Faffing.With.Tech: 2010

Tuesday, 30 November 2010

#include <Servo.h>
Servo myservo; // declares servo
Servo myservo2;
Servo myservo3;
int pos = 0;

int inputPin1l = 1; // assigns input (button) to pin number
int inputPin1r = 2;
int inputPin2l = 3;
int inputPin2r = 4;
int inputPin3l = 5;
int inputPin3r = 6;
int val1l = 0;
int val1r = 0;
int val2l = 0;
int val2r = 0;
int val3l = 0;
int val3r = 0;

void setup() {
myservo.attach(9);          //assigns servo to pin number
myservo2.attach(10);
myservo3.attach(11);
pinMode (inputPin1l, INPUT);    // declares button as input
pinMode (inputPin1r, INPUT);
pinMode (inputPin2l, INPUT);
pinMode (inputPin2r, INPUT);
pinMode (inputPin3l, INPUT);
pinMode (inputPin3r, INPUT);
}

void loop() {
val1l = digitalRead(inputPin1l);
val1r = digitalRead(inputPin1r);
val2l = digitalRead(inputPin2l);
val2r = digitalRead(inputPin2r);
val3l = digitalRead(inputPin3l);
val3r = digitalRead(inputPin3r);

if (val1l == LOW) {                        //if input (button value is 0
    for(pos = 0; pos < 180; pos += 1);     // this will happen
{
   myservo.write(pos);
   delay(3);
}
for(pos = 180; pos>=1; pos-=1)
{
   myservo.write(pos);
   delay(3);
}

}

else if( val1r == LOW ) {
for(pos = 0; pos < 180; pos += 1);     // this will happen
{
   myservo.write(pos);
   delay(3);
}
for(pos = 180; pos>=1; pos-=1)
{
   myservo.write(pos);
   delay(3);
}

}

else if( val2l == LOW ) {
for(pos = 0; pos < 180; pos += 1);     // this will happen
{
   myservo2.write(pos);
   delay(3);
}
for(pos = 180; pos>=1; pos-=1)
{
   myservo2.write(pos);
   delay(3);
}

}

else if( val2r == LOW ) {
for(pos = 0; pos < 180; pos += 1);     // this will happen
{
   myservo2.write(pos);
   delay(3);
}
for(pos = 180; pos>=1; pos-=1)
{
   myservo2.write(pos);
   delay(3);
}

}

else if( val3l == LOW ) {
for(pos = 0; pos < 180; pos += 1);     // this will happen
{
   myservo2.write(pos);
   delay(3);
}
for(pos = 180; pos>=1; pos-=1)
{
   myservo2.write(pos);
   delay(3);
}

}

else if( val3r == LOW ) {
for(pos = 0; pos < 180; pos += 1);     // this will happen
{
   myservo3.write(pos);
   delay(3);
}
for(pos = 180; pos>=1; pos-=1)
{
   myservo3.write(pos);
   delay(3);
}

}

}

Tuesday, 16 November 2010

Method of Dropping substance with Pipette

Using a servo this system can flick a pipette and drop an acidic substance onto an image.

Code:

#include <Servo.h>
Servo myservo;                 // declares servo
int pos = 0;

int inputPin = 3;             // assigns input (button) to pin number
int val = 0;

void setup() {
myservo.attach(2);          //assigns servo to pin number
pinMode(inputPin, INPUT);   // declares button as input
}

void loop() {
val = digitalRead(inputPin);
if (val == LOW) {                        //if input (button value is 0
    for(pos = 0; pos < 180; pos += 1);     // this will happen
{
   myservo.write(pos);
   delay(3);
}
for(pos = 180; pos>=1; pos-=1)
{
   myservo.write(pos);
   delay(3);
}

