First Chinook Trial Animation

Here is the first animation I have done to play with perfecting the movement of the fish.

Update on Chinook Animations

Hey guys,

Here are a few things on the Chinook I've been animating. The project an model are not mine. The model was created by Lopez Fabrega, of Lopez-Fabrega Design, http://www.lfgrafix.com. The project itself was created by Prof. Colin Ives. I have been commissioned to do the animation for the project.

The project is a 'salmon run' along the South Waterfront, meant to bring attention to the environmental issues of our state's waters that effect the survival of our native salmon populations. An animation of a Chinook Salmon will be projected using the 3M hand-held projectors. By using the projector almost as a flash-light, the participant will be lead by the salmon around the South Waterfront area.

Here is a picture of the Chinook I have been animating.

Today’s Media and Technology

Let me begin by saying that Marshall McLuhan’s, The Medium is the Massage, is one of the most interesting books I have ever read. The book brought to attention so many aspects of how our world has changed by the invention and widespread use of ‘electric technology’. I never stopped to think about how the modern family is forced to respond to this technological world. The children of today are being born into a world where they will be able to understand a computer by the age of ten better than their parents. It is really amazing to think of how many ways we use this technology, but what is more amazing is how many ways we do NOT think of it.
My father grew up during the fifties and sixties. While I was (and still am) growing up, he would often talk to me about how drastically technology changed between his adolescence and mine. He would tell me how computers would occupy an entire room when he was in college, and how a trip to the public library was the best way to access information. He was (and still is) amazed at the rate modern technology is evolving. The technologically miraculous world of today is so incredibly different from the world he grew up in. My father grew up in a world where were taught to be a citizen of the United States. Because of all of the new opportunities that are available through today’s technology and the technology of the future, my father taught me to be a citizen of the world.
I never stop to think about how much the Internet alone plays such a vital role in my life. It is my umbilical cord to the world, where I have access to unlimited information as well as open communication to friends, family, school, and work. I was born into a world of such high technological sophistication, that I do not even have to see friends face to face to interact with them. Instead, I can chat with them on Facebook, AIM or XBOX Live. Amazingly, we have created a world where one could go through life without physically meeting anyone.
In specific regards to media in today’s technological era, “First Things First 2000, A Design Manifesto,” makes a very interesting point. Our world has become engrossed in technologically savvy media, so much so that today’s designers are being associated with commercialism. The request the Manifesto makes is that designers should move away from the obsession of consumerism to solve real-life problems, such as global warming, ethnic cleansing and disease control. Honestly, I think there are times where people get so overwhelmed and lost in this new technological era that they forget the more urgent problems of the world. It is too easy to watch the newest funny video on Youtube. Perhaps we need to use this technology in a ways that allow us to solve these problems. There are plenty of ways to ‘get connected’ to the problems. The Internet has a wealth of information on every detail of each problem. I think the people of this generation are more comfortable watching from their desk chair than actually participating. Maybe real-world problem solving will hit mainstream one day, and become the new hip thing to do. I certainly hope that designers will lead the way, and change today’s media from simply accessing the globe, to being the globe.

Re-Mix Object

Hey guys!

Thought you ought to know what my object is for the Design Re-Mix Project. It is called a "Carlton Room Divider". Personally, I am both thrilled about it, and weirded out. It certainly doesn't look all that much like a room divider. I mean usually when I think of room dividers I think of the Japanese silk screens, where you see pretty pictures, but nothing beyond it. I don't know how this has been classified as a room divider if you can see right through it. I know that it was also meant to be a bookcase, and that's believeable...but a room divider? I actually think that I can make this more functional than it was designed to be. We'll see how it goes.

Second Project

Right now, I am working on an animation to be used for a projection on the South Water Front. I am going to animate a model of a salmon, that will be actively swimming.

I have been doing research on how fish move, both in and out of water. Youtube is amazing. It has been helpful so far in learning how the movement should look. I have not animated anything yet. The model has been keeping me too busy at the moment to think about that. Hopefully by no later than Wednesday I will be at a point where I can start animating.

Currently...

I am having trouble deciding what to do about the electrically rigged shoes I've been working on with Paul for some time.

Last week, Paul and I decided to begin working on them again, and this time to try to get them to function correctly. I think we have a clear idea of how to fix them technologically. What I'm not as sure about is how we are going to what to present the shoes. What should they interact with? Should we keep the idea of a being able to control a video with the shoes? Or should we push the idea even further.

I guess for now, we should take it one step at a time, and make sure we can get the shoes to actually work first.

