Source code: FSM_simulation Built with Processing
In the quest to produce dynamic data displays which present the absurdity of our situation on earth in a more appropriate manner(i.e. an absurd manner) the possibility of using taste as a means of data transmission presents itself. Due to the sensitive nature of taste receptors, it is theoretically possible to encode information into a form in which it could transmit information via taste.
Because coffee is such an important part not only of the daily routine of millions of Westerners but also of the economies and societies of the third world countries in which it is grown, it provides an excellent medium for exploration of taste informatics and specifically beverage informatics.
The News Brews device is an exploration of the possibility of creating a beverage which provides information about the daily news. News Brews connects to internet news feeds and parses them to determine the relative frequency at which different coffee growing regions are mentioned. It then brews a cup of coffee from freshly ground whole beans which contains relative proportions of beans grown in the regions in that day\'s news.
The sleek design of NewsBrews renders it a timeless classic and a welcome addition to both modern minimalist and baroque interiors. Individually matched copper sheets, selected for their luster and hue are hand riveted to envoke old world steam-age charm while the fittings and large knobs make NewsBrews easy to use. Just turn the knob to the desired news feed, and press the button for either a cup or a pot of coffee just the way you like it- infolicious!
probavitiTry on a pair of new totally amazing mutant ears and be transported to another galaxy where nothing sounds the way you expect it to! Point your ears to chirping birds and turn their song into an alien symphony, or transform ordinary conversation into extra-terrestrial bandwidth!
With Totally Amazing Mutant Ears, you can mix and match 4 digital distortion modes to orchestrate an audiotastic experience that\'s out of this world! Choose from reverberation, echo, metallic and pitch-shifting effects.
Totally Amazing Mutant Ears were conceived and designed with David Bamford and Terrence Arjo at the Interactive Telecommunications Program at New York University. They were selected to be presented at the Mattel Student Summit in Los Angeles, CA, 2006 where they were awarded the distinction of "Best Toy".
Use your body as an electrical conductor and solve the puzzle! Network Topology Twister is an educational game and team-builing exercise for 4-8 players. Stand on one of the electrical pads and hold someone\'s hand to complete the circuit by passing the electrical signal through them and into the pad they\'re standing on. If you make a good connection, one of the lights will turn green. But be careful, if you connect the wrong pads it could break your circuit and turn some lights red. There is only one way to properly connect the conductive pads and it\'s tricky, so you better bring your thinking skills and be prepared to work together in an organized manner.
MediaDialecticsTitleFight uses information from the news to generate a mechanical narrative. Users can dial in keywords which are displayed on the lcd panels such as Faith and Reason or Democrat and Republican. The device then connects to the New York Times website and counts the occurrences of these words in the paper that day. Once the information has been collected, the Rock \'em Sock \'em Robots begin punching each other in a dynamic display of the frequency of those words.
'; //doodlesnake pList[5] = 'DoodleSnake is an exploration of movement and behavior. The 11 segmented carbon-fiber snake is controlled via a computer interface. DoodleSnake takes the shape of the lines which a human user draws in the computer interface. Since the DoodleSnake constantly updates its shape, the act of doodling produces unique and dynamic behaviors in the DoodleSnake.
'; //itp interactive thermal proboscis pList[6] = '
The Interactive Thermal Proboscis is a tactile thermometer. Because temperature is something that we feel as opposed to something we see, thermometers could benefit from displaying temperature via sense of touch. The Interactive Thermal Proboscis addresses this issue in a unique way. The device itself takes the form of a giant copper nose. Using a thermoelectric device known as a Peltier junction, the surface temperature at the tip of the copper nose is kept at the temperature outside. To get a sense of what the temperature is like outside, the user simply rubs his or her nose against the the tip of the Proboscis.
'; //chertoff pList[7] = '
Chertoff is a dynamic display of the current Terror Alert Level as determined by the United States Depatment of Homeland Security. It consists of a cut-out of the head of Michael Chertoff, the director of the DHS(of which FEMA is a subdivision). The current Terror alert level is displayed via the constantly updated color of Chertoff\'s eyes (note: since it\'s creation in 2005, the eyes have been a constant orange color).
