C

Merry Christmas - This is for the photographers mostly. In some way a somber experience, but in others lovely!
Check it out -

http://beforeidieiwantto.org/usa_kansas.html

Wish you a merry Christmas

Merry Christmas To Everybody!!!

Photos for Matthew

Photos Matthew used my camera to take. Hope they come in handy. Have a happy Christmas everyone

Sophie xx

picture frames - the sequel

well, I guess the cheap picture frames from tescos didn't inspire much enthusiasm! But if it's still on the cards, a techno-geek acquaintance recommended these to me - Archos touch screens. Much more high-tec - touch screen, wi-fi, you can play videos on them, use as a keyboard, watch tv, go on internet, etc etc.

I know it's rather extreme just for the 'sigh'nage but considering we may be changing the look of things, and so will Paul, you can just save a load of videos on. Or have a web-page up, so you don't even have to go into the building, just upload onto a website. Relatively cheap considering - 250GB is £198. Click here to look on amazon. Again, the price is likely to go up in future.

VJing during the party

Last call For the footage That is gonna be shown during the party on thursday. Send me your work people!!!

spyros-chimneys

Here is some vids I made a while back, coming from spyros' idea of chimney tops for princess st. projection: [could probably dig up a fair bit of raw footage, 20mins or more, if thats what we decide to go with]


+slightly crapper upload quality:



+this is what i used as background clouds - may be of use??

Just some interesting ideas...

http://improveverywhere.com/2008/07/06/human-mirror/

http://improveverywhere.com/2008/01/31/frozen-grand-central/

http://improveverywhere.com/2006/08/19/slo-mo-home-depot/

Photography competition for the girls....

Im afraid boys aren't eligable to enter this,

but here you go girls..... quick though as the deadline is in 3 days!

http://www.thegalaawards.com/entry_fees.html

The Julia Margaret Cameron Award is addressed to professional and non professional women photographers worldwide, who will compete separately in the following categories: Portrait, People and Figure.Street photographyNudeSelf PortraitChildrenDocumentary - Reportage, Current affairs and EditorialFashion and Advertising (only Professional section)Architecture and InteriorsLandscapes and CitiscapesNature
Abstract and Still
Fine Art

There are no age restrictions, as well as no restrictions regarding the date the images were taken.

WPGA will be inviting in this occasion photographers working in all mediums, styles and schools of thought. Traditional, contemporary, avant-garde, creative and experimental works that include old and new processes, mixed techniques, and challenging personal, emotional or political statements will be welcome.

Dear Gang,

In the student teacher council meeting last week, we were told that the library have a certain amount of money to spend on new books each year. They said that if a student requests a book, 9 times out of 10 it is bought.

So! If anyone has a book they want , do let me know and i'll try my best to get it ordered in!

From one of your loving reps,

lucy x

Lights - Reflections

heres a cool project on lights and shadows. - check em out.

http://frozenly.com/2009/12/master-of-light-and-shadow/

picture frames

just been 2 my local tescos, and they're selling picture frames for half price - 7" for £19, about £30+ for larger sizes.

Wooden

Thats AMazing!! Im gonna have to read up and find out how that works exactly. Yeh i got a good response from spyros about the video i gave a link to. Me and him have both said that their feels like a strong corrolation btw his work and our own. When i first watched it, it was as if he had taken the idea straight out of my mind. I think your obseversations of it are quite right, i think that its a project that he did in one day, all written filmed and edited in his office. yeh.. i love it! :)

I got some footage to show tomorrow by the way, just a screen test that i did with some reflections, nothing incredible, but might be a good starting point in for generating ideas.

Matty

Hi Matt

Hi matt, just 2 let you know I'm still reading the blog! just been busy coz i'm working late shifts..

thanks for that - it's "not my thing" so I wouldn't have looked at it, but I liked it. And in a way it's vaguely similar to the work I'm doing at the moment. Don't you think it's interesting that despite trying to be variant and experimental he still can't get out of the 'old-style' photo colour and the 'old style' furniture etc - which wouldn't have been apparent at the time..

ps. here's something. I just really like the concept - a wooden mirror!

