal education around technology using computers, mobile phones or iPads at home. What they're missing is the opportunities to open up and learn about the mechanics of what's inside of the black boxes of technology, to go beyond a consumer of the technology. I want kids to move beyond downloading a game off of the Apple App Store - that's not technical literacy, it's just another format of consumption.
You are Co-Director of the Values in Design Lab at UC Irvine with Geof Bowker, Cory Knobel and Judith Gregory. The objective of the lab is to blend "rich social theory with design practice in order to produce information systems and technology imbued with strong social and ethical values." Which kind of works are you developing in the Lab? Do you have some examples of projects that represent particularly well what the students are working on there?
Actually, within the last couple weeks this lab name has changed to "EVOKE" - Emerging Values, Ontologies, and Knowledge Expression - we're working on a number of different things, including a Values in Design workshop for doctoral students.
At this point we're still getting the lab set up, but we're interested in infrastructure, ontologies, values, big data, making, and how knowledge is formed and communicated. It's an intentionally big mix of topics that doesn't neatly fit into the format of something like a TED talk. I see the lab like a research group or design initiative, perhaps like a smaller version of the MIT Media Lab, that work on investigating complex issues, building prototypes and solving problems built on a foundation of serious social theory.
We have a lot of projects going on, including researching new forms of scholarship that move beyond linear texts, design by youth, and work that encompasses biomedical informatics. The first project that we completed at UC Irvine during summer 2012 was a design workshop for doctoral students, titled "Values in Design". Our mission in this project was to train researchers in a broad range of disciplines - including Informatics, Computer Science, Design and Science and Technology Studies - to produce new forms of information systems and technologies which express strong social and ethical values. It ran over the course of a week, and the format was a little bit like Project Runway - with teams designing technology prototypes - and an academic conference with guest speakers lecturing on design-oriented topics. It was a lot of fun.
Within the different projects through EVOKE, I'm primarily interested in making physical prototypes of complex concepts: I'm focused on what art can do to actually extend and add to research and science.
I hope you won't mind if i say this but you're an established artist. You're also teaching and holding academic positions. Could you point us to young, emerging artists whose work we should be paying more attention to? Either students or yours or just people whose work you stumbled upon online or at a Dorkbot meeting?
I have some student work that I'm very proud of, especially my graduate students coming out of Media Design Practices at Art Center. My favorite projects over the last little while are:
- Chiao Wei Ho, Slow Letter (2012). "The design of Slow Letter is based on the concept of Process-based Interaction which focuses on the process instead of the task itself. It is my challenge to the instantaneous interaction of user-centered design. It questions the essentiality of instantaneity and convenience in current digital service. What would the interaction be like when time and space are being elongated? We all have experienced the satisfaction of these digital devices around us, it can take us from point A to point B within no time. However, Slow Letter tends to discover alternative values outside of task-orientated interactions. The project reevaluates the weight of our words in the digital communication by elongates the process between point A to point B. It transforms instantaneity into emotional values and inject unconventional perspectives into the numbed daily routine."
- Alex Braidwood: Noisolation Headphones (2011). You've written about these at http://we-make-money-not-art.com/archives/2011/10/the-noisolation-headphones.php - since you wrote that article an updated video of the project is here:
- Hyun Ju Yang: Measurement of Existence (2010). "This hypothetical device informs your quantum state within innumerable versions of our universe in the quantum state of the universe. The main idea is inspired by an equation, the measurement of existence from the relative quantum mechanics created by physicist, Everett who invented Many-World theory."
Thanks Garnet!
Under Black Carpets, Ilona Gaynor's new project, works with police reconstructions, cinematic culture and with 'Forensic Aesthetics' to design the perfect bank robbery. And i don't know how she did it but she managed to get the FBI New York Dept of Justice and the LAPD Archival Department on board as advisors to her study.
Some legal, political and cultural fields have recently seen a shift from human testimony to material forensics. DNA samples, 3D scans, nano-technology, electro-magnetic microscopes, satellite surveillance and other scientific methods or instruments have started to play a key role in police investigations, political decisions and court room deliberations. Retinal scans, biological remains, landscape topographies and other forensic materials communicate to the judicial system. Just like human witnesses, they come with their own rhetoric of persuasion. Eyal Weizman called it Forensic Aesthetics.