'; //theatrical design pList[8] = 'In 2002, I designed the sound for an adaptation of Georg Buchner\'s "Woyzeck" in collaboration with Active Eye , a downtown theater group. To pair with the stark imagery and themes of poverty, insanity, and medical experimentation I created a palette of sounds collected from my own body. Using old polygraph equipment found on ebay, I amplified my bioelectrical signals (EEG, EKG) into the audible range and treated them heavily to produce beats and soundscapes to accompany the live piano score by Rika Iino. In addition to the bioelectric signals, I used knives and $2.50 in change to create additional sonic elements. Woyzeck premiered at the Culture Project, 45 Bleecker street, New York in March of 2003.
I was asked in 2006 to design a mask for the 31Down production Metronoma, a play about the life and writings of the horror novelist and cult hero H.P. Lovecraft. Having been a fan of Lovecraft\'s writing during my youth, I eagerly accepted the challenge. Made of bed foam and wooden snake toys from Chinatown and coated with acrylic window caulk, the mask includes built in circuitry for wireless transmission of digitally modified audio spoken by the performer inside the mask. Metronoma Premiered at the Ontological Hysteric Theater in June of 2006. A photo of the mask is featured in the book Encyclopedia Horrifica(Scholastic, 2007).
Following the success of Metronoma, I was asked to collaborate once again with 31Down radio theater on their adaptation of Rossum\'s Universal Robots by Karel Kapek. For this staging, which hybridized the text of the original play and the lives of the brothers Kapek, which ended at the hands of the Nazis, I was asked to create a stove which would come to life and coerce Karel into castrating himself during a hallucinatory penultimate scene. The stove was constructed from posterboard with a lasercut plexi frame. 4 Servos embedded in the front panel manipulate the mouth into seven complex positions to create the illusion of speech. (photos coming soon)
'; //bionetwork simulations pList[9] = '
I\'ve been fascinated by complex systems based upon simple rules for a very long time. I believe it to be a subject intimately linked to evolution and to understanding the universein general. By using a very minimal set of rules and a modicum of chance, one can derive seemingly infinite complexity. I attempted to observe this phenomenon by attempting to create a virtual colonial insect society. Built using the processing coding environment, the system which consists of static holes and wandering "runners" runs on a small set of rules:
1. Holes generate new Runners at a rate which is proportional to their population.
2. Runners want to find new Holes.
3. As Runners search for Holes, they leave trails which other Runners can follow.
4. When a Runner reaches a new Hole, the population of that Hole goes up.
Using this simple set of rules, I can examine how a number of different factors affect the networks which form between the Holes. Minor adjustments to the rate at which the trails decay, for instance, causes the trails to organize less rapidly, but with a higher degree of organization. Still a work in progress, further explorations will involve creating a version which lets users viewing the applet over the web to make adjustments to the parameters and see results in realtime and making a self-evolving system which optimizes its own output.
'; //Self-Portrait in Latex pList[10] = 'Embiodermata Artificialis is an electronic organism. All of its behaviors are generated by a cellular automata functioning on minimalist logic. The actions of the servos stretching the latex sheets are driven by a virtual finite state machine consisting of nine switches. Each of these switches has two inputs from other switches and two outputs to other switches. The state of the nine switches at any given time creates the illusion of very chaotic movement. At its original presentation at the ITP Spring Show in 2006, it was described by viewers as disgusting, hilarious, bird-like, violent, sick, beautiful and perverse. The original output for this finite state machine was a miniature wave machine which used vibrating spoons to generate patterns in a bowl of water. The inelegance of this system led me to rethink the possible outputs and I decided upon the stretched latex. The device went through several iterations before landing in its current state.
This simulation shows the finite state macine cycling through all of its states.
Source code: FSM_simulation Built with Processing
The following photos show the earlier incarnations of the embiodermata Artificialis. From the left are the original wave machine form of the finite state machine, an early version of the Embiodermata Artificialis using a rubber glove and an improved version with more elastic latex (dental dam) and a frame to cover the servos. The current incarnation of the organism stretches a pair of colored condoms, is self-illuminated, and is housed inside of a large black lacquered frame.
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