Hands on, sans hands

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'ACCESS is a public art installation that applies web, computer, sound and lighting technologies in which web users track individuals in public spaces with a unique robotic spotlight and acoustic beam system. The robotic spotlight automatically follows the tracked individuals while the acoustic beam projects audio that only they can hear. The tracked individuals do not know who is tracking them or why they are being tracked, nor are they aware of being the only persons among the public hearing the sound. The web users do not know that their actions trigger sound towards the target. In effect, both the tracker and the tracked are in a paradoxical communication loop. The ACCESS spotlight system travels from one undisclosed public space to another. The exact location of the public space is revealed only after ACCESS moves to its next location. The ACCESS website, which contains the webcam view and spotlight control, keeps an updated list of the locations visited as well as a video archive.' -- accessproject.net

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'Flora and Harmony is a technoid, kinetic indoor jungle, built by Niklas Roy and Wojtek Kucharczyk out of common electric household devices and a structure of stage equipment. The installation can be manipulated by the visitors. Two control stations, which consist out of clusters of extension cords and multi plugs with power buttons serve as interfaces. Wunderbaum air fresheners provide an olfactory input and microphones pick up sounds which are amplified and played back as soundtrack.' -- Niklas Roy

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'The subConch is a completely new musical instrument that can be played by using the force of your mind alone. The instrument, a conch shaped metallic sculpture, is hung from the ceiling in three steel wires. Along with the conch comes a headset that you, the performer, must wear. The headset reads the players mind using EEG technology allowing control over pitch and other audio characteristics. To gain this control the gallery visitor must sit down and follow a three minute training program. When finished the user will have the ability of complete cognitive control. he subConch is an interactive installation currently in development by Mats J. Sivertsen. The installation will be exhibited in art galleries and used in musical performances'. -- subConch.com

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'Seiko Mikami creates precise depictions of the gradually transforming relationship between information technology and sensory perception in artworks focusing from unique perspectives on the human body and its forms of existence. Her new piece titled Desire of Codes, exhibited at YCAM’s Studio A with 3 different pieces. One is consists of a wall installation of objects responding to the movements of audiences, “laser projector” was equipped with 6 robot arms are follow the movement of the audience from the ceiling and special 3.5m screen that resembles an insect’s multifaceted eye. The entire inorganic apparatus begins to move like a wriggling living being according to the motion detected by built-in small surveillance camera in the exhibition space. The images recorded by these cameras are mixed with footage from surveillance cameras installed at places around the world. By turning the audiences bodies into both the objects of observation and artistic expression, this work aims to redefine our position in a time when all kinds of environments – including those of everyday life – are increasingly being information oriented society.' -- Saturn Never Sleeps

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Porta Potty system at Frog Design's SXSW Interactive opening party. Augmented Reality Porta Potties using Phidgets, Adobe Air & an ultra-short throw projector.

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'Interactive artist Daniel Rozin works in a very particular artistic milieu, making mirrors from unreflective surfaces. One of his creations, The Wooden Mirror is a testament to his skill in this area. The mirror uses 830 square pieces of wood which are hooked up to an equal number of small motors which move the wooden blocks according to a built in camera. The camera picks up movement in light and somehow transfers the signal to the wood. The result is an eerie representation of reality depicted in tiny wooden pixels. Since building 'the wooden mirror' Rozin has experimented with a number of other materials.' -- Design Boom

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'Established in Paris in 2000, Electronic Shadow is a hybrid design platform whose activity is based on research and innovation on both the artistic and technological point of view (patented system based on space/image projection). This pluridisciplinary approach allows original propositions which merge both space and image, material and light in the most diverse contexts from art to architecture, design, scenography. For about five years, Electronic Shadow multiplies exhibitions (NY MoMA, Centre Georges Pompidou, Musée d’Art Moderne de la ville de Paris, La Villette, KunstlerHaus, Japan Media Art Festival Etc.) and creates applications from this artistic research in many different fields: design (Giorgio Armani, Cassina, Boffi, Etc.), museum scenography (Palais de la découverte, Cézanne 2006).' -- 3dvia

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Hirakawa Norimichi's A Circular Structure for the Internal Observer: 'What is the meaning of "Real Time"? How can we perceive the irreproducible moment? In a situation where the observed object disappears in the act of observation, isn’t our body the only medium that can confront it? The sequenced images created by the feedback structure develop as indescribable and irreproducible pictures. They confirm that we all exist in the same universe.' -- HN

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'A spinning pendulum that drips color and draws a square. The process lasts more than 6 minutes, so this short video is presented at a faster speed. The pendulum's position is tracked with an IR led (on the pendulum) and a Wii Remote (on the wall, pointing at the drawing area).' -- pvrellis