Under Black Carpets is at this stage an early study that will be part of a larger project currently under development. Under Black Carpets presents a meticulous deconstruction of several bank heists simultaneously occurring in downtown Los Angeles, focusing specifically on 5 different banks that centre One Wilshire. The work presents itself as site-specific forensic study. A spatial tool accompanied by a kit of parts, presented as a dense numerical index. Each artifact is individually numbered, assuming the role of the protagonist within the collection and pin-points its own whereabouts on a grid of vertical and horizontal geographical coordinates. The viewer is invited to examine and cross-reference this collection, allowing ones own constructed interpretation of the event as it unfolds from muiltiple, distorted perspectives.
At this point, i needed to pause in my lecture of the description of the project and asked her to tell us more about Under Black Carpets:
Your project is developed in collaboration with the FBI New York Dept of Justice and the LAPD Archival Department. How easy is it to work with them? Who are you working with, i'm not asking for names necessarily, but i'd like to get an idea of the type of person these Department would delegate to work with an artist. Are they scientists working in forensics? Members of their press team?
Firstly, I normally approach my research from a great distance to the subject, but I felt with this particular project, it wasn't going to be quite as effective without actually engaging with the scenarios I wanted to explore.
I wanted to get into the mind-set of what it takes to become a Police officer or 'Cop', so I spent a lot of time at the LAPD Police Academy, watching Police engage in intense training: learning how to drive cars in chase simulations, fire guns and partake in classes reciting American Law and its policies. But furthermore, I spent a lot of time in the Police canteen listening to everyday conversations, which led to me buying a copy of So you want to be a cop: what it takes to serve by Scott Butler and Police bible Pocket Partner by Evers, Miller, Glover and Glover - which is global emergency management manual, carried by United States police officers of all ranks and members of the US government. These books describe in detail precise procedures and policies, coupled with a philosophical mindset of what it takes to serve. I mention this, because it's the dialogue I had within the academy which led to working relationship with the justice department.
I spent sometime with detectives and ex Special Agents in the Bureau's Bank Robbery/Kidnapping/Extortion Dept in New York City, which was actually more of a connection made with my previous work. I attended various meetings and demonstrations with scientists, but not really with biochemists like you would expect in archetypal representations of forensic science, but more with spatial experts and computational homicide scientists. People who examine areas like post-impact ballistics, vessel trajectories and object reassembly.
To put their interest in the project into context If you read any book on heists or homicide published in last 10 years like Where the Money Is: True Tales from the Bank Robbery Capital of the World by Gordon Dillo and William J. Rehder, you will find that every book you come across will have been written by retired FBI agents or an ex-detectives who had worked on the cases cited in the book. The texts are framed (accidentally or not) as a form of nostalgia, not necessarily for documentation or research purposes, but for pleasure. Whilst reading you could even imagine them holding a cup of black filter coffee with a gun lying next to them on their bedside table, they are so personal.
Interestingly enough, they are mostly anecdotal. There are very little facts or figures cited, but more focused on memories and one-liners. As such they are delightful people and splendidly macabre.
I'm curious about the title of the project: why "Under Black Carpets"? It makes me think of something sinister that has to be hidden...
The title is sinister. It refers to the act and image of stealing. In old cartoons such as Tom and Jerry, Tom the cat would enter the room and slip underneath the carpets, as to sneak upon the mouse (Jerry) in doing this, displaying a huge moving bulge (often cat shaped) that would continually hit furniture and objects in the room because he couldn't see where he was going - alerting Jerry the mouse as to his whereabouts, rendering the espionage futile, but hilarious. Law enforcement bodies are often portrayed in crime cinema as clumsy, often with plans turning sour, foiled by seemingly petty rules and orders given by superiors by act of protocol. The protagonist hero is often a rogue cop who dismisses the rules and catches the criminal. The black carpet; refers to the archetypal colours found in banks, federal buildings and financer's offices. It's also meant to indicate a spatial aspect to the project.