Gary Hill - Around & About

I saw this ages ago, its very simple and playful, maybe not for everyone, but i really enjoyed it.
(no relation to anything, apart from wanting to post something.)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DnuHVAlpY2I

Paul - Setting up the last bits

This is what paul wrote back to me: Early next week would be best. Free till wed night then away. Let me know what would be best for you.

So when is best for everyone?

light and shadow

This is Hans Feldmann's work 'Shadowplay' - the toys are on turntables.
I also like this project: Light In The City by Alfredo Jaar
http://www.alfredojaar.net/index1.html

Quick update: Andrea; Ste; Florin, Spyros and myself went to 52 on Saturday. met Paul made some progress with installation of foyer piece and ideas for the ground floor space / windows / light.

On Monday Spyros & I met Trevor Johnson and Haider from Creative Lynx, had a chat about potential ideas and got their input. They gave us the link for their new website / blog: http://52studio.ning.com/
They are keen to use it both as a record of events and activities held at 52 as well as for sharing ideas.

If anyone is good at CAD they might be able to improve on my Blue Peter model:




See you tomorrow.

52

52 Princess Street - Blue Prints

Here are the ground and 1st floor plans. its before the renevation happened so not all the details are there, but its good have and i just looks good.

Enjoy

Matthew

my new blog

not really sure how this all works as brand new day but I have attempted to set up a new blog if your interested here it is...

http://jonathanstead.blogspot.com

Free thing!!

Hi guys, I just found out something very cool.

Artist Newsletter (www.a-n.co.uk) is an online version of the magazine, with regularly updated info on art news, artist residencies, art competitions,with inspiring expert advice, and loads of other stuff.

Anyway, it costs about 40 pounds to subscribe to get to all the good updated features, but you can log in for FREE if your university is a member. (which ours is)

So if you go onto the website, and then under the log in it sais 'log in via your host institution'. and you put in your uni log in and wahey away you go!

enjoy!

Luce

Stuff I like

Hello all,

first post and all that, so just thought I would show you a few sites I like and think are interesting.

http://www.wefeelfine.org/

http://www.postsecret.blogspot.com/

went a bit mad..

with the footage katy gave me of buildings. It looks nothing like buildings now, but pretty nonetheless (I hope). After spending an entire night waiting for rendering, as a result I have no hard drive and probably a greater disposition for epilepsy. Oh well.

This one for the ceiling perhaps? In total these videos run for about 10mins. If anyone wants to shoot more footage of Manchester I'd be grateful, then it can run for longer...



Couple of minor points: The quality isn't great because it's reprocessed/ reformatted camcorder footage so you can see lots of grain when shown large-scale. Second, this is 16:9 (widescreen) ratio, if the ceiling/wall is more square I might need to change it 4:3? Also the next video is inverse, and the projector will be projecting the *white, not black. So we'll need to test it to see if it looks alright.

I made this one into a circle, then duplicated it again. When I played it back, it looked a bit like eyes watching you. Kinda like the idea of moving eyes in the foyer.. "the city is watching you" cliché..


(I was thinking of calling it 'Wall-E takes mescaline' but that would probably be inappropriate..)

52Princese ---media lab ..... projection....

who wants to send more work for temporary "52 princess" projection please do at this address florin@florinmocanu.co.uk . i'll do my best to finish it till next thursday.

Princess St Meeting 19/11/09

The meeting with Paul McCann was attended by Ady (thanks for getting hold of the projector) Matthew, Ste, Ireena & Katy.

• We showed Paul the temporary work and tried out the position of the projector. There is a lowered ceiling under the mezzanine balcony that can act as a shelf for the projector which would be connected to a laptop which would go on Norman's desk. A mirror would need to be angled in front of the lens and masked to stope any light overspill.