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Tom's World's 'Doubles': 'In the field of media art, interactivity has a different meaning than in traditional usage, referring to a more narrowly defined quality. As digital computation is derived in essence from the "play" of computer games, a work of interactivity requires the intervention of the viewer to become complete. Interactivity can be presented in many forms, for example as interactive art on a CD-ROM, as an interactive website online, or as an interactive installation involving space. As the Digital Age formally began in the late 1980s, art also evolved in its forms and thinking, in line with the changes in the tools available to it, to make use of non-linear and interactive concepts.' -- DAC


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p.s. RIP: Claude Chabrol. Hey. New week, new stuff. Oh, on this weekend the blog will be holding its ninth writers workshop with none other than the human marvel known as Plexus in the cozily hot seat, so mark your calendars. ** David Ehrenstein, Hey. Well, I guess I urge you to give 'The Thin Red Line' another chance one of these days. It's one of my very favorite films, as I think you know, and my novel 'My Loose Thread' owes it a big debt. That Michael Moore piece was nice, yeah. Really sad news about Chabrol. Much mourning and tributes over here, and his movies are all over TV at the moment, which is the only little plus. ** Allesfliesst, I'm walking over to Shakespeare & Co. this very afternoon with 'Heinrich von Ofterdingen' scribbled on my palm and hope in my heart. Novalis + paint = heartthrob. Boxing club ... oh, you should talk to d.l. Jax, our resident Muhammed Ali. ** Eli Jurgen, Aaron Carter's stint/ status as the ultimate pre-twink years ago pre-'Aaron's Party' was interesting. I got a storyline in 'The Sluts' out of it. Oh, thanks a lot for the Noise Control link. Any idea when your episode will air if it hasn't? I recognized every name in your record haul except for 'Roger'. ** Bollo, Hey. First, so awesome that you liked 'Jerk' a lot. Thanks! Yeah, Jonathan is amazing, isn't he? He's really the show. The fold-out pages idea is good, but one of the DisVoir people's problems with the extra pages thing is shipping weight, so that issue would probably do our argument in. ** Pilgarlic, Hey. Mm, either of those salons would be interesting, but I'm not all that into either one of those groups of writers, to be honest. If I could pick a salon, I'd probably go for Paris in the Rimbaud era, or Paris in the 50s w/ Bataille, Blanchot, the Nouveau Roman gang, etc., etc., or maybe somewhere in the US in the 60s w/the young, loosely meta-fiction lions like Pynchon, Gaddis, Barth, Barthelme, Gass, Coover, McElroy, etc. I actually saw John Cougar live once. He opened for some punk era band or other and got cold-shouldered off the stage after a few songs. Wonderful Tybee report/ send off, man. ** Sypha, My pre-lit reading was even worse than yours. Novelizations of TV shows like 'I Spy' and 'The Man from UNCLE' and so on. And some crap that I thought might give me a boner like Harold Robbins. Yeah, well, that realism thing was Carver's thing and trendy for a while, and it'll probably always be most readers' idea of the ideal, but at least it isn't so dominate or trendy at the moment. ** Plexus, Hey, G. (I'm never going to top Gabasm, so I won't even try.) It's cool how children can be friends with anyone, even a toilet. I'm glad you sent Blake something. I hope he knows what he's got. Yeah, the Qur'an burning, the mosque/ground zero crap, the anti-Muslim idiocy in general, it's just sick and frightening and stupid and I don't even know what. I thought this was a pretty good wrap up of that shit if you haven't seen it. Your friends don't want to see thrash metal with pigs blood? What kind of friends are they? Did you get out on the boat? I just worked on my novel. (It says hi, by the way.) I don't think I did anything else. No, I didn't. Love to you. ** Jose, Hey. No, but I was still clogged and hazed up when I tried to tell the difference, so I'm sure it was my congestion's fault. I hear you about trying to articulate emotions and a mental state that are in flux. It's hard enough when one is plateauing. ** Steevee, Thanks for the warning about 'The Last Exorcism's' ending. I'll know when to cut my losses or whatever. I hope you didn't get my cold or, well, anyone's cold. ** JW Veldhoen, First, thanks for the amazing weekend, man. I never explain my posts either. But I guess they're full of other people's explanations, so I'm not sure that counts. The blog quaked. Everyone who wasn't dead asleep all weekend felt it. ** Oliver, Yeah, I'd say finished has about 90% bad connotations. The remaining 10% is just me lunging to 'finish' my novel. It might be interesting to be Finnish though, because I have no idea what that would entail. So one could ostensibly be Finnish and unfinished at the same time. Uh, that's a weird riff, sorry. ** Alan, Fascinating novel report. Thank you, man. Eight reels meaning eight