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Birds in C

Stephanie Koltun

Reinterpreting Terry Riley’s original “In C” composition and instruction, “Birds in C” is a web interface for conducting an orchestra of pre-programmed birds sounds. Let your inner birds sing!

anothersideproject.co/birdsinc

Description

Conduct an orchestra of birds through a re-interpretion of Terry Riley's 'In C'. The original phrases have been reconstructed using recorded bird sounds from the wild to create an unexpected cacophony of chirps, whistles, and hoots. As the conductor, you can add different birds to the orchestra and advance each of them from one phrase to the next.

Rather than starting with a piece of notation and then playing the written composition as a “live” performance, “Birds in C” instead originates with recorded bird sounds and recomposes them to form the phrases of Riley’s “In C”. For each bird, the phrases are created by pitch adjusting, stretching and then arranging an individual “C note” extracted from their bird song. It is these phrases that are then further composed by a single user who advances each bird through the composition. By using recorded bird songs—sounds with specific structure and meaning within their species—and recomposing them into a new composition, the sounds are given new meaning and re-contextualized outside of “wildlife”.

The web interface is composed of geometric shapes representing the different phrases and each bird is differentiated by color. By abstracting traditional music notation, users require no musical background in order to play the piece. However, the tonal relationship is still represented through the peaks and valleys of the shapes, allowing the user to learn the notation as they hear it and thus inform their actions throughout the piece. As additional birds are introduced by the user, the geometric shapes visually and sonically overlap, highlighting their asynchronicity or synchronicity.

Classes

Introduction to Computational Media ITPG-GT.2233.001

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Paper Gif Roll

Jasmine A Soltani, Rushali Rupchand Paratey

A simple and funny installation that monitors paper towel use in the ITP bathroom and triggers a gif each time a paper towel is dispensed.

https://jfunky.github.io/dispensegif/

Description

Every time a paper towel in one of the ITP bathroom is dispensed, a stretch sensor and microcontroller installed in the paper towel dispenser triggers a gif pulled from the giphy API on a website that will be displayed somewhere else on the floor. We hope the disconnect between the action and output inspires curiosity and amusement, and that the discovery of the trigger raises awareness about the environmental effects related to disposable paper products as well as cultural differences that govern their use.

Classes

Introduction to Physical Computing ITPG-GT.2301.005

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Coral Reef

Marcela Nowak

Explore underwater world, collect points.<br />

http://itp.marcelanowak.com/nature-of-code-final-proposal/

Description

Coral Reef is a 3D world created in Unity 3D. Beside static background, we can observe multiple school of fish swimming around the scene. The users become one of the fish, and can discover and explore the colorful coral reef by themselves while listening to peaceful soundtrack from 'Finding Nemo'.
I am working on adding extra items, so the user could get points when collecting them. Ideally, I'd love to put this project to VR, if not, it could work well on a screen.

PS. I submitted this in the previous semester, but couldn't make it to the show due to an accident. I'd love to have a chance to show it now, after remastering some features

Classes

The Nature of Code

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'Composite';

Alejandro Matamala

A personal tool to create graphic design composition from a collection of internet and scanned images and an interactive intervention of random users.

http://itp.matamala.info/blog/icm-and-pcomm-final-wip

Description

I like to collect images, either from the internet or scan them. This project is meant to be a tool for me. A tool to help me create and design new images based on the ones I have plus shapes made from random users. Something like an interactive digital collage. The context of this tool should be on an exhibition where the visitor could play with the device while they are creating new images. The device is a set of instructions and the images are created after the selection of 2 of 4 options given by the device and an interactive sketch draw by the user. The final composition is outputted in the screen and the user has the possibility of post the image in twitter and/or saves the image to a book, intended to be created for each exhibition where the device. This project is being made for the Intro to Computational Media and Intro to Physical Computing Class ITP Fall 2016. It only requires a vertical screen.

Classes

Introduction to Physical Computing ITPG-GT.2301.003, Introduction to Computational Media ITPG-GT.2233.003

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Bad Paper

Ian Gibson, Taylor Black

Kristofer Goldsmith was discharged from the US Army after a suicide attempt; eight years later, he's still fighting to right that wrong.

http://www.taylorcblack.com/blog/2016/12/4/bad-paper-final-documentation

Description

Bad Paper is an installation exploring the struggles of a less-than honorable discharge from the U.S. Army. In the military, an honorable discharge offers the possibility of education, health benefits, and a lifelong recognition of service. A dishonorable discharge requires court marshal and is reserved for the most serious offenses. However, there are other types of discharges that fall in-between these two, which can be given for causes ranging from minor misconduct to traumatic brain injury, mental health status changes, sexual trauma, and prior to the repeal of Don't Ask, Don't Tell, being LGBT. 13% of veterans since 9/11 have received one of these types of discharges, which leaves them without vital benefits, employment options, education access, or key medical services that, for people like Kristofer Goldsmith, can mean the difference between life and death.

Bad Paper follows Kris' story, of his honorable service, traumatic experience, suicide attempt, and unceremonious “Bad Paper” discharge from the Army, in five interactive vignettes. Eight years after his discharge, Kris is still seeking justice and benefits for him and all the veterans dismissed and cut off unfairly. In Bad Paper, audiences interact with objects to hear from Kris, as well as gain extra insight from lawyers and advocates fighting to change the military standards that cause honorable service to be rewarded only with lifelong loss.

Classes

Hacking Story Frameworks: For Social Impact/Social Issues

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EcoExchange

Jasmine A Soltani, Swapna Joshi

Making visible the invisible ecosystem services provided by plants by giving people the option to pay money to a responsive plant and showing how humankind benefits in a multitude of ways from natural ecosystems.<br />

http://www.itp.jasminesoltani.com/

Description

A coin-operated responsive plant that rotates to acknowledge human presence and a visualization of the CO2 content, soil moisture and noise in its environment.

The inputs we're reading for the plants movement are proximity to the plant (measured using distance sensors) and the switch triggered with a coin drop. The sensor data we're gathering will be part of the associated visualization, which right now only includes real-time data. Based on feedback from play-testing, we plan on incorporating a slider, which would compress or expand the time scale. Then the coin drop could trigger other feedback, like an explanation of where the quarter is going.

Our project is meant, in part, to prompt people to think about the work that plants do regulating our environment and making it habitable, and what it means to put monetary value on these services in a capitalist society where humans have trouble understanding value that isn't purely economic. Trees and plants provide important carbon sequestration benefits, which we hope to highlight with the CO2 data we collect. It is also an exchange with a non-human, generally immobile, but living being, that involves you communicating with it via your breath and physical presence while it communicates through photosynthesis and the representation of data. We want to bring forth the way you are each affecting the surrounding environment and sensing each others presence in difference ways. We plan to donate the money (quarter dollar paid by each person to interact with the plant) to 350.org which is a global grassroots climate movement that can hold our leaders accountable to the realities of science and the principles of justice. The number 350 means climate safety: the planet has already surpassed 'safe' upper limit of 350ppm atmospheric CO2 and people, governments, and the world are already starting to feel the consequences.

Classes

Introduction to Physical Computing ITPG-GT.2301.005, Introduction to Computational Media ITPG-GT.2233.003

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See the Unseen Faces of the Met

Ying He

Have you ever imagined that there are more than 6,000 interesting faces hidden in the Met Museum? SUFM(See the Unseen Faces of the Met) is a VR project which brings you back to the ancient "emoji" world!

http://www.heying.info/mid-see-the-unseen-faces-of-the-met/

Description

Have you ever imagine there are more than 6,000 interesting faces are hidden in the Met Museum? I am curious about why we barely talk about them in our daily live? SUFM(See the Unseen Faces of the Met) is a VR project bring you back to the ancient “emoji” world!

Classes

Directing Virtual Reality

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Hamiltonian Cards

Jose (Sejo) Vega-Cebrian

The Hamiltonian Cards are generative coloring puzzles: follow the instructions to reveal their messages

http://escenaconsejo.org/HamiltonianCards

Description

The Hamiltonian Cards are generative coloring puzzles: follow the instructions to reveal their messages. They consist in a grid of cells -squares with arrows- pointing to each other in a type of sequence called Hamiltonian Path. A Hamiltonian Path in a grid is a path that visits each and every cell exactly once. Therefore, following the path of arrows and coloring each cell that you encounter you will color the whole grid. The magic occurs because there are two types of arrow: the triangular arrow indicates that you have to fill the next cell with the same color of the current cell, and the circular arrow indicates that you have to fill the next cell with the alternate color. Filling the cells and changing the fill color according to the instructions, will allow you to reveal the hidden images.

Under the hood, the Hamiltonian Cards are created by a software that processes a monochromatic and low pixel image using a generated Hamiltonian path. The path is used to traverse the image to define the orientation of the cells in the card and their corresponding arrow shape; somewhat executing the inverse process of what you do when solving the puzzle. Multiple paths can be used to process a single image, and multiple images can be processed with the same path. Thus many unique designs can be obtained with this same software.

This project was originated in the Visual Language class with Katherine Dillon. My idea was to create unique graphic designs that require a playful and puzzling interaction to reveal a hidden design. The best approach for me was to create generative software in p5.js and Processing that would process and encode a message in an almost never ending set of outcomes following the same basic rules.

Classes

Comm Lab: Visual Language

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Where Everything is at Float

Ziyu He

a real-time physical visualization of the invisible air that flows in the outside world

http://www.ziyuhe.info/pcom/where-everything-is-at-float

Description

an inquiry on visualizing invisible “objects” of the wild, another window bridging our architected homes with the outside world. 3 mundane materials and objects – balloon, foam, soft fabric reacting to artificial wind that simulates the real air of the outside world.

classes : physical computing with prof. Benedetta

Classes

Introduction to Computational Media ITPG-GT.2233.007, Introduction to Physical Computing ITPG-GT.2301.006, Intro to Fabrication