• Paul also showed us the interior spaces that could be used for lighting / projection from the inside onto the windows on the corner of the building (to the right of the entrance as you look at the building from the outside). He is happy for anyone to go into these spaces and work experimentally while the building is open.

[The ground floor has no power yet; First floor is occupied; Second and third floors are empty with power.]

• He can also open up for us on a Saturday if necessary. We discussed Saturday 28th as an installation date.
• The question of additional funding was raised again and Paul suggested we should liaise with Marcus Lord on this.
• The building was used this week as a venue for a Man Met event and has previously been used for showing degree show work.
• Florin later showed us a more elaborate version of the carousel idea that he has been working on.

Jobs To Do:

• Cable required to run from projector / laptop for long term use; by Sat 28th (or earlier) Ady
• Mirror / arm attachment; by 28th Katy
• Laptop for long term use; by 28th Ste
• Arrange Meeting with Marcus asap Katy
• Floor plans / measurments; Andrea has these apparently asap Matthew
• Put all work into new carousel by Thurs 26th Florin
• check if Florin has got your work asap everyone

Long Term
Everyone to be working in their sub-group on the idea for the space they have identified, progress to be reviewed Thursday 3rd Dec? Possibility of Sid / Katy work to be installed first with help from others for the installation. Temporary/experimental work in the window spaces can be installed at any time.

sid..

I think that is a nice idea! I also think its quite a different take on what we have already seen and talked about. And of course i know old half-life, it looks like the same people made it as well. Excellent, we can ellaborate on where it can go tomorrow, nice one. I think it can make a nice simple link between the outside and inside as well.

u can pick it up in shops for about 15quid, (re: 12quid on amazon) it's made by the same people who did half-life 2, if u knows Your computer games.. I don't have it afraid, just heard about it.

Thought it would be cool if lots of holes started popping up on the walls, ceiling, floor with different webcam perspectives!

Portals - Interesting

I think that idea/video youve posted is really interesting. It opens up a whole (get it..haha) new way of looking at the foyer. Conceptualy and also technically. This could also bring in idea between the outside and the inside of the building, simple but effective in thier relationship.

By the way, is portal game something anyone can actually have a go with? Im curious!

portal

found a video of that game i mentioned. It's a puzzle where you have a gun that opens up a portal + you have to think 3-dimensionally (e.g. walk through portal in floor and walk out in the ceiling)

Can be done with webcams+ projections?
Portals popping up on the white walls, looking at yourself sideways on the ceiling? Or seeing outside? etc. etc.

Minutes - 5/11/09 - Princess Street

So this is where we are, next week we are all bringing in content to put into the interface that steve has created. This means footage or stills. Also to start thinking and/or creating little images that we can use for a motion tracking, for example fish that move and swim away when someone walks over the projection etc... Lets start making some little examples and ideas of what simple content can be used here. Also thinking about images that can add depth and perspective into the space - Main point, stay simple but playful and spectacular!

To do's:
We should start thinking about dividing the group in specific areas of interest and use for the project, examples:
- Interface
- Space
- Content
- Research
- Funding
- Communication
- Technical/projectors/sensors

In no way does this limit anyones input in other areas, but it gives areas of focus and lets us know that somone is definely working on each part, so nothing is neglected. Start thinking!!

Sponsors Research, we need to look into funding from different areas. e.g.:
- Creative Lynx
- Council/Arts
- Panasonic/sony - any company that makes projectors.
- Please add to the list and notify us of any developments or inquiries you have made.

Keep thinking about the outside in the back of your minds and also remember we can project on the stairs, lifts, ceiling, floor anywhere. And also there is the idea of signage for the lift and stairs, what quirky interfaces or graphics can we produce!! Think think think and then share share share!!
Peace, love, create and stay in touch!

Princess Street

I like your ideas Sid. Thanks Matthew for writing up the discussion notes.