Your project deals with the aesthetic dimension of forensics, a science said to have taken over 'the era of the witness' in legal systems. How much faith do you have in forensics now that you've studied it from up close (well, at least closer than most of us)? Is this science as indefectible as tv series would like us to believe?
Forensic science has blurred a previously held distinction: between evidence, when the law speaks of objects, and that of the witness, referring to subjects, forensics has become something in-between. TV dramas such as CSI in the US and Silent Witness in the UK, really are as accurately based on reality as entertainment would permit- they exist in a world of simulations, computer based conjecture and biologically stained rags in test tubes. Forensics however isn't strictly lab based nor does it always deal with bio-chemistry as I've mentioned previously, that's very much not the case, that plays a significantly small role. And it also very much depends on the nature of the crime and where the crime happened. US crime tends to be more exaggerated and extreme, due to the very nature or culture in which people live, especially in Los Angeles. The crime cases publicized, tend to be lot more spectacular then crimes committed in Britain, of course that's stating the obvious, however I honestly believe that it's related to the cinematic culture, of which we just simply don't have the ability, or want to record and transmit news cinematically. Of course why would we?
Michael Mann's film Heat (1995) was a film shot in downtown LA, with the most notably 'realistic' loud gunplay scene in cinematic history to date. It's cold, blunt and incredibly violent. But what's interesting about that scene is that it became the basis and inspiration for a very real event that happened in LA a few years later, an event dubbed The North Hollywood Shootout I watched repeatedly the news footage from the North Hollywood Shootout and Heat and found that in comparison after repeatedly viewing it intensely, I decided that actually Mann's Heat was far more realistic.
I don't believe anything is infallible, people by nature are cunning and will always find a way to subvert and distort the truth. Even scientific evidence takes form, as rhetoric by the very nature in which is it presented, monopolized or industrialized. I'm not saying that forensic science is inaccurate but it's the way in which we construct or curate the evidence is what makes it key. There have been many miscarriages of justice, with many serious crimes going unsolved. A juridical verdict is a legal argument. The end is not normally the 'truth' of 'what happened', but one of convincing conjecture, which makes it's dimension beautifully fascinating and deadly.
With such a shift on the emphasis of forensics referring back to taking over the 'the era of the witness', I think has left the Police putting too much faith in forensic science, particularly in that of biology, so much so that they have begun to ignore human instinct and intuition, because the definition of truth and reality has never been so unclear.
But then again maybe I'm simply too much of a purist fan of film noir and crime literature.
Could you also explain the part played by 'forensic aesthetics' in your project?
'Forensic Aesthetics' a term coined by Dr Eyal Weizman at the Department of Visual Cultures at Goldsmiths University. It was an idea that was originally used in an architectural context and was called Forensic Architecture. The idea of using objects to form an argument, as a narration in the absence of actuary evidence is now being openly discussed at various law schools in the US as a mode of future legal practice, which is very exciting! The term is very much at the heart of this project or at least in the research. My project comes into play whereby, I would like to use this theory and expand on the research as a platform to initiate 'it' as a mode of design, by giving it form and materiality. Weizman talks about it the broad context of human rights, of course those are important, but my angle is for pleasure, aesthetic speculation and fantasy. Imagine an architectural model - a designed space accompanied by designed artifacts being wheeled into a courtroom and brought up for questioning almost to fulfill the role of the 'witness' as evidence. Design can become something to examine, question and decipher through legal channels.
It's very interesting to me to relentlessly construct narratives from traces that were left over from a traumatic or chaotic event, even if you are stitching together empty spaces that seem impossible and too abstract. The documentation of everyday detail in the construction of archives of clues and cases creates a great pool for crafting hybrid fictions and competing perceptions - a world of secret lives, lies and stories.
Under Black Carpets presents a meticulous deconstruction of several bank heists simultaneously occurring in downtown Los Angeles, focusing specifically on 5 different banks that centre One Wilshire. What are these banks?
