memory shells / skeletal kin is the result of experimentation with mapping, computer vision, Delaunay meshing and memory. There is something special to me about the process of making these images and the results. They somehow help to ease my resistance to the digital tsunamis washing over our culture, and for me, brush aside some fear and reveal some beauty. The images illuminate the algorithmic architecture underlying the technological world, revealing its constructed nature, allowing me to see clearly the bricks and bolts– the standardized components for building things. With this degree of resolution I feel at ease with those components; they’re just the bricks and bolts, nodes and vectors. By generating portraits of people I am close to with these digital components, the gap between the diametric notions of what a real “person is” and how that “person is represented or perceived” in the vast virtual landscape dissolve into the same thing.

SphereOSC, currently in alpha dev, sends OSC data that describes responsive spheres hosted on a touch-surface device. The idea is to provide dynamic control for art production systems.

The common denominator for controllers these days are one dimensional triggers and switches. Though multidimensional control surfaces (supporting pressure, tilt, and other performance gestures) are growing in number, there are still few that offer deep interaction for multiple controls. Tilt, for example, is often a single accelerometer in a device that isn’t robust enough to utilize the nature of gravity to its fullest. With SphereOSC, I hope to provide a highly accessible physical simulation of a rotating sphere, similar to that of the trackball, the weapon of choice from our favorite golf arcade games.

SphereOSC will come equipped with adjustable slow-down friction and acceleration constants per axis, velocity and position outputs, and a few user interaction modes per sphere, as well as unique OSC addresses for all parameters. In the end, I hope it will enable artists and performers to create interesting work that requires the performer’s input on a consistent basis while creating patterns imbued with sophisticated dynamics. Below is a video graphing two spheres’ velocity vectors and xy positions.

Just started forming another project seedling: WaveBlobs (needs a better name… maybe).

The app contains a circular gird mesh, which reflects the location/motion of CV blobs by radiating waves outward from their centroids. Right now, adjustable parameters are limited. I hope to evolve this project into a larger scale interactive installation in a public space with sonic elements. Some kind of additive synthesis oscilloscope or something.  Check out the video, and if you have a mac (I’ll be porting to Windows soon), feel free to download and play around.

February is black history month, so to celebrate I thought I’d expand on the the anatmanDelineations and create an app featuring the historic face of Frederick Douglass. Eventually the functionality will probably extend to loading/taking photos in real time.

You can download the app here. Just keep it inside the folder (the data subfolder is needed) and all should be well. Mac only for now…

Inadvertent 2012 resolution: began using my own site. Finally.

Recently, I’ve been delving into to code based visual art. OpenFrameworks, Cinder, and Processing have been my tools of choice lately. The Anatman Delineations are a series of digital prints (created with openFrameworks) in which a two-dimensional image is rendered in three-dimensional space. The 3D translation happens by mapping pixel brightness to depth rather than particle size,allowing one to rotate a flat image in three-dimensional space.

The Anatman Delineations point to principles of no-self (being that they’re self portraits), impermanence, and the futility of duality– that is the inevitable failure of any system of labels to completely describe reality. The representations/images (symbols, photos, ideas, concepts) of ourselves/reality are like maps without keys, open to infinite interpretations and vantages. I feel that we often mistake the symbol for reality, the categorized tree for the actual tree, the Facebook profile for the person, the ego for the self that doesn’t exist. So, “Delineate what?” you might ask:

Exactly.

As I mentioned above, the images are 3D representations of 2D images, and rotated different amounts along different axes. This results in images that are basically meaningless, but kinda pretty nonetheless.

The (not optimized for real-time rotation) brain through which the rest of the code pivots is:

   int w = face.getWidth();
	int h = face.getHeight();
	float diameter = 8;
	ofSetColor(100, 100, 100, 25);
	for(int y = 0; y < h; y+=1) {
		for(int x = 0; x < w; x+=1) {
                    ofNoFill();
 	            ofColor cur = face.getColor(x, y);
                    float size = 1 - (cur.getBrightness() / 255);
                       if (size>0.1&&size

Thingamajigs is a genre-crossing arts organization that promotes, presents and performs music and other art forms created with made and found materials or alternate tuning systems.Our mission is to develop and nurture the exploration of alternate materials and methods of creating sound, as well as promote collaborative efforts within other artistic disciplines. With open workshops, performances, artists exchanges and an educational program, we welcome audiences/participants of all ages and backgrounds to join in a wonderful tradition started in the Bay Area by such composers as Harry Partch, Lou Harrison, and John Cage

The Music For People & Thingamajigs Festival is an annual event dedicated to promoting experimental music that incorporates made/found instruments and alternate tuning systems. Each year, MFP&T invites artists who design their own musical instruments to join in a festival of workshops, music making, and performances with the goal of reaching a large, diverse audience of all ages. It is also a festival where the public can participate in instrument building and tuning educational workshops, as well as hear unique sounds and compositions from up and coming artists.

Now in its 13th year, Music for People and Thingamajigs is a celebration of new and unusual explorations in music and performance. The three evening concerts and one daytime family event feature music created using made and/or found instruments, alternate tuning systems and hands-on discovery.

Past participants include Carla Kihlstedt, Walter Kitundu, Peter Whitehead, Brenda Hutchinson, William Winant, Laetitia Sonami, and many others.