I was out getting my footage today so I revisited Princess Street with a view to the ideas we have been discussing for the long term / exterior project. It's aproximately 17 meters between the buildings on either side of Princess Street. I also tried to get an idea of the view from near the junction.

P.S. I've also been taking a look at the businesses housed at 52 Princess St. to get an idea of who passes through the foyer on a regular basis and the kind of clients they may have.. here are some links.

http://www.creativelynx.co.uk/
http://www.rpsgroup.com/Group/Overview.aspx
http://www.freeindex.co.uk/profile%28cerus-casino-academy%29_167231.htm

Fill me in!

Hi all,

Sorry I couldn't be there yesterday, I had to go to a funeral in London. I sent Andrea an email but I am unsure if she recieved it. Is the post about yesterday's minutes below all that I missed? I would appreciate if someone could let me know if anything important was missed as don't want to be out the loop! Thanks :)

See you around soon,

Sophie

Don't have time next week to get any work done, so thought I'd do some today instead. Quickly filmed tops of buildings a la katy and messed about with it, sped it up, put several screens together, so you end up with a dynamic shape that can be moved about. VERY rough video, but if you use ur imagination you get an idea (oh, and ignore any subliminal swastikas):



I think it was thomson/ thomas cook that did a series of ads on busstops where a country was shown like a world (extreme fish-eye view) with its landmark on top. Can't find a picture, but if anyone remembers? Also, anyone remember the car advert on E4 - red car that split up into computer-squares + lines?

You could also see how this can be incorporated into steve's motion-traker program? How about the video moving as fast as people walking through the building? Or the shape getting bigger when you move towards it?

Thursday 29 Oct - Minutes

Temporary.
Ideas:
Spyros - Krank, speed up slow down, playing with medium to create this slick advertisemtn look. - Adding an animated character, or quite simply something so tie all the threads of our work.

Katy- Manovich's split screens, incorporating different stills and footage in a random sequence on one projection so that it doesn't become repetitive and creates different relationships.

Steve- Interface linked with interaction. Movement in the space changes and manipulates the selection of footage or stills.

Sid- Projecting two screens across from each other. Creating a more conceptual space for interaction that doesn't need sensors or much hi-tech attention.

AIMS:
Can everyone bring in content for next thursday!! with the topics/themes:
- The City
- Movement/Motion
- Time
- Colour/Black and White

Please generate some images and footage for next week that link to these topics!
- Its all about bringing stuff in and starting to play. Then once we get an idea of what we are interested in individually we can maybe break into groups and start focusing on different areas.

- Have a think about some more permanent ideas for the space as well.

Things to keep in mind and that also need research!
- Site permission, what can we actually do on princess street.
- Cost for equipment, will it be sponsored, what are we looking at using?

Right thats all, hope it all seems right.

Mat.the.w

This was being shown over in york last weekend. people draw something using a home-made interface + then you can move the drawings around.

Tagtool

Hint

And a hint given from a friend that successfully manages an interesting blog about contemporary and media arts. It would be more helpful and easier for the categorization of posts in the blog if we added tags to our posts that would direct us to each subject.
See ya today!

Motion Tracking and Capturing Brain Activity

These are two videos that I found and are actually really interesting each one for different reasons. We can actually discuss more about them today :)


Interactive Art: Playing with Light-Camille Utterback

NeuroCinema-MindSign Neuromarketing

Contact Theatre: View Event

check this out - a sound residency on our doorstep.
Contact Theatre: View Event

liverpool design symposium‏

http://www.liverpooldesignsymposium.com/
who's up for a trip to Liverpool

Points to Think about.

Here is a brief layout of what me and AD thought we should focus on for creating the temporary installations:

General
- Set Goals
- Time Management

Sections
- Interface (eg Carousel, Last FM layout)
- Content (eg Photos, videos, documentation of all our previous work)
- Technical (What are we using technology wise)

Do we want this up in a week so we can then focus on working on something more permanent and interesting? - Main thing is to keep it simple and work get something in the space soon as.

