. m i n . . . i t p i n g .

Posted by min at 09:54 PM | Comments (0)

November 14, 2005

Georges Perec, Puzzles

Reading Perec's thoughts on the art of the jigsaw was quite entertaining. As a kid, I never showed much interest in video games. I did like playing Tetrix however; the basic forms in puzzles. Trying to come to quick decision makings as to which edges would fit best. It is true, as he puts, that every move I made counts.

"Puzzling is not a solitary game... each hope and each encouragement have all been designed, calculated, and decided by the other."

Also, when I was young, my parents would buy me these ridiculous puzzles that were up to 5000 pieces. Very intimidating at first but as soon as I'd begin on it, it was soon finished. The end result was very rewarding.

I think that hands on learning is good for both children and adults. The learner is actively involved instead of just being a passive learner. Young children should be actively involved in hands-on activities every day and working puzzles could be the best solution.

Posted by min at 01:21 PM | Comments (0)

November 09, 2005

Spatial Final Ideas

This being a SPATIAL design class, I am more inclined to make something that really involves space, the ITP 4th floor.

Today, we had a brainstorming session with a few Friday spatial kids. Michael D, Mike B, Christin, Christian and Alex and I sat down and talked about what our interests were, starting with which project we liked the best out of the assignments so far.

Here are some of the things that came up. Thank you Michael D for the notes! :)

Tangible media, bits, pixels and their physical representation
Sound spaces, noise and spatial noise
Lights - Light wall's, light curtains
Deformable walls, deformable structures
Interactive architecture
The connection between museums and schools, history and work
Potentially using the ceiling

Mike D and I are both interested in lights, using them in space and Alex and Christin were interested in the idea of creating space using sound as their source.

We also liked the idea of using the ceiling throughout ITP to install our project. This way, we will not be limited to space.

Personally, I would like to make a light structure that would interact with people on the floor. Whether this be in the form of a wall, or a light fixture on the ceiling, it would be nice to define a space with manipulating lights.

Idealy, if we were to use light, the surroundings would have to be dark to get the right, elegant effect. However, since the floor will be somewhat lit during the show, I can see us working with textures and building a light structure behind it to enhance the lights coming through these textures. Some ideas below.

...source

... source

I got these images just to give me some visuals as to what I'm talking about.

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Answers to the questions.

What are the keywords to describe your project?

What is the general scope of ideas?

I'd like to work with differnent lights and materials to create a grand entrance for those that come to see the ITP winter show.

How to introduce your project?

It would be a screen that would lead the people into the ITP show.

Your intents for the project?

I'd like to realize a space with use of different lights and materials.

The starting point for someone experiencing the project? The audience or users for your project? What does your project provide that other similar projects do not provide or provide differently?

The start of this project would start at the entrance of ITP.

Please do some research on this point-
What are the resources available to you today for this project?
What are the missing elements for your project?
How do you plan to provide these element?

I'd like to work with different screen materials and lights. EL wires as JM suggested. The screen material would be of a opaque-like material. I would like to work with projections as well onto the screens.

Posted by min at 10:58 PM | Comments (0)

November 03, 2005

Labyrinth 02

The building.
I was initially going to take each individul as a node, wire, but that just simply too complicated and too complex to build. Tracy had suggested that my previous mirror project, studying perspectives was a sort of a labyrinth. Hence, going back to using more thrown-away mylar, this is the new reflected labyrinth you create in any given space. Simply, look through.

The set up.

The next step may be modeling out an interactive or a self-rotating labyrinth on virtools. Idea.

SORRY, PCs ONLY. Download Virtools Player if can't play on your PC browser. Download file

Posted by min at 11:35 PM | Comments (0)

October 31, 2005

Sensing

I've always thought that we learned our "spatial" senses through past experiences and with using our five senses. I never thought they were simlpy an "illusion."
"Points are nothing by themselves but exist only in relation to other points"
"...our thoughts are largely shaped by which things seem most similar"
Does this mean that we all have somewhat of a partiality when it comes to our own senses? It seems quite a complex labyrinth that goes on in our minds when it comes to senses. Could we actually map this out?

Simply the reading maps it out like this.

Sensors in skin (nerve bundles) --> Spinal cord agents (nerve bundles) --> Anents for repairing minor disorderings (nerve bundles to other brain-centers) all of this which represents the body- surface regions.

