radarboy

It’s nice to see projection mapping moving into a more conceptual realm. Here’s some really nice work from Kit Webster:

“Enigmatica is a work in progress exploring new concepts in combining light, sound and space to create multi-dimensional synesthetic environments. The work experiments with spatial segmentation, illusory oddities and aural expression, freely shifting from order to disconnection and sweeping through the spectrum of colours from softly subtle to psychedelic. By constantly reforming the dynamics within the space, the installation demonstrates the potential for creating new forms of digital sculpture.”

http://kitwebster.com.au

Anthony McCall was a pioneer of light projection in the 1970s. With the current upsurge in interest in light art, there’s a renewed interest in his work. I think what I love most about his stuff, is that his a lot of his works are experiential – based on projecting simple vector lines, the emphasis placed not on the final destination but rather the journey the light takes to get there. The kind of feeling/experience you get when playing in a lazer.

The sound is pretty bad on this one, so crank up the volume. Anthony McCall: talking about his beautiful Between You and I installation:

Here McCall talks about his “Line Describing a Cone” piece:

Visit his site here: http://www.anthonymccall.com

There seems to be a flurry of projection mapping stuff going on recently. It’s interesting to see how the technology is evolving. Here’s some I’ve recently stumbled upon:

Kiégő Izzók recently did a show for the Berlinale. Here’s some of his work:

Next up, awesome minimalist stylee of Stereo Noize:

Next up, the Battle of Branchage by Seeper:

ok, this one I’m not so sure about posting, because the graphics are not my cup of tea. And overall it’s pretty cheesy. But I think it’s a significant step up in production values. So skip the parts where the music and vibe starts to do your head in – especially the New Years bit.

Lastly, this ones been floating around the interweb a bit lately, but still cool. It’s from Lumen and OCD:

Lumen & OCD – Projection Mapped Cityscape from Lumen on Vimeo.

I’ve decided to start release some of the stuff I’ve been working on lately, building up towards my show. I have so many experiments sitting on my hard drive that never see the light of day.

So here we have Sound Reactive Circle 1.

I wanted it to be able to play in the browser, but for some reason couldn’t get it to work, event though I signed the applet. Next time….

A video is here. For more of my work see the radarboy FLickr page.

Here’s the code. Build in Processing. It includes a Mac, PC and Linux application.

These screengrabs are part of a vast pool of sound reactive stuff I’ve been working on over the past year, which is finally getting into a presentable form.

After a long haitus, I completely rebuild the old award winning RBVJ in Processing – but it wasn’t as simple as I anticipated, and it’s still not 100% stable. Once it is I will release the code.

I’m not a programmer, I’m a designer/artist, whatever. However I do enjoy quite a few aspects of programatic design – the fact that code can lead you to unexpected places and taking on a life of it’s own can really surprise you.

I am really most inspired by the visuals of Raster Norton and Ali Demirel, which are pretty close to my own work in both style and substance. I’ve also been thinking plenty about space and I think, along with minimalism, these theme play out a lot in my work. I think the graphics also reflect the way my music production is moving.

I have always believed that club graphics should simple – there is too much noise in the world already – and the simplicity of the graphics allows us to go with the music and find meaning on our own, rather than being shoved down a visual mishmash. Not that these kind of graphics should necessarily be just shown in a club context, but that’s another whole conversation.

The plan is to combine the visuals with my live music/DJ sets – eventually controlling both light and sound through Ableton/OSC/Max.

Soon on a wall/dancefloor in Berlin. And beyond.

Project Links:
Gallery: Here’s the first of a three part set of screengrabs from my work:
http://radarboy.com/george/visuals1.html
Video: (Coming Soon – next week hopefully)

Some technical stuff:
I’ve decided to totally ditch Flash – it is just too verbose, annoying and slow. I actually considered moving completely over to Open Frameworks for speed, but eventually decided Processing was the best bet. Given the strides being made in ProcessingJS – the JavaScript port of Processing, the recent launch of Processing for Andoid and news that Processing 2 will be even better friends with OpenGL. Open Frameworks’ inability to publish on the web was also a clincher. Anyway, I digress.

German-based Urban Screen are rocking. Pity their website is such a shocker. I posted an earlier piece of their work recently, and here’s another beauty. Love the way the building crumbles away.

Snoezelen are kind of chill rooms for the mentally and emotionally challenged.

Snoezelen, a contraction of “snuffelen” (to explore) and “doezelen” (to relax), is an idea developed in the late 1970′s by two Dutch therapists, Jan Hulsegge and Ad Verheul. They had learned of the positive responses a colleague was able to elicit from people with intellectual disabilities while exposed to a sensory environments and decided to further explore the idea. Their first sensory tent was filled with simple effects such as a fan blowing shards of paper, ink mixed with water and projected onto a screen, musical instruments, tactile objects, scent bottles, soaps, and flavorful foods. The results were impressive, specifically in clients who showed a marked reduction in self-abusive behaviors.

Snoezelen is now used widely in education and care settings for children with disabilities and autism spectrum disorders. Encouraging results have also been shown from people suffering from mental illness, chronic pain, acquired brain injury, and stress. Over the past fifteen years, Snoezelen has expanded into 30 countries with thousands of installations, a worldwide foundation, national and international conferences, and research projects.

http://www.flaghouse.com/philosophy_AL.asp

Dug up this old sketch I did – the Peter Saville Tribute, and added sound reactiveness.

Instructions:
Press ‘s’ to turn on sound reactive response.
Use up and down arrow keys to increase or decrease the grid.
Drag with mouse to change perspective.

View here. or download the application (mac/pc/linux).