distinct and as yet non-unified sections? Mine has seven unless I'm kidding myself. Is the novel linear in a way that makes the order of the sections a given? ** Bill, Hey. Yeah, I'm feeling better. It's mostly a lung/ coughing problem now, which I assume is its exit strategy. Oh, yeah, CB is amazing in 'The Machinist'. As I think I mentioned, he did that film right after the first 'Batman' and had to get skeletal and quite quickly and from a very bulked up starting point, and it was treacherous and even damaging. ** Statictick, Hey. I'll read that article a bit later when my mind is free again. For now ... Everyone, here's Statictick, and please give him and his recommendation your full attention: 'There's a cool article in this week's Det. Metro Times about 'Uncle Jerrold,' who hangs out on the streets of the 'financial district' 'campaigning' for the inclusion of the schwa in the English Alphabet (or it's transposition from the International Phonetic Alphabet, I'm not quite clear on that). The dude has a plan. It was really charming to me, having had Linguistics as one of the majors in college. I don't know if I agree with him or not, but why not? The article should run through this coming wed. if anyone is interested (it's truly worth a read).' Fucking hell, on the no MRI front, but I hope the Epileptologist comes through big time. Give us the word, man. Lots of love now and forever. ** Pisycaca, Hey. It's called the Jules Ferry Youth Hostel, and that link should get you to their webpage and the basic info. Let me know if that's helpful or if I can help in any way. I just worked on my novel for most of the weekend, which was the best way to spend it. Yeah, Gisele's and my new piece might be really, really good if we can pull off what we're hoping to. I'll keep you up on it as it develops. ** _Black_Acrylic, Hey, Ben. Yeah, patience. I'm all about being patient with myself these days too. So, the big YnY shebang is this coming weekend? Awesome. If there was ever a YnY thing that needs to be videoed, I'm sure don't need to tell you which one that would be. Sounds like a busy, fun lead up week ahead. I'll read the Mark Fisher article later. It sounds super interesting. Everyone, courtesy of and recommended by _Black_Acrylic, here's an article by Mark Fisher in Frieze Magazine about Toy Story 3, Thomas Ligotti and the uncanny. Check it out. ** The Dreadful Flying Glove, Wow, I just caught a few seconds of that video you linked to. Holy shit, nice. Everyone, courtesy of The Dreadful Flying Glove, 'here's a wonderful video of two children performing selected readings from (Witold Gombrowicz') work. I love how the kid with the glasses delivers some of those lines.' Follow TDFG's lead post-haste. ** L@rstonovich, Project, collaboration, mysterious cohort, top secret ... what more could anyone ask? Please spring leaks as soon as the coast feels clear. Mixed metaphor, sorry. ** Will Decker, Hey, Will. My health is slowly returning for what passes for normal. Novel is going better too. Happier days. I know a bit about Heisenberg's efforts re:/against Hitler maybe from a movie about him or something? I don't remember where I learned what I learned. I don't think Hitler would have bombed Paris in any case. He toured the city after the Nazis occupied it and famously said that was the happiest day of his life. There are photos of him in Paris with tears in his eyes and his mouth agape in awe. But, luckily, we'll never know. As far as I know, I never had to take castor oil. Maybe it had been supplanted by some less obnoxious medicine by the time I first got sick? I did swallow more than my share of Milk of Magnesium. Ugh. Happy Monday to you. ** Norval G./ Mark Null, Hey! Thanks for entering my blog officially. It's an honor to have had your work here. I added the credit/copyright to the photo. Take care, respect, and thanks for allowing this place to show off your work. ** Creative Massacre, Hey, pal. My weekend was okay, but yours wins by the veritable mile. I still haven't caught the Pixies on their current endless reunion tour, but I got to see them back in the day at least. Glad you had an awesome time. So, school's treating you right? Very nice. You take care too, M. ** Rigby, Hey, Mr. R. What's what where you are? ** Misanthrope, Reading an interview with Bob Dylan when I was super young lead me to Rimbaud, and that lead everywhere, so God or whoever love book reading rock stars. Oh, yeah, the conventional has its place. I prefer it in pop songs, though. Understood about your feeling that the experimental should complement narrative, characters, plot in your work, and it serves your work very well, obviously. I'm more like the opposite. Narrative and characters -- and I guess plot, although I kind of hate plot -- have to serve what I want to do. They're window dressing to me, conveniences, flirtations, common ground between the reader and myself, or whatever. They're just not central to me, I guess. ** Right. Monday is a go. Interactivity plus art is the blog's thing for today. Check it out. See you tomorrow.