Art Nouveau VS. Contemporary Design

From what I have been able to gain from these readings, art has evolved with time just as people have. It adapts as we adapt. I find it interesting in these readings though, as to what the opinions are of these adaptations. The first reading by George Nelson examines the Herman Miller Furniture Company. Through analyzing the design processes of the Company, Nelson explains that the designs of furniture adapt when necessary but are designed with the intention of remaining a permanent fixture of the Company’s collection. They are meant to stand the test of time until it becomes necessary to change the design for the better use and aesthetic contentment of the people.
I find this method fascinating in comparison to the ideas of the second article written by Adolf Loos. Loos points out that art is meant to adapt as people do. Art was meant to evolve away from past Art Nouveau practices in the design of an object and move into something so incredibly sophisticated that the object could only be seen as ‘plain’. Loos claims that historically there was initial uprising against these ‘modern’ designs because of their lack of art and a desire to create the next great era of art and design. In actuality, these designs were not only cheaper to produce, but were also far more useful and efficient than the past, more decorative designs had been. Loos uses the entire article to proclaim that the era everyone is trying to create already exists in an era that is far superior to the other because of this newly discovered proficiency of design and production. Ornamentation had been a previous necessity of design that virtually plagued every object that one could possess. This newfound simplicity was not only changing the objects themselves, but was changing the economy of consumerism, and Loos embraced it.
The final article by Hal Foster, brought up Loos and the era of Art Nouveau as well in it’s analysis of contemporary design. Foster points out that we are all living in a ‘world of total design,’ where everything you see is marked by a designer label. He claims that it is not a ‘new’ idea. It has, in fact, existed ever since the Art Nouveau era where everything was ‘ornamented’. Now the definition has changed once again. Now we move into an ‘inflation of design.’ Foster explains that nowadays the commodities and desires of the people are drastically taken into account in the design of a product, to a point where the artist’s opinion does not matter anymore. The hunt to gain the attention of the consumers is paramount in competing with other companies, and objects are re-designed in an endless cycle, merely seeking to be purchased.
In my personal opinion, the masses can enjoy the simple, useful designs. There are objects that I use everyday that fit the category. I prefer the ideals of the Herman Miller Furniture Company, where the artist is still the one who creates because of the enjoyment and pleasure it provides. If the world finds a design to be desirable, that is wonderful and the artist takes joy in that the work if appreciated not only by the artist, but by others as well. To me, it is what the artist values in the work that is created.

More Findings for the Class

Hey guys! Here are a few more videos that I found, and thought would be relevant for the class. The first is the music video for 'Her Morning Elegance.' I just think this piece is ingenious, using only a mattress, pillows, and bedroom accessories.

To view 'Her Morning Elegance':

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2_HXUhShhmY


The second video that I found was by a group of students from the Savannah School of Art and Design called 'Deadline.' They decided to do a stop-motion animation using post-it notes in very creative ways.

To view 'Deadline':

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BpWM0FNPZSs


The third video that I found is a viral advertisement for Ebay. For this video, the artists decided to do a stop-motion animation while using a white board.

To view the Ebay Viral Advertisement:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nP0cSnJDYWE&feature=related


I know that I've picked a bunch of stop-motion animations for this post, but I can't help it. They are just so interesting to me. By the way, I don't own any of this. I just think they're cool.

For the Secret Santa

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z50CbKEZK-w

I just thought this was interesting.

Seeing Is Forgetting

The artist as scientist. To be perfectly honest, it is a concept that I have never considered before, but one I find to be completely correct. As Robert Irwin explains the similarity of an artist’s work to that of a scientist’s, especially in how they both work with hypotheses, I came to the startling realization that this is how I have personally worked throughout my entire life.
In regarding my own work, I have in the past worked on “experimental” projects. These have been anything from class assignments to my own ideas. Each of these ideas began with a question: “Can this work?” Sometimes, through either the development or execution of the idea, I find that either it can or cannot function. If the later, I try an edited “experiment” of the same idea. If that edit doesn’t make the idea work, then it becomes a hopefully finite “wash, rinse, repeat” cycle of the scientific method. In this way, I can identify with Robert Irwin’s idea of artistic hypotheses.

I am astounded by the brilliance of Robert Irwin’s work as an artist. His ideas of how we as human beings perceive the world around us are theories I would have never considered. I was especially impressed by the experiment that he conducted with Wortz and Turrell when they were using the anechoic chamber. To be locked in a space in which your senses have nothing to focus on besides the life of your own body is fascinating to me. I am also really interested in what happens after one leaves the chamber. To have your senses so acutely attuned to the world after such an experience would be overwhelming to me. I would actually like to try that experiment myself one day, just to see how I would react to such a sensory overload.

Irwin’s other experiments such as the symposium he created using the different environments is also interesting to me, but not nearly in the same way as his experiment with the anechoic chamber. In the past I have designed projects to portray a mood in which the viewer would be forced to react in a particular way. In studying and experimenting how to do this correctly, I have already been able to observe what makes people react to their surroundings. The idea just does not seem that original to me.

The overall concept of an Art and Technology project struck me as I began reading the article. It stood out for a one key reason. Why have we not seen more combinations of artists and technological corporations and companies joining forces in the worlds of art and technology? With the many similarities in how artists execute their own artistic experiments, I am surprised to not see more alliances between the two. Maybe artists can shed a different light on technological questions or add a new flavor to technological experiments. Maybe scientists can help in return by supplying the technology needed as well as the technical knowledge to make an artistic experiment function. In a way, it is like the left half of the brain uniting with the right half. Both halves are needed to function properly.

Hello World

Hello everyone. I'm just stretching my legs, testing out my blog. I will have work to post shortly. In the meantime though...

WELCOME TO THE AMAZING SPLENDIFEROUS WORLD OF MELISSA!