erratica » » experimental

System:System

coche — Wed, 21 Oct 2009 03:49:30 +0000

SOFTlab was invited by curators Christina Vasallo and Adam Henry to the show System:System, opening this coming Friday at 21 Monitor Street in Brooklyn. The show, in the words of the curators:
A failing economy has decided the recent fate of 21 Monitor Street in Greenpoint, Brooklyn. Formerly a nun’s convent, the grand three-story house now stands uninhabited due to the declining membership of St. Cecilia parish and its sister school. Rather than let the building fall into disrepair the parish has found ways to breathe new life into it through a rotating schedule of film shoots, screenings, dance performances, and art exhibitions.

So many thanks to Brandt Graves and Carrie McKnelly for the invaluable help putting the show together.

Overlap

coche — Thu, 27 Aug 2009 17:36:53 +0000

We were invited to the group show “Overlap” at the Elga Wimmer Gallery in Chelsea, opening tonight.

From the press release:
Art and architecture are often portrayed as distinct, even opposing fields, though they share many material and conceptual practices. The invited artists and architecturally trained designers share common interests in generating forms, pattern, and geometries through tactile material processes -whether hand crafted or through the use of computational technology. They often incorporate an awareness of codes or conceptual layers in their work as well as new generative methods and modes of production. The intent of OVERLAP was to begin with these commonalities, and provide space for indefinable qualities to emerge, hinting at something new.

Read the full release here.

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WILDCHILD Opening

coche — Fri, 10 Jul 2009 17:33:53 +0000

I made it last night to the WILDCHILD show at the Bridge Gallery. The work on display is absolutely fantastic and the opening was quite a succes.
Take a look at a few pics of the show below.

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WILDCHILD

coche — Thu, 09 Jul 2009 18:51:28 +0000

This evening is the opening of the show Wild Child in the Bridge Gallery down in the LES. The show is curated by Bridge Gallery + Peter Macapia. SOFTlab made the exhibition’s site, featuring a cellular war between East Coast and West Coast. Check it out here.

The list of people include:
THEVERYMANY,
Kokkugia,
KolMac,
SOFTlab,
Emergent,
Aranda/Lasch,
p-a-t-t-e-r-n-s

among others.

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mode[Lab]

coche — Mon, 08 Jun 2009 19:08:43 +0000

My good friends and hyper-talented guys behind studio[mode] – Gil Akos and Ronnie Parsons – have just launched mode[lab], the lab component of their studio. In their own words: mode[lab] “is conceived of as a laboratory and serves as a knowledge base for design research and experimentation. The laboratory is distributed in nature and operates across multiple time-scales and locations ranging from intensive workshops to design studios throughout North America and Europe.

Our primary objective is to discover novel and inventive design solutions through the identification of key concepts relevant to contemporary architectural discourse and the development of related maps of action.”

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P(h)ixel_02

coche — Thu, 28 May 2009 04:47:52 +0000

So this is a bit more refined version of the P(h)ixel. For one, the structure is now laser-cut plexi and way less embarrasing than before. Second, it allowed for the test with the latex, which, is already giving me nightmares. I’m calling this thing my-own-private-videodrome.

[See post to watch Flash video]

A few things to resolve:
Re-centering the vertical element.
Lowering production cost (servos are clunky and gets expensive fast!).
Create a field!

[See post to watch Flash video]

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P(h)ixel_01

coche — Wed, 27 May 2009 14:59:01 +0000

This is the first crapotype of the p(h)ixel: a physical pixel that reacts to changes in the environment. The pixel is part of a larger matrix that can create a low-res mapping of the environment by pushing or pulling on a flexible membrane. The first test clip is after the jump below.
Oh and for the record, I used my teeth to cut the cardboard…

[See post to watch Flash video]

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Human Interface

coche — Mon, 25 May 2009 22:15:46 +0000

A zoom inside a CPU. I *knew* this was how they all worked…

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KolMac Lounge

coche — Mon, 18 May 2009 18:25:48 +0000

Sulan Kolatan and Bill MacDonald’s (KolMac studio) Lounge is on display at Moss. Go check it out.

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Servo Control

coche — Fri, 17 Apr 2009 23:34:11 +0000

[See post to watch Flash video]

A servo controlled by a photo-resistor. I know, not that interesting, but I’m working on that…

Arduino / Wiring


//The code uses Michal Rinott's 'Knob' code. I just swapped resistors.
//connect the servo

//yellow is control - connect to pin 9 pwm

//red is power

//black is gnd
#include 
Servo myServo;
int potPin = 0;

int val;
void setup (){

pinMode (potPin, INPUT);

myServo.attach (9);

Serial.begin (9600);

}
void loop (){

val = analogRead (potPin);

val = map (val, 0,1023,0,179); // convert to values in the 180 range

myServo.write (val);

delay (100);

Serial.println (val);

}

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Image Read 3

coche — Fri, 10 Apr 2009 02:51:27 +0000

Another slight variation on the image read experiment. This time, the variation is based on the mouse distance, both for images and the webcam.

For images.

For Webcam


import processing.video.*;
float r = 5;

int xPix, yPix;
Capture video;
void setup (){

  size (640,480, JAVA2D);

  background (255);

  smooth ();

  noStroke ();
  video = new Capture (this,width,height);
}
void draw (){
  if (video.available()){

    video.read();

  }
  for (int x = 0; x < 640; x+=20){

    for (int y = 0; y < 480; y += 20){

      float myDist = (dist (x, y, mouseX, mouseY)/12);
      color  c =  video.get (x,y);
      fill (c);

      rectMode (CENTER);
      rect (x,y,myDist,myDist);
    }

  }
}

For Images
PImage img;


void setup (){
  img = loadImage ("picture1.jpg");

  size (img.width,img.height);

  noStroke ();

  smooth ();
}
void draw (){

  background (255);

for (int x = 0; x < img.width; x+=20){ for (int y = 0; y < img.height; y += 20){ float myDist = (dist (x, y, mouseX, mouseY)/8); color c = img.get (x,y); fill (c); ellipseMode (CENTER); ellipse (x,y, myDist,myDist); } } }

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Autogenic Structures

coche — Tue, 07 Apr 2009 04:40:46 +0000

I made it this evening to The Storefront for Art and Architecture for the launch of Evan Douglis’s book: Autogenic Structures. As usual, it was great seeing so many friends and colleagues.

Evan was kind enough to sign this on my copy of the book.

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Image Read

coche — Fri, 03 Apr 2009 20:21:33 +0000

Reading the pixel data of an image to drive the color and scale of circles.

Next step will be to draw the webcam video using the ellipses. Now its just changing based on a random number linked to the brightness.

Some image downloaded from the web…


PImage img;
void setup (){

size (360,360);

img = loadImage ("artlife4.jpg");

noStroke ();

smooth ();

tint (255,255,255,0);

image (img, 0,0);

frameRate (8);

}
void draw (){
for (int i = 0; i < width; i += 10){

  for (int j = 0; j < height; j += 10){
    int posX = i;

    int posY = j;

    color c = img.get (posX,posY);

    float b = (random(brightness (c)/4));  
    fill (c, 200);

    ellipseMode (CENTER);

    ellipse (i, j,b,b);  
  }

}
}

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Blue Marlin Lighting – Phase II

coche — Thu, 02 Apr 2009 17:44:25 +0000

The second phase of the Blue Marlin lighting project was the design and installation of lamps for the existing/future conference rooms and reception area. To continue with the same language as the overall lighting of the space, we developed a chandelier out of the same laser-cut/flat packed elements we used in Phase I and off the shelf components. As you can imagine, I have by now a masters in pipe bending…

More images after the jump below.

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Blue Marlin Lighting – Phase I

coche — Wed, 01 Apr 2009 19:02:47 +0000

SOFTlab recently completed a lighting installation at the Blue Marlin offices in NYC. 6 pairs of branches populate the ceiling and not only distribute light, but articulate and organize the space. The branches end in the light fixtures which we designed and fabricated at the studio, while the rest of the structure was made out of standard electrical conduit.