}

else {                              // else, nothing

}

}

Monday, 1 November 2010

Lev Manovich
THE PARADOXES OF DIGITAL PHOTOGRAPHY

"...Even more fetishized is "film look" 
itself -- the soft, grainy, and somewhat blurry appearance of 
a photographic image which is so different from the harsh and 
flat image of a video camera or the too clean, too perfect 
image of computer graphics. The traditional photographic 
image once represented the inhuman, devilish objectivity of 
technological vision. Today, however, it looks so human, so 
familiar, so domesticated -- in contrast to the alienating, 
still unfamiliar appearance of a computer display with its 
1280 by 1024 resolution, 32 bits per pixel, 16 million 
colors, and so on. Regardless of what it signifies, any 
photographic image also connotes memory and nostalgia, 
nostalgia for modernity and the twentieth century, the era of 
the pre-digital, pre-post-modern. Regardless of what it 
represents, any photographic image today first of all 
represents photography..."

In his essay about the 'digital revolution' he speaks about how an old technology is romanticised,

 how analog photography 'connotes memory and nostalgia' for a past time.

Auto-Destructive Art (1959) Manifesto

Gustav Metzger
"Auto-destructive art is primarily a form of public art for industrial societies.

Self-destructive painting, sculpture and construction is a total unity of idea, site, form, colour, method, and timing of the disintegrative process.

Auto-destructive art can be created with natural forces, traditional art techniques and technological techniques.

The amplified sound of the auto-destructive process can be an element of the total conception.

The artist may collaborate with scientists, engineers.

Self-destructive art can be machine produced and factory assembled.

Auto-destructive paintings, sculptures and constructions have a life time varying from a few moments to twenty years. When the disintegrative process is complete the work is to be removed from the site and scrapped."

Been looking at Gustav Metzger's work of auto-destructive art. It seems to be about protest and anger. His work spraying acid onto sheets of nylon was in protest to nuclear weapons. Similarly painting hydrochloric acid onto canvas was in protest against art dealers and collectors manipulating art for profit.

I'm interested in this aggression: the process of destroying something that is often perceived to be something that should be beautiful in protest against it.

I'd like to apply these ideas in my project. Destroying a myth that is often perceived to be beautiful and instead of being careful with it, as would normally be the case, destroy it.

Tuesday, 12 October 2010

Processing

Sound (volume) Synching with two images (hit keys)

Sound (volume) Synching with two shapes (hit keys)

SOI

For this project I intend to re-invent the use of old technology, items such as old telephones, typewriters, record players and so on. I want to warp the functionality of these machines and change their output. I intend to explore how this transforms the way a user would interact with the machine. For example, how does the viewer use a telephone when it’s function is to display a series of images rather than a place to punch in a code to link up to another telephone. I hope to use the old machines simply as a frame. I won’t tamper with their circuits but use them as a control. The reason I am using them is for their clear old / retro connotations. An old telephone, for example, isn’t expected to be able to control images that flash up and I want the viewer to be shocked or surprised at the machines recreated functionality.

To achieve this I think I will need to use flash? For keys on a keypad to be able to work with a computer, essentially, create a midi keyboard?

I intend for it to exist as a series of machines in different places in a room. There will be a number of projectors around the room projecting images into the space; these images are controlled by the machines that are around the room.

This idea of using technology in a different way was inspired by a comment on a UVA interview "it's not always about the newness of a technology that makes things interesting, sometimes it's using an old technology in a new way".

Monday, 11 October 2010

PureData

Attempts:

Print Word

Sound Generator (send / recieve)

Virtual Butterflies

Cinimod Studio

As the viewer passes the series of small monitors, they're movement allows the butterfly to fly along with them.

Thursday, 7 October 2010

Forms

GUI

Graphical User Interface - operating systems; mouse / touchpad...
graphical layout
windows, icons, menu, Pointer (WIMP)

Ubiquitous computing

“Ubiquitous computing is roughly the opposite of virtual reality. Where virtual reality puts people inside a computer-generated world, ubiquitous computing forces the computer to live out here in the world with people.”

Tangible Computing

- Giving physical form to digital information and computation

- Objects replace the icons of the WIMP interface

- Actions and movements trigger processes and data exchanges