The banks are: Bank of America, Mellon Bank, City National Bank, US Bank and Wells Fargo. These were chosen because of their geographic proximity to One Wilshire and precise distance from the LAPD headquarters in downtown LA. The narrative proceeds, a false plane collision with the 30th floor of One Wilshire, as a ruse. One Wilshire is an infamous centralized carrier hotel. It provides half of the worlds connection to the internet; currently it connects: China, Korea, the USA, east Russia and parts of Europe, directing anything toward One Wilshire would attract much attention. The surrounding street block formation would centralize Police, harboring them in one place due to the precise vertical heights of the buildings and the dense geography of those particular blocks. The visual transparency from the ground is also extremely limited. The architecture is positioned in such a way, that staging particular events or moments could be hidden from view behind protruding floors, light refractions from the mirrored glass and thick palm tree heads. Some of the streets are also impossible for helicopters to circulate and enter, however every flat rooftop has its own helipad by state law in that area.
What will be the purpose of the deconstruction? To design the perfect bank robbery?
Yes. Exactly that. My intention is design the perfect heist. A counter measure to anticipated police reactions based on this research. But not presented as projection like a pre-planned, straight-up plot, but one told through hindsight. Using aesthetics and material form to frame the narrative as an investigation, an archive of evidence for the purpose of constructing, a legal argument.
Finally, what shape does the project take: the project page has models but do you also plan to add 3D renderings? video? essays?
This project is simply a study - a deconstruction for the purpose of seeing something from a birds-eye view (not literally) but a plot device to experiment with. This first part was completed whilst I was the summer research resident at Art Center College of Design in Pasadena. The final project will take the form of artifacts, large scale engineered mechanical devices, architectural physical studies, speculative tools and materials. There will be films - my aim is to shoot Police reconstructions of what they assumed to have happened. There's a lot to do!
A book or research will also accompany the project, a series of essays and collated documents curated and co-written by Geoff Manaugh (BLDGBLOG) and myself.
The final work will go into an exhibition on display next year at the Lisbon Architecture Triennale, it will be showing in an unused bank vault comprising of 6 rooms in September 2013.
Thank you Ilona!
Compulsion, an exhibition of new work by Alex Prager, i saw a few days ago at Michael Hoppen gallery is so impressive I'm breaking out of my habit of writing about exhibitions mere hours before they close.
In Prager's part film noir, part fashion shoot work, heroines wear impeccable make-up and synthetic wigs, pose as if they were in a Hitchcock movie, breathe through an atmosphere worthy of David Lynch, and are submitted to ordeals inspired by the images of crime photographers Weegee and Enrique Metinides. The stories might take place in Hollywood-like settings but they promise to never end on a happy note.
The Compulsion in the title might refer to our compulsion to gape at other people's tragedy. Underlining the voyeur theory are the dramatic close-ups of eyes that accompany some of the stills.
Along with the colour photographs, the artist is showing La Petite Mort, a short film starring French actress, Judith Godrèche.
La petite mort, literally "the small death," is a French idiom for orgasm. In Prager's film, we hear the voice of Gary Oldman saying that "the act of dying, and the act of transcendent love, are two experiences cut from the same cloth."
The main protagonist of the short film navigates the mystery of death through a series of experiences that involves being ran over by a steam train, being stared at by a gathering of stern-looking people, meeting a man and drowning in a river. The action unfolds very slowly but somehow all of the above takes place in a couple of minutes.
If you're in London, New York or (lucky you!) Los Angeles, go and see that show.
Alex Prager's Compulsion is showing at the Michael Hoppen Gallery, London until May 26. The work is also shown at Yancey Richardson Gallery in New york until May 19, and at M+B Gallery, LA until May 12.
Justin Lui trained as an architect before earning an MFA degree from the UCLA Design | Media Arts in Los Angeles where i met him last Spring. He also has experience in web design, DJing and music production. He's so versatile, i wouldn't know whether i should define him as an interaction designer, media artist or architect. It probably doesn't really matter. Justin Lui is developing programmed and interactive spaces that act at the scale of the spectator's body. He is also part of Defectikons, a team of media artists with whom he has co-created media installations and music projects.