Posted by min at 10:31 AM | Comments (0)

Labyrinth of Words

I thoroughly enjoyed reading Borges' "The Library of Babel."
Borges believes in the "infinite, perhaps infinite number of hexagonal galleries." Throughout the writing, he creates a complex labyrinth for us to think about. Only a few thousand words long, Borges' story draws us into a world both deeply familiar and utterly surreal. I question as to why the "absolute shape, or at least our perception of space" is hexagonal. What about cirular shapes? Is it really "illogical to think that the world is infinite?"

Posted by min at 10:06 AM | Comments (0)

October 28, 2005

Labyrinth 01

I decided to dive into the world of friendster and grid the system out in a labyrinth. It's amazing...These are my facts on friendster.

My Latest Stats
My Friends: 137
2 Degrees: 10522
3 Degrees: 434281

Here is a sample of the image that I created on Ill, drawing out all the connections related to my profile. I got this printed on the large format printer at the multimedia lab. 40 by 60 FREE! Make use of this place. This place is great. Especially by next term when the 3D printers become available! :)

Movies and links for reference

Touch of Evil
Lady of Shanghai
The Thirdman
Orson Welles
The Trial, Kafka
Paths of Glory
THX, George Lucas
Star Wars, spatially
John Cage, Water 1959

Ideas for moving through a labyrinth.
Using sound, only touch.

Eco control in an labyrinth.
Topology of maps in different countries.
Electrical boards.

Posted by min at 04:09 AM | Comments (0)

October 19, 2005

Domes

I actually had a hard time trying to think of something that inspired me to make a dome. When you think of domes, you are simply bound to think of its sophisticated structure that holds itself in one place. I looked through some guides as how to make these bucky balls accurately and found that it was almost impossible to make them...

After some discussion, Alice recommended that we use gum drops to hold these sticks together. Kudos to A! :)

I made the little metal pieces go through the gum drops, creating triangles and built on from there. It slowly became a dome! Once the shape was set, I pulled out the middle gum drop inside the dome and pulled out the metal sticks. It all holds together and stands on its own.

The shadows created really interesting patterns on the wall.

Posted by min at 11:58 PM | Comments (0)

October 13, 2005

I need

some fish wires! Pics to come on reaction to Rodtschenko's work.

Posted by min at 03:26 AM | Comments (0)

October 12, 2005

Structural Organization

After reading Rodtschenko's piece, I was amazed at how he was able to form such complex structures from using basic shapes. As these simple forms come together, they are held in place together and there is a presence of great energy between each of them.

"Rodtschenko apparently opted for a very simple method of constructing." But from the looks of his pieces, it tells us otherwise. His working method is very clear in his sketches. He put in a lot of thought behind his piece and carefully executed it.

It's a pity that he wasn't able to realize his metal works further. I could just imagine layers of metal wires that would create an illusion of space.

Question...What is it with designers and shaved heads?

Posted by min at 01:52 AM | Comments (0)

October 08, 2005

Deformations and forces_Dynamic Structure

I placed the individual picture files onto the wall and drew out the wires. I connected them using a base that had holes in them (This sort of works against the whole aesthetic, so I should have chosen a different material)

I used 50 elmers glue, 50 water to make a paste. I dipped the ripped pieces of drafting paper and placed them on the wire structure.

Posted by min at 05:13 PM | Comments (0)

October 07, 2005

Bucky Fuller reading, Wire Wheel

I don't know if Fuller's writing is at all appealing. It was difficult to understand and his ideas were quite complicated compared to those of Stanislavski's.

One quote that did stand out is,
"... all these tension-vs-compression patterning relationships are completely reversible..."

I have to admit, I've never really observed wheels closely. But it is an amazing structure with so much energy in between each part. The way the strings are held together and how tension between the ends and the wheel frame complete the structure is quite scientific and rather surprising when closely observed. I think such structures should be implimented into architecture.

Posted by min at 11:56 PM | Comments (0)

October 03, 2005

Motion in space : the dancer and the architect

Continuing on with the usage of mylar, I have decided to capture the motion of the projection that I was able to produce using a flashlight and a piece of mylar. The projection created some very interesting repetitive structure, almost resembling a bird, on the wall.

I documented it on mini dv, captured still frames from it and created a little mini sequence board.

Here are some stills of the sequence board I made using piece of acetate.

Assignment

Posted by min at 05:40 PM | Comments (0)

Basis of Movement, Stanislavski

After having read "Building a Character" by
Stanislavski, I have to admit that I was more aware of my walking posture and each step that I took.

It is true that "people do not know how to make use of the marvellous apparatus which is their legs." I don't think any of us are aware of the each movement of the muscles or bones as we walk. We simply take it for granted and our minds are ahead of our each step.

