spandex restretched
01182010
Mike and I have been continuing our progress with our series of video projections up at the Bronx Museum with Acconci studios. We decided that some new, better footage was required, so we filmed a new series of objects with the intention of keeping it purely abstract instead of the human gestural moments that were too recognizable based on anatomy. Some of the experiments are below. The footage was than edited and multiplied to highlight certain aspects of the architecture of the corian structure.
Work in progress. Content for the Acconci Studio installation at Bronx Museum 2009-10.
Copyright Michael Kelberman and Angela Chen.
POSTED IN Blog, projects | TAGS : bronx museum, installation, site specific, video sculpture
deathstar automata
01142010
Deathstar Automata is inspired by Jorge Luis Borges, who writes in his parable “The Analytical Language of John Wilkins,” about the human instinct to categorize our world, however arbitrary. As a modular, parametric video interface, Deathstar incorporates a camera tracking system synced to a firefly LCD projector to project video into a series of custom-built tessellated structures. It is a prototype for a larger-scaled video projection light fixture that would harness a video feed as its light source. The content is an ongoing virtual cabinet of wonders with all its mysterious and unearthly qualities, which together in kaleidoscopic fashion, reshapes our reality into the possibility of other worlds.
This current iteration is dependent on the number of objects used as well as the object’s specific placement in the overall configuration, so that as users place a pod onto the surface, the camera tracks the object’s rotation and location in space and direct the video accordingly. Moreover, rotating the object moves the video forwards or backwards, enabling the user to control the visuals through a more intuitive interface. And lastly, the virtual objects will multiply depending on the number of objects that the camera sees, thus two objects on the surface creates a mirrored effect while subsequent objects create a kaleidoscopic one. Currently Deathstar Automata was prototyped using a camera tracking library called Trackmate, an open source project started by the Tangible Media Group at the MIT Media Lab.
Planning / Design Process
POSTED IN objects | TAGS : camera tracking, lasercutting, maya, processing, Video Editing
window vision
01132010
Ideation
PURPOSE
Window Vision is a reactive sculpture that highlights changes in the outside environment by shifting between transparent to opaque states to reflect the changing levels of daylight. Exhibited at ITP’s Winter 2008 Show, it was part of Make Magazine’s Top Five in Show.
The work comments on our perception of the environment. On the one hand, this piece emphasizes the architectural nature of the human need to have an interaction with the outside world and the other is biological. Window Vision reflects the way that our eyes physically sees the world, namely through the cellular structures residing in our retina known as cones and rods. Cones generally allow us to see objects and color during the daytime, and rods take over during moments of darkness. In order to express this dichotomy of vision in terms of light and dark, I created two interfaces: solid for day and transparent for night.
PROCESS
The work is mechanized through a series of pulleys and a stepper motor that creates enough torque to lift up the structure similar to a window blind. The motor is activated by photocell sensors that are triggered by outside light levels.
POSTED IN objects | TAGS : mechanical prototyping, physical computing
huff and puff
01012010
For our midterm project, Adi Marom and I built a machine whose purpose was to create an “inflatable” structure. Our original proposal was the transformation of the shape and size of these structures through air using a piston-and-crank mechanism, powered by either a servo or DC motor. In the end, we chose to focus more on the mechanism itself and using the idea of paper-folded “puffer fish” as a whimsical counterpoint to the solid sleek nature of the linkages and pistons used to make them expand and contract.
The geared DC-motor powers the mechanism that controls the expansion and contraction of the structures. A crank and double-piston mechanism was used to convert between the rotary motion of the motors to the reciprocating motion of the “pumps”.