When we first talked to each other he had just dismantled the amazing Superficial Superglow: OPENINGS, a storefront installation facilitated by UCLA Architecture & Urban Design plus UCLA Design | Media Arts, which was built into the wall of the Los Angeles Contemporary Exhibitions gallery on Hollywood Blvd's 'Walk Of Fame'. The illuminated prototype glows in intensity according to the motion of passersby. On the street side, LCDs were displaying animated text remembering exhibitions culled from the 30-year history of LACE, while LCDs on the interior of the gallery showed text derived from artist Douglas McCulloh's '60,000 Photographs in Hollywood' describing characters encountered on Hollywood Blvd. Later on, when Justin told me about Animate Field, his MFA Thesis Project at UCLA Design | Media Arts, i thought it might be a good opportunity to interview him.
I think the first thing I would do with an expanded budget would be to expand the scale...! A project like Animate Field could really benefit from being enlarged to a more expansive field, to get closer to the infinite Ganzfeld-like spatial condition that James Turrell - for example - has in some of his work.
I'd also love to continue using the digital fabrication tools that were used in Superficial Superglow: OPENINGS, technologies such as CNC milling, vacuum-forming and 3D printing; all of which don't come cheaply. Also, I've recently begun experimenting with bend sensors, so that might come into my work at some point. The opposite of a bend sensor is arguably muscle wire (shape memory alloy), which is a material I'd also like to explore.
So if money were no object, I would essentially put the money towards making my work more immersive, more formally engaging, and more tactile.
Animate Field from Justin Lui on Vimeo.
Animate Field requires the involvement of the body far more than your other installations. Is it something you are keen to explore even further?
Yeah, the direct bodily engagement of that piece was a bit of a left turn compared to my previous work, but I also see it as a continuation of earlier investigations. For example, Superficial Superglow: OPENINGS (and some prior projects) used bodily presence as a catalyst for interaction, but Animate Field added to that by incorporating the issue of direct contact with the body. This sense of touch is something I'd like to develop in future work, possibly with things like muscle wire and bend sensors.
About participation with Animate Field, I noticed that audiences were evenly split: older people tended to stay outside the cloud of fibers, while younger people (say, in their 20's and younger) were much more open to wading into the fibers. The choice between observing from outside the thicket of fibers and participating inside it probably wasn't about the fear vs. embrace of technology, as the fibers themselves looked more like a natural plant-like substance than something mechanical and intimidating. Instead, I just chalk it up to the participant's sense curiosity vs. personal inhibition. What happened often was that one brave soul would enter the fiber cloud, play with the fibers, then others would follow inside - like a chain reaction. Sometimes it became a shared experience between strangers. I didn't really anticipate this sort of sociability in Animate Field, but it was gratifying to see.
Another thing I observed was that the fibers would collect and stick together into branching structures after several days of having people pass through and comb them with their hands. At first I tried to 'correct' this by going in to the thicket to untangle the fibers, but I soon decided to let these forms accumulate because I realized that the installation wasn't a defined discrete form (as designers are accustomed to creating), but instead was a set of conditions for a formal structure to emerge over time. It was a 'socially generative' formal mechanism as opposed to an explicitly designed form.
Water Clouds of Light looks like a remarkably simple installation. Some water jugs, a few light bulbs. Is the work really as straight-forward as i just made it sound?
Yes, I wanted it to have a clear and direct reading. It's an unfussy installation; simple, serene, but not static as the lights 'breathe' in and out in a way that is life-like.
Compared to my other work, I think Water Clouds of Light stands apart in a couple of ways: it has a stated allusion to the natural world, and it runs autonomously as opposed to being specifically interactive (which some people found refreshing considering the contemporary disposition for interactivity and responsiveness).
Many of the works in your portfolio have been devised for safe, closed exhibition spaces. Superficial Superglow: OPENINGS, however, was built into the exterior wall of an art gallery right on the famous Hollywood Blvd. Are you more comfortable in closed exhibition spaces or do you rather welcome the challenge of installing your work in contexts where you have less control over its surrounding (light, public, weather, etc)?
