Prosthetic Knowledge Picks: Internet Coolhunting
A collection of examples where pop culture was clearly inspired by smaller creative activities on the web (with some people not necessarily happy about it). With online chatter regarding the performance by Rihanna on Saturday Night Live and it's adoption to the net-art 'Seapunk' style, it's worth knowing that the mixed reaction is not an isolated occasion. Marketers employ 'coolhunters' to look out for interesting small cultural developments to make their artist's seem 'fresh' and ahead of the game, an activity that has been happening since the early 1990s, which was a key subject in William Gibson's 2003 novel Pattern Recognition. It is now becoming more apparent in our more modern technological age — here are some of the better known examples:
Chiptune / Timbaland
Compare this to "Acidjazzed Evening" by Tempest/Damage
For a much more clearer comparison, the Demoscene documentary by Moleman breifly compares and contrasts the two songs.
According to Wikipedia:
In August 2007, an action for infringement was filed in the District Court of Helsinki against Universal Music, Ltd alleging Nelly Furtado's song "Do It" infringed "Acid Jazz Evening". In January 2009, after a trial that included multiple expert and technical witnesses, a three judge panel unanimously dismissed the plaintiff's case.
On December 17, 2008, Abbott also testified as a witness of prosecution in the Helsinki court in Gallefoss' case against Universal Music Finland. The Finnish court reportedly threw out the case after ruling in only one aspects of the three claims (sampling, performance rights, producer rights), and the case remains in appellate court ...
Prosthetic Knowledge Picks: Web Toys
Online browser-based projects which you can play or create with from the Prosthetic Knowledge Tumblr archive:
YATTA!
Developed by Emilio Gomariz and Kim Asendorf (under the guise MAADONNA), you can drag an image from your desktop into the page to be transformed into a matrix of animated icons. There are various sets including classic animated emoticons (both Western and Japanese) and sprite blocks from old Nintendo games (such as Super Mario Brothers, pictured above).
You can try it out for yourself here.
[PK Link
Neticones
Similar to YATTA! is this piece which can convert your image into a matrix made up of Facebook icons (Webcam needed).
Try it out here.
PK Link
Streetview Stereographic
This webtoy takes Google Streetview photographic images and turns them into 'Little Worlds' style fisheye panoramas. It has even been used to create videos, here by Halcob
You can try it out here
[PK Link]
ASCII Streetview
Texter
Made by Tim Holam, this tool allows you to draw with words, sentences and paragraphs. You can choose whatever text you wish to use, change it's colour, and save the results.
You can try it out here and view Tim's other projects here.
WebcamMesh
Fun webcam toy by Felix Turner turns your visual feed into a trippy 3D mesh, running on HTML5 in your browser (Note: Only works with Chrome and Opera).
Try it out here
[PK Link]
Webcam Displacement
Another webcam toy, this by Mr.doob (aka Ricardo Cabello) which turns the visual feed into pseudo-3D forms (Chrome required).
Try it out here
[PK Link]
Other Links:
- WebGL Webcam Dithering - Turns your webcam feed into older-styled dithered ...
Prosthetic Knowledge Picks: Kinect Genealogy - A Brief History of Gestural Interfaces
In honor of the approaching second birthday of the release of Microsoft's Kinect, we will take a brief tour of the experimental technology that preceded it. But before we begin, it is worth noting a few facts about the Kinect we know today, a piece of technology that almost overnight changed the development of contemporary interactive art by being powerful and affordable. 'Project Natal', as it was originally known, initially used a system called "Time-of-flight" which had origins military laser radar systems, but changed when a start-up called Primesense, an Israeli company made of ex-military engineers, were trying to sell their consumer-focused product:
the PrimeSense technology uses a proprietary technology called “light coding,” rather than the time-of-flight cameras used by of its competitors. Time-of-flight emits strong pulses of light and measures the delay in their return to calculate positions.
“Time-of-flight came from laser radar systems with military applications,” said Aviad and Inon. “[But] the DNA of the PrimeSense technology was from day one for the consumer market.
“There are a lot of differences between PrimeSense and time-of-flight cameras in general. PrimeSense has achieved a breakthrough on price and performance. The performance we generated through the device is better in a long list of parameters [than time-of-flight].”
“It was the most natural place for the technology,” [Inon Beracha, CEO of PrimeSense] said.
Apple has a history of interface innovation, of course, and had recently introduced the iPhone with its paradigm-shifting multitouch UI. PrimeSense’s system went one step further: It was multitouch that you didn’t even have to touch. Apple seemed like a natural fit.
Yet the initial meetings hadn ...
Prosthetic Knowledge Picks: nOdalisque
Uncomposed (after Titian after Giorgione) by Georgie Roxby Smith [GIF by PK]
A collection of items from the Prosthetic Knowledge Tumblr archive and around the web, looking at a Fine Art archetype today.
Uncomposed (after Titian after Giorgione) by Georgie Roxby Smith
Uncomposed (after Titian after Giorgione) from Georgie Roxby Smith on Vimeo.
Renaissance art piece composed as contemporary New Media machinima, a 21st Century Venus
3D machinima, video, found image, found sound
Made specifically for Composite at Gallery One Three Uncomposed (after Titian after Giogione) deconstructs Giorgione’s Sleeping Venus, itself a composite, the landscape and sky being completed by Titian following Giogione’s death in 1510. The work was a landmark of its era, reflecting a new shift in modern art with the inclusion of a female nude at its centre. Employing three-dimensional computer graphics and elements of Giorgione’s original masterpiece, Roxby Smith replaces his stylised renaissance figure with a fantasised digital body transplanted into an augmented hyper real landscape. In the likeness of her present day artist, the 21st Century Venus will not lie still for her voyeurs, obstinately returning the male gaze from her new digital paradigm, Sleeping Venus awakes.
Machina by Claudia Hart
Framed digital art piece is a 3D animation of a sleeping female nude subject in the classical pose of Venus / Odalisque - a two minute example of the twenty minute work:
"Machina" (2008) by Claudia Hart from bitforms gallery on Vimeo.
“Machina” is a 3D animation portraying the compressed time and space of painting, shows a dreaming character whose slow, drowsy movements articulate all of the minutia of a single moment. “Machina” uses the most advanced techniques of virtual reality simulation, and a series of animations that result in a representation that is sensual and organic. Occasionally, Machina ...
Prosthetic Knowledge Picks: Computer Graphics & Art 1976 - 1978
A brief look at a short-lived American quarterly publication, which gives a little insight into the practice of art with computers in the 1970's. While a product of its time, there are some places with resonances to the practice of today.
May 1976, Vol.1, No 2 - In The Beginning:
An overview from the publication's editor and computer artist Grace Hertlein, writing about the three phases of computer art - past, (at time) present, and the future.
NCC '76 Art Exhibition - New York City (Pages 10 - 17)
A good primer of artists of the time.
Computer In - Analogue Out
Examples of the use of computers to create work in physical form.
Untitled Sculpture by Jose Alexanco of Madrid. The sculpture is one of many variations designed by the computer, and executed by the artist. The source of design is prehistoric cave art, dating from c. 15,000-10,000 B.C., from the Magdeleine Cave in France.
Using a computer to design murals for a subway station:
Computer programming textile patterns:
Computer design for a painting:
Choreography and the Computer
And lastly, some examples of Generative Art
