Doing a presentation in Lyon (France) today, I encountered this interesting sound installation in a parking garage (the policy here is to put art installation in every underground parking garage, which is nice): Strata by Jody Elff

Commissioned by Lyon Parc Auto, Strata is a reactive sonic sculpture distributed throughout 6 levels of the new subterranean parking garage at the Cité Internationale complex in Lyon. The work is the result of 2 years of combined effort between Jody Elff, Lyon Parc Auto, and Art/Enterprise. Strata explores the relationships of levels, or strata of the structure itself

The work consists of 6 unique sonic “personalities,” one for each level of the facility. A computer controls the occurrence and distribution of the sounds throughout the facility. When an observer is on a particular level of the garage, they hear only the sound of that level. However, there is a global control process in place that guarantees that all six levels are harmonically and rhythmically coherent. In addition to the control of the sounds by the computer, the sounds of vehicles themselves will be transformed and integrated into the final presentation. The result is one of a spontaneously generated composition, comprised of the individual sonic events from each floor. This combined result can be heard in the main pedestrian entrance hall of the facility.

In addition to the sonic sculpture, a visual component of the work was installed in the elevator cars. A series of patters drawn directly from the software used to create the sound sculpture was realized in a light filtering material. As your visual relationship to the elevator cars shifts, the materials change color, from amber to blue to translucent.

The Fourth Screen Global Mobile Media Festival Call:

The Fourth Screen Global Mobile Media Festival will focus on the mobile phone as an emerging social, cultural and technological phenomenon. We invite artists, technologists, and other creative thinkers to submit creations, inventions and concepts in two categories:

1/ moving images: videos made with mobile phone, movies, animation and games intended for mobile delivery

2/ wise technologies: software art, software and hardware that proposes new uses for mobile multimedia communication, applications that have positive cultural, social and economic impact in diverse cultures

The use of phone cameras is already pervasive, millions shoot, share, watch video clips with this all-in-one personal production - distribution - player device.

Why do I blog this? cell-phones based art, that’s an intriguing concept. What’s cultural content creation with such devices? how they help circulating culture, there are interesting issues related to this festival.

Via news.3yen: Telephoneboxing is an art installation which very clear aims:

Telephoning has lost its physicality; it has literary become weightless. The smaller the telephone gets, the easier it is to communicate, anytime, anywhere, with anyone. (…) What would communication mean if a phone call would become an extremely physical action? When dialing a number requires a lot of concentration and words need to be exclaimed?

“Telephoneboxing” is an installation which explores the borders of communication. In a 20ft container, 10 buttons are attached to the walls. The buttons look like boxing balls and that is exactly what they are. In order to make an international phone call, one puts on boxing gloves and hits the buttons to dial a number. When a connection is made, one has to stand in one specific spot and speak loudly in order to be heard. The answer can be heard on a spot a few meters further into the container. The calling person will automatically adjust the level of communication to his or her eagerness to talk and/or to his or her physical condition.

Why do I blog this? I like this idea of re-introducing physicality in phone communication using tangibility.

the Flock is an impressing project by Ken Rinaldo:

The Flock is a group of musical interactive sound sculptures which exhibit behaviors analogous to the flocking found in natural groups such as birds, schooling fish or flying bats. (…) Our Flock consists of three 9 1/2 foot long jointed robotic arms, constructed from grapevines, which hang from the ceiling and interact with viewers, participants and each other. Each dangling arm has an array of three infrared sensors, projecting out from the top of the arm, which function as active eyes and permit the sculptures to avoid participants walking around the installation. Another infrared eye at the tip of each arm functions to allow the sculptures to approach and simultaneously react to participants presence. Each arm also has an array of four microphones which function as ears allowing the sculpture to move toward participants. The microphones are placed so relative volume levels of viewer/participants voices can be monitored.

Why do I blog this? I like the integration between electronic and organic elements; also the relation between the viewers and the art piece is interesting too.

I think I saw this project on Regine’s blog: Experiments in Galvanism: Frog with Implanted Webserver by Garnet Hertz:

Experiments in Galvanism is the culmination of studio and gallery experiments in which a miniature computer is implanted into the dead body of a frog specimen. Akin to Damien Hirst’s bodies in formaldehyde, the frog is suspended in clear liquid contained in a glass cube, with a blue ethernet cable leading into its splayed abdomen. The computer stores a website that enables users to trigger physical movement in the corpse: the resulting movement can be seen in gallery, and through a live streaming webcamera. Risa Horowitz (2003)

Why do I blog this? an intriguing biotech concept connected to the the origins of electricity, which is here transcripted in the world of internet connectivity? Does a dead frog can be used as proxy to reach BoingBoing from countries that do not allow their citizens to access it?

Via inhabitat:

Farmadeliphication (fahr’muh’deli’fi’kay’shun), n. 1. The process of turning all of Philadelphia’s vacant and abandoned lots into urban farms: The ‘Farmadeliphication’ of once decrepit buildings into farm structures advances fresh ways of seeing old structures as well as allowing for an organic transformation of history that contributes to the present day fabric. 2. What might happen if the Front Studio team’s entry to the Urban Voids competition moves beyond the conceptual stage.

