Allison Walker – Page 26 – Thoughts from the Underground

Recontextualization

Initially, for this assignment, I was kind of stuck on deciding what to do. Sometimes it feels a little intimidating to show media work at school, since there are so many media pros attending the program. Chris sent the class a link to examples of recontextualization pieces by other artists. This helped focus my thoughts on what to do, though I might have gone a little overboard.

Recontexutalization, as I understood it, was to repurpose a media for something else and, in doing so, changing the meaning of the original. So, for my project, I felt inspired to dub one video with a second video’s soundtrack. For the visual/video portion, I found a religious puppet video sharing a message about religion. For the sound portion, I found a clip of Pulp Fiction where Samuel L. Jackson’s character eventually recites a line from the book of Ezekiel and then shoots almost everyone in the room.

It was really quite difficult to get the mouth movements of the puppets to properly match the spoken words of Pulp Fiction; it was tedious work. But, I’m happy with how it turned out.

Religious Fiction from Allison Walker on Vimeo.

Religious Fiction

Later, in coming to a realization that perhaps I’d gone overboard, I made 2 still image recontextualizations.

Creating a wireless circuit & representative masks

For this week’s Wearables assignment, I created a circuit with no wires and 2 masks, that represent who I am and how I hide.

Here is the wireless circuit.

For this circuit, I used a fine copper mesh to create the little man’s legs, using 2 hollow tubes that I formed from the mesth. Then I put a gumdrop LED into each leg, slid a 3V coin-cell battery in between the legs to light the LED. The added hat and feet give the circuit an approachable look of a tiny man with large feet and a dunce hat.

Next the 2 masks.
For both masks, I used cloth strips covered in plaster to make a recognizable mask of my face. My reasoning for this was that a mask that’s make using my face, will be the perfect mask for my face.

For the mask that represents me:
For this mask, I used an old aquarium, with a working overhead light, to recreate an ordered and somewhat sheltered space that I create for myself. I am rather protective of my home and personal space, and spend what may be a significant amount of time keeping my home ordered and relaxing for myself. I also tend to keep my personal thoughts, affections and beliefs to myself, perhaps to the point of keeping people out. The plexi-glass for the aquarium, is a reminder of the barrier I set up for myself.

For the mask that hides me:
This mask represents a behavior of mine, in which I avoid face-to-face confrontations with people, and rely much more heavily on written communication. Rather than speaking with my voice, I speak with type-written words. The strips of paper are a one-to-one representation of the typed conversations I have with others, and they spew out of the mouth of the mask. I thought about the fact that sometimes the paper strips cover up my eyes which suggests that typed communication vs face-to-face communication can make it more difficult connect with people, socially.

Article: Paper supercapacitor could power future paper electronics

(PhysOrg.com) — All those paper transistors and paper displays that scientists have been designing can now be powered by an onboard power source, thanks to the development of a new paper supercapacitor. Designed by researchers at Stanford University, the paper supercapacitor is made by simply printing carbon nanotubes onto a treated piece of paper. The researchers hope that the integrated design could lead to the development of low-cost, disposable paper electronics.

Very interesting and could lead to a lot of new and much more ubiquitous interactivity possibilities. Imagine, a circuit on your grocery bag.

Virtual reality used to transfer men’s minds into a woman’s body

Researchers projected men’s sense of self into a virtual reality woman, changing the way they behaved and thought.

Scientists have transferred men’s minds into a virtual woman’s body in an experiment that could enlighten the prejudiced and shed light on how humans distinguish themselves from others.

Men who took part in the virtual reality experiment said it felt as if they occupied the womans body. They even flinched when she was slapped. Photograph: Guardian — Men who took part in the virtual reality experiment said it felt as if they occupied the woman's body. They even flinched when she was slapped. Photograph: Guardian

Gesture-based computing on the cheap

Gesture-based computing on the cheap. “With a single piece of inexpensive hardware — a multicolored glove — MIT researchers are making Minority Report-style interfaces more accessible.”

Here’s some information about how the researcher developed the glove, iterating through different designs. “The glove went through a series of designs, with dots and patches of different shapes and colors, but the current version is covered with 20 irregularly shaped patches that use 10 different colors. The number of colors had to be restricted so that the system could reliably distinguish the colors from each other, and from those of background objects, under a range of different lighting conditions. The arrangement and shapes of the patches was chosen so that the front and back of the hand would be distinct but also so that collisions of similar-colored patches would be rare. For instance, Wang explains, the colors on the tips of the fingers could be repeated on the back of the hand, but not on the front, since the fingers would frequently be flexing and closing in front of the palm.”

Pretty fast rendering there, which is due to the fact that the computer is simply looking up images in a database, and then figuring out which position the hand is in. I really like how simple the calibration is: “To calibrate the system, the user simply places an 8.5-by-11-inch piece of paper on a flat surface in front of the webcam, presses his or her hand against it, and in about three seconds, the system is calibrated.”

LIVE.MEDIA+PERFORMANCE.LAB : workshop : SUMMER 2010 : EMPAC – experimental media and performing arts center – troy, ny usa

LIVE.MEDIA+PERFORMANCE.LAB : workshop : SUMMER 2010 : EMPAC – experimental media and performing arts center – troy, ny usa.

Announcing our first summer lab for interactive media in performance! Directed by Johannes Birringer and Mark Coniglio, the workshop offers intensive training and possibilities for experimentation with mixed reality and real time architectures, programmable environments, interactive design and the integration of time-based media into live performance and installation.

The workshop addresses emerging and professional art practitioners, scientists, researchers, and students from different backgrounds in performance and new media committed to sharing their interest in developing a deeper understanding of composing work focused on real time, interactive or time-based experiences and multidisciplinary collaborative processes (video, sound processing, projection design, lighting, choreography and directing).

Participants will be in residence for the duration of the lab and offered our exceptional facilities for investigating performance and design techniques that will develop skills and inspire new ideas for working in mixed realities and interlinked physical/virtual or distributed aesthetics. The workshop will include examples and references to international stage works, choreographic systems, installations and site-specific works, as well as hands-on experimentation in full resolution with interactive systems.

Methodologies for the laboratory are conceived by theatre director and media artist Johannes Birringer, founder of the annual Interaktionslabor and professor of performance technologies at Brunel University (London), and Mark Coniglio, artistic co-director of Troika Ranch and creator of the Isadora software. Both artists are widely recognized for their pioneering work in the international performance and media network. Interaktionslabor was last offered on tour in Belo Horizonte, Brasil (2008), and Birringer’s and Coniglio’s work has been featured in numerous festivals and exhibitions around the world.

The activities of the lab are open to visitors, and information about the proceedings and the research process will be available soon.

Résumé and informal letter of application due: June 30, 2010. Contact: Hélène Lesterlin: lesteh@rpi.edu / tel. 518.276.3918

More info available on their site.