Take a peek at more images of the installation after the jump below.

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MIT

coche — Sun, 22 Mar 2009 18:09:27 +0000

Smart Cities vehicle prototype.

We just got back from Boston after being invited by MIT to give a lunchtime lecture. My good friend Daniel Cardoso, a PhD candidate there was kind enough to show us around the media lab, where a few -very generous- people showed us some of their work. We had a chance to see the fabrication labs and some of the robotic work being currently done there, and it was absolutely mesmerizing. Dimitris Papanikolaou gave us a full presentation on his Mobility on Demand (MOD) project for the Smart Cities group, not only was that incredibly generous, but an amazingly interesting solution to urban mobility. What I think was among the most interesting thing -not only of his project but of the lab in general- is the reality of it all. A lot of the research being conducted there is for real applications / products / solutions, which is very refreshing to see after having been involved in architecture school for some time now, where a very small percentage of what is produced has real-world implications. We had as well the opportunity to meet up with our friends Carlos Rocha (ex-Media Lab and current Honda scientist) and Skylar Tibbits.

View a few more images after the jump below.

Dimitris Papanikolaou and a MOD vehicle prototype.

Daniel Cardoso showing us some of the work done at the S.A workshops.

Carlos Rocha, Daniel Cardoso and Mike Szivos post lecture.

The Millennium Falcon
ps. Daniel sent me this brief history or the MF.

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Darkness Descends

coche — Sat, 07 Mar 2009 05:52:44 +0000

We made it on Thursday to the opening of the show Darkness Descends: Scandinavian Art Now curated by Christina Vassallo. Our friend Marius Watz had three of his pieces in the show and performed with/vs Alexander Rishaug. His responsive visuals were absolutely stunning.

View more images and short clips after the jump.

SOFTlab worked with Marius on the laser etching and mounting of the pieces.

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Mos wins P.S.1

coche — Wed, 28 Jan 2009 15:44:27 +0000

Third time’s the charm right? And I kept thinking this was a ‘once in a lifetime shot’ type of deal.

Take a look at the primitive huts here in the NYT slideshow.

Just as a refresher, the other two entries were in ‘07 (Prehistoric Future) and ‘04 (Plug-in Drop-out)

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Hello World

brandt — Tue, 27 Jan 2009 23:49:39 +0000

I’m apprehensive as to what to post here, but super excited to be getting my hands dirty with the arduino. I’ve just researched so many fascinating projects, everything is so new and amazing to me. I’m planning on developing my arduino research through some iPhone programming, and I’ll try to share up a bit of both as I go along.

I will mention that I immediately rushed down to the NYU Computer Store today after finding out that they sold arduino boards. It’s the only place in the city that I’ve been able to find so far. They really have a great selection of parts and reference material at good prices. The guy helping me even gave me a list of packages they offer from the “Basic Tool Kit” to the “Basic Parts Kit” which includes an arduino and all the bits you would need for a long time, including various resistors, LEDs, semiconductors, capacitors, and switches.

Finally, I did pick up two reads while there:

by Dave Mark" width="57" height="75" />

Beginning iPhone Development: Exploring the iPhone SDK by Dave Mark

by Tom Igoe" width="62" height="75" />

Making Things Talk: Practical Methods for Connecting Physical Objects by Tom Igoe

more later…

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Make it Work

coche — Tue, 27 Jan 2009 01:41:58 +0000

I made it last Friday to the Make it Work exhibition at the Center for Architecture. The exhibit was sponsored by Arup (among others), and it included work they’ve done with architects around the world and how they’re pushing new technologies/techniques/materials to achieve those projects. The show included a prototype of the Trusset, devised by Phil Anzalone and Corey Clarke. Our good friends Robert Pallman (who works at Arup) and Troy Zezula from Pratt (worked at Arup over the summer) had to do with some of the projects.

View more images after the jump below

Really? 5 different 3d softwares to design the project?

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