wilderness downtown
09102010
i’ve been playing around with HTML5 which has some really exciting features. Like this one for example.
And if you haven’t seen it already, this interactive music video from cult kids Arcade Fire is just awesome. I love the integration of your own personal history with this story.
POSTED IN Blog, technology
traf-eek!
09042010
Massive traffic jam just outside Beijing that could last for weeks. It makes for an utterly Cortazar-ian moment via the short story, The Southern Thruway.
But this vehicle looks amazing, in traffic or not.
via Autografik
POSTED IN Blog, graphics | TAGS : traffic
inspired by nature
08252010
Zimoun 25 woodworms: vimeo
Tree trunk bench by Jurgen Bey via droog
fish scale ring via notcouture
POSTED IN Blog, art + photography, fashion | TAGS : nature
all geared up
08222010
Sacha White, Vanilla Bicycles
I’ve fallen in love…and what better target for my affection?
A friend rolled her eyes at me, saying that I had become ‘one of those people,’ when she came upon my computer browser window filled with sites all dedicated towards bicycles. But why must it be that I have now fallen into a camp of bicyclists versus someone who has just found a fun way of getting around? Here in New York especially, we are a people who not only like to buy things, but also to buy into things, and I fully admit that my bike has been subject to a few upgrades that it could have done very well without. And it was this very attitude towards buying into a lifestyle in order to bike in the city that motivated my teammates and I for the YOXI competition to try to abate. Looking around at certain ’stylish’ commuters wearing rakish boating hats and sundresses or the groomed, business suit-clad man on a positively royal dutch cruiser, was appealing to me for a brief moment until rudely awakened by the angry traffic looming behind me and knowing the safety that came with wearing a bicycle helmet rather than a thin layer of straw wrapped with a bow.
Practical biking? NYT exploring the new IT trend
To Americans, this seems like the perfect fashion plate, but to Europeans this is simply a way of life in which a leisurely ride towards the coffee shop is slow and safe enough that riding without a helmet is actually OK. On the other hand, stateside, I have found myself on vigilant duty to try to navigate the streets without getting run over, which in all honesty for me, is half the reason why urban biking is so fun.
I was glad to find on The Sartorialist, despite his many beguiling photos of people riding stylishly on bikes without helmets, to read:
Instead of trying to copy the very chic Europeans bikers I think we (Americans) should do what we are good at - and that is Sporty/Tech.
I would love to see a sleek young lady in a little black jersey dressed tied-up on one leg, on an equally sleek black mountain bike wearing some kinda of silver reflective sash or form fitted vest (but really well-designed) and reflective wristbands, Raybans, and some sleek, form-fit mountain climbing shoes (those really tiny ones with the nubby soles) or even heels (like that lady I shot in Paris) and a cool racing helmet.
Imagine mixing Polo Sport with Comme Des Garçons - now that would look cool with really techy bike gear.
In defense of the fashion world encroaching onto bicycling territory, I would say that they have done much to get a lot more people onto bikes in the first place, which is no small feat. But if you must look good while riding your bike, surely there are other ways that don’t involve putting your brain trust at risk. Admittedly in the past, I have let vanity get in the way of safety, but does it really take a few near-fatal accidents to be convinced? I would much rather live to bike another day. In other words, wear what you want, find ways to adapt what you have, but know that you don’t need a lot to get on a bike and out on the road than a helmet, some lights and a good bell.
POSTED IN Blog, projects, writing | TAGS : bicycles
MY USER: THE ULTIMATE PLAYER
02202010
latest thought towards the thesis-gauntlet…
Who is my user?
OK, so I got it. My User, is an active participant with the power to recreate space. User 1. Master Control Program 0.
POSTED IN Blog, projects | TAGS : thesis
ooooscillating
02152010
For Nature of Code last week, we had to program an example of something demonstrating oscillating movement. Although I originally thought of the particular forces that exist between the nucleus and electrons of an atom, I decided to play up the idea by relating the gravitational mass of the “nucleus” in my sketch with the degree of oscillation between the corresponding “electrons”.
This code was heavily adapted from Shiffman’s code.
POSTED IN Blog, projects | TAGS : Nature of Code, processing
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
12072009
Deathstar Automata is a modular video “pod” that can be reconfigured and built as a simultaneous sculptural wall divider and multi-plane projection surface. Its form and content is a physical manifestation of a branching recursion. As a video sculpture it utilizes a geometrical shape as the means for creating modular yet singular mutli-plane projections. On the technical side, it will use an Augmented Reality library as the means for letting the camera know where to project the moving image.
color study
tree study in Maya (mad props to Nick Rubin for the assistance)
POSTED IN Blog, projects | TAGS : architecture, augmented reality, computational cameras, video sculpture
body evidence
11122009
A self-portrait posed as a forensic exploration of personal identity, and how body elements of hair and blood are derived and have roots in cultural, historical, and genetic footprints. References to many female artists who use manipulation of the body–Kiki Smith, Lorna Simpson, Adrian Piper–were considered. This project explored the metaphor of the hourglass to represent my passage of time as a living, breathing, functioning, human being. Filming of my hair and ink drops in water were done using a high speed camera at 420 fps.
POSTED IN Blog, projects | TAGS : forensic, high speed camera, self portrait
you sunk my GDP
11052009
Taking a ‘bad’ data visualization as the starting point for this Processing sketch, I re-visualized the military expenditures data as a familiar video game. The size of the explosion is directly proportional to the amount of money spent, in millions of dollars.
versus the original data set:
