Fabrication

Update: 1000 lines of code and counting

Juicebox

The sound of a "slurp" evolves into a pulsing orchestra as we pay homage to the Juicebox.

McDonalds Toy

Sampling a late ‘70's McDonald’s commercial, the piece cascades over you--the warm golden arches fill your ears.

Play Doh

Samples from a 90's Play Doh television advertisement extrude out of the "fun factory".

Rubber Duck

Some birds cry out; some birds sizzle.

Sand Pail

See the shimmering forest to your left and the flowing lake to your right--an image of Canada.

Silly String

Diving through sine waves layered with mortar percussion; it’s only fun until someone looses an eye!

Teddy Bear

The sounds of industry beat beneath a soft lullaby, telling you that nothing is ever what it seems.

Cap Gun

Wind chimes near the park you played in when you were seven. Aluminum cans falling off old fences in the wind.

Watering Can

The quiet monotony of dripping water: torture or bliss?

RFID and Ableton Testing 2

RFID and Ableton Testing

Materials List

Object List:


1 Stuffed Animal 


1 Sand Pail & Shovel 


1 Dollar Store Cap Gun


1 Play Doh 


1 Silly String 


1 Rubber Duck


1 Old MacDonald’s Toy 


1 Watering Can


1 Juice box


1 Ruler 








Materials List:


10 RFID tags
3 RFID readers
3  Arduinos
3 Mac Mini’s (MacBook Pro’s)
1 2 x 2 foot sheet of 1/4 inch ply wood
1 18 x 24 inch sheet of .220 inch thick acrylic
4 1 foot table legs
3 Super Bright LED’s available at creatron
3      USB cables




This post was over looked and as such has been retroactively placed in at this date and time.

Artist Statement: Dim Ambition

Dim Ambition comments on the constructed nature of our society through the use of nostalgic objects and familiar sounds; the piece also explores our relationship to the manufactured and structured elements of our cultural institutions. Inspired by The Giver of Names by David Rokeby, this piece attempts to contextualize our relationship with objects--in this case, through sound. The piece is inherently interactive, requiring the user to select objects from a pile to place upon a pedestal. Each object is equipped with an RFID tag; the user will then place the object on one of three sensor surfaces, creating different sounds. The objects were selected to reflect the artists’ personal views on nostalgia and childhood; however, the objects are also quintessentially “childhood” items. Each is ascribed a unique sonic signature constructed by referencing audio information often associated with these objects. However, the sounds have been distorted and warped by the artists; these alterations are intended to shift the response of the user from pure nostalgia to critical contemplation. Ultimately, play is the primary purpose of the piece--each object is one of childhood play--however, the user will then play with the objects in a new way. This merger of new and old experiences is intended to display the various ways in which we can be primed to learn (or even to deconstruct what one has learned) through objects of play. 

Project Change

After we finished the proposal for covalence we realized that it was too mechanically intensive and expensive to complete in the time allowed. Some discussing and a brainstorming session ensued, and it resulted in a new project that involves some of the same technology, but a very different concept.

Artist Bio: Lucas Thurston

Lucas Thurston has been experimenting with music since his early teens. Interested in film and programming, he applied to Ryerson. Over the past three years his passion for experimental music has merged with his programming abilities. Honing his skills in sound design, found-footage film, and feedback looping, his conceptual artworks merge visual and musical noise elements to explore existential questions of space and time, as well as humanity’s reliance upon technology.

Artist Bio: Mac Pepler

Mac Pepler began his artistic career at Ursula Franklin Academy, assisting in the production, direction, and editing of films. While attending, he also experimented heavily with dark room photography. After a year of attending Queen’s University in a Humanity’s programme, he realized that producing art-in all its various forms-was his vocation. In his past three years at Ryerson, he has become increasingly interested in conceptual installation, multimedia, and technological/transhuman artworks.

Artist Statement: Covalence

Covalence is a musical exploration of our relationship with interactive connectivity. The project has been constructed to allow universal access to experimental music, utilizing the framework of play and music to articulate freedom of expression. The piece is primarily based upon the concept of tangible manipulation and creation of space, facilitated through the misuse of  industrial technology--the omnipresent manufacturer of our technological future.

Facilitating all of the music generation is the tempo control unit. The unit is constructed via a form of tape loop, an established element of experimental music; it uses RFID tags on a conveyor belt to control and regulate the tempo of the sonic sequence. Each unique tag sends a signal to one of four receivers, or ‘instruments’, instructing each to play a note. During this process, the user can manipulate any of the objects of the piece, thus creating and defining an operating space in which the relative pitch of all four instruments will be defined. Moving either the pieces or your position of interaction will allow for a harmonious fluctuation of sound as the relative pitch is recalculated. Similarly, each piece will be equipped with a frequency shift and volume potentiometer, allowing for an additional level of interaction. 

Our relationship to the piece is also deeply based upon the music object’s inherent interaction with the environment in which it is placed, because the user defines the instrument’s operating space. The sonar sensors have a 4 foot range, as patrons in the gallery space will constantly be affecting the sound output. The accessibility of the interface used by Covalence allows for an immediately rewarding experience with experimental music, and shows a take on music far from the realm of the mainstream.

Prototyping

Welcome

As Lucas and I are now working together it seemed like a good idea to make a new blog to post our information


Dim Ambition: Recreational Detainment is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License.
Based on a work at dimambition.blogspot.com.