I see the value in both situations. A lot of my installations are dependent on the control of environment-related factors like light levels and physical access, so I like the degree of control in a gallery. But I also find that public spaces present an opportunity to engage a larger audience; one that isn't pre-disposed to look for art, which means there's a greater potential to surprise people (provided the piece has the conceptual clarity required to connect them in a meaningful way).
Since it was a double-sided installation, OPENINGS actually addressed audiences in both types of situations; gallery visitors inside Los Angeles Contemporary Exhibitions (LACE gallery), and passersby on Hollywood Blvd. The materials and construction were almost identical on both sides of the glass wall, but the experience on either side was different because the LCD data content was different for each side, and the sensors of the lighting-interaction system were exclusively aimed at the street to capture the movement of pedestrians.
There were some serious physical challenges on the exterior side, as you hinted at. With the security gate that rolled down every night, it was a tight and narrow space to build in to. Also, that area of Hollywood is a little bit seedy, so vandalism was always a concern. We actually had one of our ultra-sonic sensors stolen - twice!
What have you learnt from the Superficial Superglow: OPENINGS experience?
That project was a great experience for me and my partners: Andrea Boeck and Jihyun Kim. The three of us formed a well-balanced and even-tempered team. I learned several things, including the value of maintaining that balance and good temper, and the importance of visual and conceptual clarity in a publicly-sited interactive piece. That was probably the most important thing, that interactive installations generally need to be designed and calibrated to express clearly to the participants what the interaction is; what they are being prompted to do, what the rewards or results are, etc. Clear communication, essentially.
Since the project was in a public space with a constant supply of test subjects, we were able to do some on-site testing and observe passersby triggering and relating to the interaction system. Consequently, we were able to tune the sensing, lighting and display systems to try to maximize the project's ability to communicate and interact.
I also gained some valuable experience with managing and executing a fairly large interactive installation involving multiple technical systems and multiple outside parties (various UCLA departments, the gallery, suppliers, and so on).
Who are the artists or architects who inspire you today?
Creators of otherworldly atmospheres like Olafur Eliasson, James Turrell... Tara Donovan for the accumulative formal quality in her work... United Visual Artists, whose work represents to me an ideal marriage between behavioral electronics, physical space and people... realities:united, who also do great work combining electronic interaction and animation with physical architecture... Toyo Ito's dynamic installations and structures from the late 1980's and 1990's, which pioneered a lot of the qualities I see in dynamic and interactive architecture today... Toshio Iwai, Tokujin Yoshioka, Scott Snibbe, and more.
You are also part of DEFECTIKONS::, a collective creating works that blend the architecture, design, visual art and sound disciplines. Can you tell me a few words about your role in DEFECTIKONS?
The Defectikons are a group of three partners; Chris McCullough and Shaheen Seth. I was one of two DJs, and I also shared the work on installation design and assembly, graphic design and music production. What happened fairly often was that I would work iteratively, refining things towards an end while the other two partners often created great beginnings.
Our media-installation projects were really fun and great to learn from. For us, they were a happy combination of architecture with DJing and video, like humble precursors to the Daft Punk pyramid.
At this point our creative energy has been refocused into a musical band, with the addition of two other members.
What have you been doing since I met you last Spring in Los Angeles?
I graduated from UCLA Design | Media Arts a few months ago, and have been working on various endeavors: teaching graphic design, web design, and physical computing; making project submissions with my OPENINGS partners; and showing Water Clouds of Light at a couple of light-art exhibitions. Next I'll be working with Variate Labs and Miles Kemp (who co-wrote the book Interactive Architecture) to develop next-generation interfaces and interactive spatial architecture projects.
Thanks Justin!
Untitled Fragile Machine, seen last week at Arthur Ganson's very charming Long Now seminar titled Machines and the Breath of Time.
As Stewart Brand says about Ganson's work: "As long as the idea is nonphysical, it is permanent; it becomes temporary as a physical device; and then it becomes permanent again in the mind of the viewer."