Why do I blog this? I find this phenomenon interesting. It’s quite a different approach than MVRDV pig city (which consisted in raising pigs in huge skyscrapers) or Tokyo’s underground farm.

A very curious project by Alberto Frigo (professor at the Art and Technology department at the Gothenburg University). Since September 24th, this articts has photographed every object he has used. His purpose is to compile the unique code of different objects an individual uses throughout his life. The digital archive is here but he also printed his pictures: all of the images of a month on paper tablatures of 815×315 mm, each row being a day. The result is long-lasting The estimated numbers of tablatures at Frigo’s death would be of 600, a strip of 500 meters.

Here is the way it works:

1_During a life-event every object* the dominant-hand uses is photographed once and while used.
2_If an object of the same type is the following to be used, this object is not photographed unless the life-event changes.
3_A life-event changes as soon as the dominant-hand uses a different object in a different space.
ALBERTO FRIGO, 2003/09.24
*Every artifact that is graspable, consistent and independent.

Why do I blog this? it’s an impressive way of collecting a huge load of information, documenting an individual’s life. What is interesting is the way this pictures are organized (try to click on the picture on his webpage): the connections between images are intriguing and it’s funny to find the common pattern between them. It might be the outcome produced by camera blogject…

A more structured summary of what I found interesting at the Crystalpunk workshop for soft architecture in Utrecht last week-end:

• Pablo Miranda’s talk targeted two aspects of architecture: being critical and projective. As for the critique part, a lot of things in architecture comes from the assumption that one can do stuff by drawing (before, people were building directly). The use of computer application has complicated this situation: new tools (3ds max, maya, catia…) gives a very important flavor to what’s been designed: so who is going to be the author of a project built using such a tool? the architect or the designers of the tool? Concerning the projects, he presented those of his group which are amazingly interesting, especially those playing with genetic algorithm in architecture.
• Adam Somlai-Fischer’s point was about ‘bionic spaces”, not smarthomes. Sdam is against smarthomes, makes you dumb and incapable to interact with reality (which I definitely agree with, I hate the crappy intelligent fridge idea that may be refilled when empty). For him, architecture is not the building itself, not the behavior, it’s not a dress code BUT the idea that space that surrounds us is a responsibility AND it’s a social process. He thinks that now that social software are paving this way (web2.0, flickr…), we have familiar ground to replicate this in architecture. He then presented his incredible projects.
• Jelle Feringa elaborated on Pablo’s critique about interactive architecture. For him, each architect style is bound to the software they used (marcus novak - mathematica /greg lynn - maya
  kas oosterhuis - virtools / frank gehry - catia). His critique was also that specific software designed for architects are regressive. For example piranesi is very limitative: the software creates romantic-sketchy-cheesy models that make architects bound to old-fashioned model to create architecture. For him, archiCAD is also regressive in the sense that it helps quickly resolve design dilemmas and site-constraints unique tu strict municipal-building codes and client requirements through its interactive abilities. One of the most interesting project he presented was a chair design produced with genetic algorithm. They started by asking a question: “what is the minimum volume defining a chair” which they try to answer using genetic algorithm techniques. For Jelle, this was a new way of designing by addressing a specific question before creating an artifact.
• Jonas Hielscher (Z-25) presented his project Dat-a: an installation based on RFID technology. The dat-a project allows to track people in an exhibit using rfid (you can see people’s name in different rooms). He said: “we are in effect creating and Internet of Things”. He and Pablo also mentioned this interesting fact after my presentation about blogject: we will get enormeous piles of data, how would we do deal with that (data mining gets hot as Jonas said).

Thanks Wil for all of this!

Makers of Pac-Mondrian developed a new game called Calderoids in which players have to dodge and destroy Alexander Calder’s kinetic mobiles in the triangular ship of Atari’s space shooter Asteroids.

Calderoids combines the relatavistic theories of Alexander Calder’s kinetic sculptures with the virtual dimensions of Atari’s arcade classic Asteroids. (…) After creating Pac-Mondrian, we were on a mission to create a videogame art mashup for Atari’s greatest selling arcade hit, the space shooter Asteroids. The first artist suggested whose work lent itself to the form of the game was Joan Miro, whose pen and ink ‘Constellation’ series resembled a field of asteroids. Ian Hooper declared Calder’s mobiles filled a far better formal fit, given their fanciful free flight. Creating the first body of sculptures that moved, Calder called his early sculptures ‘Constellations’ after Miro, and presaged their videogame destruction in ‘Vertical Constellation with Bomb’. Although Mondrian’s squares provided the initial inspiration, the biomorphic forms in Calder’s mobiles were directly influenced by his friend and sometime collaborator Joan Miro. Ian Hooper’s conception of Calderoids mirrors Calder’s own aesthetic merging of Mondrian & Miro in the mobiles. After consuming the brightly coloured squares of Pac-Mondrian, and contemplating Miro’s constellations, the motion and form of Calder’s mobiles led directly to shooting stars in Calderoids.