Looking forward to seeing you all on thursday.

Mat.the.w

Thursday 22 Oct - Minutes

52 Princess

Temporary Installation.
- Focusing on a unique interface to display/showcase our work in the foyer.
- A screen saver type display
- Steve: Carousel interface
- Florin: Table with notebooks that can be opened with viewing of videos and photos inside.
- Sid: Interaction between two screens facing each other inside the foyer.
- Spyros: The layout of Last FM's CD casees that spin 360
- Katy: Mirror spinning projection over the walls.
- We want to make someting informative, slick, but in someway subversive and not run of the mill.
- Slapstick Advertisement - playing with a satirical advertisement.
- Creating an intercae then playing with it possible content.
- What can our content be.

I hope this is helpful - its a quick run down.
By the way katy i lost your number, could you repeat it for me again pls.

See you all soon!

Matthew

Good, ill see you at the media Lab around 4:30 then right? Anyonelse up for it?

52 Tuesday

yes I am up for that, meet in the lab after 4.30?
how do we add comments to a post?

52 tomorrow?

Hey there. right i am up for meeting tomorrow after 4:30 if you want. Anyone else down with that? Ill get the notes from last weeks meeting up in a short while today. Im very sorry for the delay, ive been in Nottingham and its not been easy to find time! See peoples tomorrow then???

Matthew

.

I got time next monday or tuesday after 4.30 if anybody is doing anything re 52
Can't totally remember what was said......... as things is a bit hazey today.
have a good weekend
ade

projections. sensors, sculpture

Dear all, here is some footage I dug up from just messing about with shapes. It's a fairly simple idea - two circles that I transformed /morphed according to random keypoints. I thought about it when we were at 52 as we mentioned motion-tracking- what if we could find a way of translating these changes to the movements of an individual/ group of people? I know there are programs that allow you to edit 'live'. This is only a sketch, and we could use different shapes, colours- anything u like really. Never mind the 'twitches', I wanted it glitchy at the time.




Untitled from Sid Volter on Vimeo.


Also, sorry to ramble, but I found this diy : very simple idea but pretty, adds a sculptural element, and also fits into the analogue-digital theme:





256 wires suspended, projector projecting horizontally to correspond with them. Personally I think it would be too frustrating + fiddly - you have to register the pixels with each wire. Eek! Search 'wiremap' and theres loads of tutorials on how to make one, and the code is open-source! People are doing all sorts of things with the idea, including moving 3d objects - a bit like a hologram.

52: Media Artists

Hello one and all,

Ive been doing some reasearch into artists that work with sensors and projections and i stumbled acrossed these two british artists called KMA. Heres a link to one of their pieces in Liverpool. They were actually "Abandom normal devices" festival that i think andrea said is comming to manchester nezt year. Take a look, very hi-tech, but beautiful.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IMaz2SjgP1E

By the way me and Spyros are meeting in the Media Lab at 2 today to braintstorm, come along if you can find the time.

Mat.the.w

52

I have droped off a disk of the images and 360 into the lab.

.

I've got the 'lurgy' so I couldn't make it in .. I didn't think you'd want to be contaminated, now I've missed loads of stuff :/ Any chance of a brief update anyone? Thanks for the blog Spyros - I got inspired by the David Shrigley shorts on your other page.

First Post

Wer-hoo, Sid gets the first post!
Thanks a lot Spyros, I think this will be a great way of keeping up to date on things.
Thought I'd mention this, if anyone's interested:

http://www.meetnorth.com/rule-of-thirds/

A series of talks on 31st October in Ulverston, as part of the AND thing going on round here

"It's a one day gathering of creative thinkers to discuss the impact of digital culture on the creative workflow, and explore the exciting, developing opportunities for how we create, communicate and collaborate."