Yet,when we do dissect this movement and study it, like Jean-Marc had in our lecture, the movement of the body quite beautiful and the structure of it as it is dissected, is quite grand.

Stanislavski states, "It is important that your attention move in constant company with the current of the energy, because this helps to create an endless, unbroken line which is so essential to our art." He makes us realize that things that is apart of us daily.

I spent the past Summer in Burma, in a meditation center for a month and traveling for two months. There, they teach all of us to focus on all our individual movements. They train us to observe all our actions and intentions that occur in our mind. This reading relates a lot to Vipassa Meditation.

"... you realize that at the foundation of plasticity of movement one must establish an inner flow of energy."

Posted by min at 02:53 PM | Comments (0)

September 25, 2005

Perspectives

Continuing on with the usage of mylar, I made a shape, somewhat completely opposite to what I had created the previous week. I made glass like shapes that reflected images on all sides of the walls.
See the movie to get a better idea. If anyone needs to stick adhesives onto foamcore and needs help, ask. I've been through it~ haha

Posted by min at 11:13 PM | Comments (0)

The artist, Bill Viola

Bill Viola has been one of my favorite artists since I was an undergrad at the Art Institute of Chicago. Studying interior architecture, I was very impressed by his usage of space for his video installations. I actually saw his exhibition at the Art Institute of Chicago in the year 2000 and ended up breaking one of his pieces. It was a piece with a bronze tap in a room and a video projection on the wall. As you turn the tap, you hear the water dripping with surround sound in the space that you are in. There was a video piece running with the sound. I had turned the tap too far right and after I had used it, it was no longer in sync with the sound.

It’s always very interesting to read what artists have to say about their pieces and the whole process. Bill viola suggests that his medium, in this case, video, is only a tool in his process of investigation. I agree with him. Whatever the medium you may use, it is only a tool that helps you bring what you are trying to express in your art. The medium may be very low-tech, but if it works for the piece, the artist should stick with it and make the best out of it. This is especially true nowadays, with this new genre of art called “new media.”

He also states that he works with the “raw material”, (the sensory data, neural processing, memory, imagination etc) and that he aims at trying to “put it all back together” in his video installation. I personally do not know whether this is completely doable. Our individual bodies and minds react is such different ways that it is almost impossible to get the same reactions of the same place from different people.

I agree with his idea behind the “working” of an artist. He states, “It is the time of an unfinished thought, the time the painter must go through, the time behind the façade of all great discoveries.”

Posted by min at 03:31 PM | Comments (0)

September 16, 2005

Morning with Noguchi

The visit to Noguchi was definitely a good mental break after a hectic start at ITP. A first- timer, venturing out into the area called Queens, I headed over there early on Saturday at around 10am.

Arriving at the museum at 10:58, I saw a few people waiting in line for the museum to open. At exactly 11 sharp, the doors opened and we all hurriedly made our way through the entrance.

I first noticed the amount of sunlight in the museum. The museum wasn’t enclosed at all, with wide openings near the top of all the walls. What do they do on a rainy day? Let the art pieces get wet? Shadows played a big part in the museum as the sunlight hit the sculptures and created a piece of artwork of their own on the floors and walls. Also, you could get really close to the pieces. It’s quite rare to see a museum with no barriers. As I passed the big- stoned sculptures, I was pleasantly surprised by the outdoor garden on my right. I walked past the piece, Spin-Off #1 from the Chase Manhattan (the wrinkly basalt stone piece by the entrance into the garden) and noticed that the water that had been sprinkled on the rock, made the sky-blue color reflect on it. I personally couldn’t believe that the piece was naturally wrinkled to such a form.

It's surprising to see how these hard stones could be shaped into aesthetic pieces of art. Stone is probably one of the hardest materials to work with for an artist. It definitely isn’t as tangible as computer art that we are used to.

As I walked through the museum, I noticed that there were simply too many art pieces everywhere. The second floor had some of Noguchi’s furniture and architectural models and more of his art.

I felt that the layout of the museum could improve. I couldn’t quite orient myself in the space because of the layout. It seems that the building of the museum itself is so beautiful and the pieces of art scattered without careful consideration, didn’t compliment the architectural structure. The pieces didn’t work together as a whole.

I wonder what the experience would be like if I were to visit at night.

My fascination with bathrooms

Light box
From this observing, I went onto make my light box and record on dv. I placed a black plexi with holes on top of the white box. The box had a sheet of mylar rolled up. As the lights came through the holes, this created some really interesting reflections on the back of the white box.

video.

Posted by min at 09:47 PM | Comments (0)