Assignment 1: Review of Past Works

Reflect on the challenges and discoveries that you’ve made in your work and progress at ADM and be prepared to give a presentation next week sharing works that you think illustrate as story about those challenges and discoveries about yourself and your interests while at ADM.

  1. Tree Project
  2. Mixed Media project
  3. Data visualization
  4. Rain-bow Violin using  LED strips

Challenges and Discoveries: 

Tree Project – Need to develop a stronger foundation in following – Arduino, and Processing aside from playing a supporting/ idea directory role in Tree Project, the conceptual understanding of tree was well received and it was one of the stronger projects that suited my interests (theme was Interstices; tree as a stationary object often overlooked, but added electrical elements in the branches such as servo motor attached to small wooden planks allows it to move, ultra sound sensor was also connected to it)

Mixed Media Project – Video projection over drawn canvases as a follow up to A Level artwork, using similar forms of medium – camera, video projector and drawings on canvas. Using the Optoma and video projection softwares allowed me to explore different ways of using software to play different clips simultaneously, relatively able to complete them in a short amount of time due to familiarity with using video projector, proper planning

Data visualization – Initial idea was to showcase a Singapore map, and feature symbols of different races using small circles representing a person of each race, each race is signified through use of dots on the map, and to show continuous progress of each demographic by looking at yearly trends, theme was on progress of education for each race from a timespan of 2000-2015, discoveries – data is often private and difficult to get statistics on latest trends.

http://127.0.0.1:8816/

Rain-bow – worked alongside Ying Hui in coming up with idea of making of attaching a string of LED on the bow, and connecting it a Arduinofruit on a handglove – the accelerometer in Arduiofruit is coded to the LED light, such that every x,y,z movement made when a person plays with the bow, the led light rises/dips. Biggest challenge was using the accelerometer in arduino – where we had to change x,y,z values many times so that we could get the LED strip to light up.

The News Media Reader

Individual reading and reflection on recommended essays in new media art theory relating to narrative aspects.

Article chosen: The News Media Reader, Chapter 2 “As we may think” by Vannevar Bush 

The article that I have read on is Chapter 2 of The News Media Reader.  Despite how it is written in 1945, some of the idealizations or concepts he explained is of relevance even up to this day. From using science to build devices that can help humankind and improve our overall sense of well being, to using alternative strategies which do not involve destruction of property or nations, what is being explained is significant in some aspects of the technological age we live in today. The reason being his creation of memex  – a device that allows a user to access information or reading materials in a quick fashion; bears resemblance to the usage of the internet function – the hyperlink. A memex is like a machine that allows an individual to retrieve reading materials that is stored, and the user can access it directly in quick speed.

In the form of table, this allows the person to run through specific information that need in an efficient manner, and the function that come from the machine such as pressing index code buttons to access a specific book and using lever to “flip” pages, bears resemblance to the use of hyperlink – where we normally click on a link to access information related to the title we see.  And it seems to me that Bush’s idea had an influence on the internet pioneers, which include Ted Nelson (American Pioneer of Information and Technology), J.C.R. Licklider(created the idea of the universal network,eventually the Internet) and Douglas Engelbart (created the computer mouse) , credited Bush for his ideas and concepts shared in the book. At the same time, World Wide Web came to rise in a period where Vannevar Bush was not around, so it may not be accurate to describe Bush as an Internet Pioneer, although undeniably his works made a mark in scientists and inventors in later years.

In summary, through his writings, and in a period where war was present, he seems to show disapproval with the idea of using destructive forces to “win”, instead his focus seems to be on developing inventions that can improve well being of the people around him. By mentioning some of the works such as voder and memex, it also seems to me that ideas that are man-made should be given credit when its due and that it needs to be more recognized in order to for scientific advancements to progress and improve the well being of people as a whole.  

2374 characters

( My apologies I know my word count exceeds the expected, but my essays are always long winded)

Minimalism Museum: Mona Hatoum’s Impenetrable

 

During my visit to Minimalism Museum, one artwork that I found interesting was Mona Hatoum’s “Impenetrable”. Based on the artist description, this work was meant to be an alternative version of another work by Jesus Soto called Penetrable (1967-97).  Her colourful works are inviting for people and they get to interact fully with the installation.

Based on the title itself, we can already assume Mona’s take on her work is a different one – one that’s represented by something more sinister and less “playful”. The medium used appears to be “black-finished steel and fishing wire”, and from afar it does give off the look of a cube floating in the air. The installation may appear inviting from afar, but once you come closer to it, the black wired ‘knots’ look are sharp edges. During my visit there, the visitors didn’t seem too eager to enter the “cube” or play around with the barbed- wires, which is so different from the installations we see by Jesus Soto below. 

Narratives for Interaction ( Ben Slater’s Lecture)

  • Narratives are always progressing, it always changes
  • Choices and consequences are a part of the interactive elements that we see in interactive installations/new media
  • Going back through time – to remake our choices, and face new consequences, the idea of choices and observing what we did not observe
  • Trapped in routines – someone becomes a bit more aware – so she renews her ‘familiar’ routes that she often goes, in search of an alternative ‘reality’  – on the other hand not many is aware, stuck/trapped/comfortabe
  • Being trapped in routines is something that is inherent in all of us, animals have it, humans have it, everyone has it
  • Brings question of repetition as necessary – can be comforting to see something predictable in terms of behavior, what we come across daily, makes us feel productive
  • At the same time something we often see tends to annoy us, especially if it makes us feel bad – makes us anticipate for the worse
  • In contrast, anything we can anticipate gives us extra liberty/ the choice in how to react
  • Repitition – boring repitition, interesting repetition
  • “Prisoner” TV Series
  • Run Lola Run – Lola has 3 ‘resets’ or tries to complete a mission and overcomes some obstacles that come her way that stops her from doing what needs to be done