spandex restretched

POSTED IN Blog, projects | TAGS : bronx museum, installation, site specific, video sculpture
18.01.2010

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.

deathstar automata

POSTED IN objects | TAGS : architecture, camera tracking, maya, video
14.01.2010

Deathstar Automata is inspired by Jorge Luis Borges, who in particular writes in one of his parables, “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 in one sense, harnesses the video feed as its light source.  The content is an ongoing virtual cabinet of wonders with all of 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 will track the object’s rotation and location in space and direct the video projector accordingly.  Moreover, rotating the object will move the video forwards or backwards thus 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 placed on the surface will create a mirrored effect while subsequent objects can 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 in the MIT Media Lab.

Planning / Design Process

window vision

POSTED IN objects | TAGS : mechanical, physical computing, window vision
13.01.2010

Ideation

PURPOSE:

Window Vision is a reactive sculpture that highlights changes in the outside environment by shifting between transparent to opaque, depending on varying levels of light and dark. Exhibited at ITP’s Winter 2008 Show, it was considered by Make Magazine as part of their Top 5 in Show.

The work is a commentary on our perception of the outside environment.  On one hand, this piece emphasizes the architectural nature of the human need to have an interaction with the outside world and the other is neurological.  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 to reflect the way that our own eyes are constantly shifting to adjust for varying light levels.

OBSERVATIONS:

To have called my apt in Manhattan small would have been an exaggeration.  From my tiny room, you could hardly tell that I was living in the midst of a bustling metropolis but it did make me appreciate the architectural form of the window to a greater extent.  The one window in my room faced a mere brick wall and the light that came in was so meager that I could hardly tell whether it was two in the morning or two in the afternoon.  Therefore I wanted to create something that would be a reminder of the changing levels of day to night and using the window as the fulcrum through which to implement these ideas.

PROCESS:

The work is mechanized through a series of pulleys and a stepper motor that would create enough torque to lift up the first structure similar to a window blind.  The motor is activated by photocell light sensors that will be triggered by outside light levels.

puff the machine

POSTED IN objects | TAGS : lasercutting, maya, rapid prototyping, screen
1.01.2010

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.

STRUCTURAL REQUIREMENTS

The geared DC-motor powers the mechanism that controls the expansion and contraction of our 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”. The linkages were first drawn in AutoCAD which was than converted to an illustrator file to create the template that  was laser-cut out of a clear acrylic sheet.  The “pumps” were made from acrylic rods & tubes.