An art installation by Loris Gréaud called “Cognitive fooding laboratory”: eating modified food (cresson saturated of anthocyanin pigments) may allow visitors to expand their nightvision skills… when food is meant to augment cognition…

Loris Gréaud nous invite ensuite � améliorer notre acuité visuelle avec du cresson saturé en anthocyanine, pigment naturel que l’on a l’habitude de donner aux pilotes de chasse afin d’augmenter leur vision de nuit. Goûtez-en avant de vous placer devant les Dream Machines où vous aurez � fermer les yeux pour «voir».
Ces caissons lumineux, inspirés de la Dream Machine du peintre et alchimiste moderne Brion Gysin, recevront vos pensées qu’ils convertiront en images. La pensée se donne � voir dans cette œuvre qui rejoint la fascination du XIXe, mais aussi de Kandinsky et Kupka, pour les phénomènes vibratoires.

Picture credits: © Elisa Pone. Courtesy gb agency

On the right: Loris Gréaud, Dream machines, 2004.Développements électriques: Jérôme Barbé. Production: gb agency et Le Plateau / Frac Ile-de-France.

Picture credits: © Marc Domage

This is an intriguing project carried out by Oron Catts & Ionat Zurr in Collaboration with Guy Ben-Ary. It’s an artistic research and development project into the use of tissue technologies as a medium for artistic expression.

In the last five years, we have grown tissue sculptures, “semi-living” objects, by culturing cells on artificial scaffolds in bioreactors. Ultimately, the goal of this work is to culture and sustain, for long periods, tissue constructs of varying geometrical complexity and size, and by that creating a new artistic palette.

The acquisition of living cells and tissues for artistic purposes has created concerns and has focussed attention on the ethical and social implications of creating “semi-living” objects. Thus our goal is to create a contestable vision of futuristic objects that are partly artificially constructed and partly grown/born. These semi-living objects consist of both synthetic materials and living biological matter from complex organisms. These entities (sculptures) blur the boundaries between what is born/manufactured, animate/inanimate and further challenge our perceptions and our relations toward our bodies and constructed environment.

In this project we have used pig’s bone marrow stem cells and three dimensional bio-absorbable polymer scaffolds in order to grow three sets of wings.

More information about it on the website of the Pig Wing Project:

The Pig Wings installation presents the first ever wing shaped objects grown using living pig tissue, alongside the environment in which such endeavour can take place. We will attempt to present living tissue engineered pig wings that will be animated using living muscles. This absurd work presents some serious ethical questions regarding a near future where semi-living objects (objects which are partly alive and partly constructed) exists and animal organs will be transplanted into humans. What kind of relationships we will form with such objects? How are we going to treat animals with human DNA? How will we treat humans with animal parts? What will happen when these technologies will be used for purposes other then strictly saving life?

Why do I blog this? still a sunday afternoon browse, I was also wondering about tissues as a new interface (input/output) for certain technologies.

(via), Julie Mehretu - Psychogeographic paintings:

The twelve paintings in Julie Mehretu: Drawing into Painting, curated by Douglas Fogle and originated at the Walker Art Center in 2003, are densely layered works that describe a futuristic environment capturing the sense of our time in history.
(…)
Mehretu’s works draw from those traditions yet her image of the urban environment depicts a post modern city. Her paintings are built from the juxtaposition of different styles of marking, each with their own character, identity and history. These dense compilations of marks create overlaps and transparencies. The resulting layered compositions exude an energy that is consistent with contemporary society. She depicts a world that is in constant motion, a world that draws from the past as it looks toward the future.

Check this one: Julie Mehretu, “Excerpt (Suprematist Evasion),” 2003, ink and acrylic on canvas, 32 x 54”.

Why do I blog this? I like these representation of (data? artifacts? vehicles? city?) flows. Wouldn’t it be a nice metaphor for a physical representation of what we used to call cyberspace, a la hertzian tales? I like this concept of “invisible topographies” (see here or here).

Nam June Paik, is a korean artist who designed (in 1964) a robot that can shit in the streets of New York and call/mingle people who pass-by. According to an interview in Wired (back in 2000), it seems that it’s the only pooping robot (well except Wim Delvoye’s Cloaqua which is more a machine than an anthropomorphic robot). It’s called “Robot 456″ and the antropomorphism in this case was related to its innovative capacity to XXX.

(Picture Photograph: Hanns Sohm | © Nam June Paik taken here)

Why do i blog this? I like some of his statements like “I make technology ridiculous”, the way he manipulated technology and humour is fantastic.

(via) Yes, chewing gums on the pavement could be turned into art piece: see here or their

Here is the artist - in action - :

The world of chewing gum is impressive.

At the Lyon Light Festival in 2005, for the Superflux Event (interactive art installation located in lots of places of the 7th arrondissement of Lyon), there was this amazing city market that indicated the presence of art in the building. There was acually a light red light inside. Would this be a new way to tag the city?