The seminar is available for download as audio and there's a video to watch too.
In case you forgot that something like 5 months ago i posted the first part of this story, here's a link to it: A visit to UCLA Department of Design | Media Arts, part 1.
The department is located inside the Eli and Edythe Broad Art Center on the UCLA campus, right next to T.E.U.C.L.A., Richard Serra's 42.5-ton ellipse sculpture. And that's where you should go next week. On May 14, D|MA graduate students are showing some of their work at the MFA Exhibition.
I wrote about the projects of David Elliott, Michael Kontopoulos, Nova Jiang, and Justin Lui last time. Here's a few words about two of the other students i met while i was in Los Angeles:
Gil Kuno is doing mostly, but not only, sound-based projects. He recently collaborated with GX Jupitter-Larsen (The Haters) to develop an application and performance that amplify and treat the sound of an aerosol can to create a live soundscape. The image of the can discharging is projected behind the performers to deliver the audiovisual articulations of erosion and entropy. The performance ends when the can is empty.
A year ago, the artist exhibited the most frightening musical instrument i've ever seen:
Christo Allegra's work intersects information design, dynamic media and performance. Among the works he showed me, the one i like the best is Phi Two, a series that uses an algorithm to construct a form based on phyllotaxis, the arrangement of the leaves on the stem of a plant. Phyllotaxis was described mathematically as morphogenesis by Alan Turing as part of his final work. Morphogenesis attempts to account for biological pattern formation as documented by phyllotaxis.
In the Phi Two series, the application was rewritten for tracing the nodes of the phyllotaxis as they were generated. For each drawing, 200+ nodes/lines were traced in silver ink on black paper, and 100 drawings were generated. All of the resulting drawings were given away at their showing in return for an explanation from attendees as to why they had chosen the particular drawing. Marks generated in the drawing process were then fed back into the system for redraw.


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#------------------------------------------------------------------------------## Here's a highly underappreciated gem off of EC's "Another Ticket" album sparing me the task of typing in the lyrics. Share and enjoy! - Brian BLACK ROSE by Troy Seals and Eddie Setser [G] [C] [G] [C] [G] [C] [G] [C] [G] The dogs are [C] howling at the [G] midnight [C] moon. [G] [C] [G] [C] [G] I'm on my [C] way to where the [G] black rose [C] blooms. [G] [C] [G] [C] [C] The mountain's [Em/B] high, the [Am] night is [G/B] cold. [C] I feel the [G/B] sunshine; a [D/A] black rose [G] grows. To[G]gether again, we're as [C] common as sin, they say, [D] We just walk around the stones they [G] throw. [G] Night after night, [C] we steal away to where [F] Love don't see no [C] colors in the [G] shadows, [F] Love don't see no [C] colors in the [G] shadows. [G] Wind in the [C] willows, [G] wild and [C] warm, [G] [C] [G] [C] [G] Just like the [C] woman lying [G] here in my [C] arms. [G] [C] [G] [C] [C] The water's [Em/B] deep, [Am] cold and [G/B] still. [C] I love the [G/B] feeling that [D/A] black rose [G] gives. Chorus Chorus [F] Love don't see no [C] colors in the [G] shadows. *************************************************************************** * Ph: (708)-467-1969 / (708)-733-9544 * Lies, damned lies, and release * * Institute For The Learning Sciences * dates. * * 1890 Maple Ave, Evanston, IL, 60201 * - guess who * ***************************************************************************
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Thoughts on Rand Paul's Meeting with Al Sharpton
So Rand Paul sees fit to meet with Al Sharpton "to discuss criminal justice issues and more".
Put aside the recent developments concerning Reverend Al's tax troubles. This is the same Al Sharpton who has more than anyone in America stoked the threats of violence in Ferguson should the grand jury render a decision not to their liking. Anyone who still thinks the GOP nominating Paul to be its presidential nominee in 2016 is a good idea should pause to consider Paul's judgment in seeking out Sharpton in the first place. Paul's press secretary states, "This meeting is another example of Senator Paul's willingness to work across the aisle to solve our nation's problems."