Open Source Ecology

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http://opensourceecology.org/

 

 
Open source ecology is a novel new way of looking at both agriculture and DIY culture mixing. The technologies showcased in this website could one day help rebuild civilization or more realistically help to empower low wage agriculture workers to develop their own equipment and methods of harvesting and growing food. 40 different agricultural industrial machines and their instructions and blue prints to build are freely avaliable online to those in need. I think it is novel that this project in particular is funded so well for a grassroots agriculture movement.

 The founder of the open source ecology MARCIN JAKUBOWSKI is a very interesting character, because he made all of this foundation from purely his idea. He built all of the designs shown by him in his own garage workspace. He is a testament to the fact that anybody of any class and walk of life can start creating their own resources to pull them out of farm debt and/or increase agricultural earnings potential.

This work is ground breaking in the fact that through a globally connected communication system like the internet a farmer in India could download the plans for a back hoe or tractor that is relatively reliable and the blueprints and replacement parts would be readily available. This could change the face of agriculture in the modern world, this movement could empower peasant farming communities to no longer rely on the animals to plow a field but a hand made tractor or digger machine could do the work through them. This is all the result of the internet connecting people and ideas together to spread knowledge, and knowledge is power.

Encyclopedia Pictura

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Encyclopedia Pictura

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 I thought that Encyclopedia Pictura was an interesting art and music production studio, their DIY approach to music videos in particular is of noted interest. For instance the Bjork - Wanderlust music video that was presented in class was a prime example of Encyclopedia Picturas collaborative efforts to design new 3D music videos for experimental artists.

http://encyclopediapictura.com/bjork

I liked the depiction of fantastical mule/hybrid animals and the lone girl from the Bjork music video it was like a trippy adaptation of a storybook scene or something similar to that aesthetic.

Encyclopedia picture is a good example of the DIY and maker movement taking in almost mainstream success in terms of developing and producing their own artistic masterpieces. Through their well designed and their music video productions are top notch and will for sure become classics in the future.

 

Interactive Robot Painting Machine - Benjamin Grosser

http://bengrosser.com/projects/interactive-robotic-painting-machine/

Benjamin Grosser
The robotic painting machine is a creation of autonomous AI controlled robotic painting machine, that is controlled by outside stimuli such as sound and light and can act on its own.

The painting robot is a modified 3d printer that has 3 ways of motion and up and down, it is 3 axis CNC machine with a paint brush on its tip. This piece of art intrigues me not only because of its complex and abstract nature but because this piece of art is a robot as well. The machine can take in sound stimuli and convert it into movement and painting strokes so it can make interactive painting art.

The coolest feature of the painting machine is that the motors and actuators that move the paintbrush are of a musical nature in that they create specific tones and musical sequences when programmed to move to certain areas or maneuvers. 

I think that this piece is interesting in the fact that it is a industrial machine utilized in a fashion to make it artistic and appealing to the digital artist in us all.
 

The Whale Hunt

http://thewhalehunt.org/

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The whale hunt is an artistic piece depicting the slaughter of a whale for food by Alaskan Inuit hunters on an ice shelf. The piece is a depiction of the hunting down of a whale and

Their were 3,214 pictures of the whale hunt taken by the photographer Johnathan Harris’s and the team that came with him to document the process of harvesting a whale for sustenance.

I think that this piece is an interesting piece of art because of its simple interactivity in the web page, all you need to do is scroll to the right and go through the thorough sequence of events. The web site is simplistic with a white background and

This piece is interesting because it is utilizing computer science and web design to interact with an ancient process of  harvesting a whale. This piece of art gets intriguing once it is opened the slide show starts off and starts to bring you through the process of discovering how the photographers journey was to Alaskan Inuit communities.

I think that this website is a great example of streamlined web design and graphical art to convey the vast emptiness of the Alaskan ice sheets and the almost ritualistic harvesting of a whale in Alaska.

Radiohead-House Of Cards ---- Computerized Art Music Visualiziation

http://www.aaronkoblin.com/work/rh/

--> Aaron Koblin
Radiohead - House Of Cards

Radiohead is one of my favorite bands of this musical generation. While most of their music is experimental or classified as electronic with aspects of rock and roll they are an interesting band because they go above the music they have produced to make artistic expressions. Radiohead has always been a technological rooted psychedelic influenced rock and roll group, their peak of fame in the late 90s and early 2000s gave way to some classic albums such as, King of Limbs, In Rainbows and Amnesiac.


This websites visual interpretation of the song House of Cards is an abstract masterpiece, I thought that it conveyed the aspect of visualizing Thome Yorke's face well and it was interactive as well being able to move around and zoom in or out. The interactivity and 3D models really made this stand out on a web browser it is truly a work of art worthy of praise.

I think this fits in well with the ISTA course because it is a collaboration of both sound media and a digiral 3d world representing the music, this piece makes me question the value of simple music videos in production pieces of art in music. Aaron Koblin and Radiohead's collaborative work of musical art is a masterpiece of the digital age of art.

Golan Levin - 3d printing / Eye code

http://flong.com/

Golan Levin
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Golan Levin is a professor at Carneige Melon University who is a collaborative digital and electronic mediums artist. Golans pieces could be described as new age electronic abstractions, or digital installations.

http://flong.com/projects/eyecode/

Eye code is an interesting piece of art in that the users interact with themselves during the piece being active, their own eyes are displayed in fron of their face. The eyes displayed in front of the viewer blink in accordance with the subject sitting in front of the camera. This piece of art is revolutionary in the fact that it is both interactive, personalized and well implemented, Golan Levin described it as “typographic tapestry of recursive observation.” Which menas that your recursive vision is being processing into a feedback loop that will determine how the eyes on the screen act in accordance to your eyes movement.

Another pieces of Golan's work that is notable is 3d printing, this technology of 3d printing has developed over the last ten years and has exploded in popularity and it is quickly becoming a viable means for printing plastic material in small batches. Golan uses 3d printing to make simple QR code spray paint templetes to send people messeges in a discrete manner,

In this piece of art a 3d printed QR code is used to warn people of danger, or signal certain things. This piece of art alludes to the 19^th centuy hobo art that was used to secretly signal certain things between hobos. This abstraction is interesting because it is mixing the digital side of art production with the new digital era of 3d printing and QR codes.

Maker Movement & Instructables

www.Instructables.com

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The maker movement is a conglomerate of artists, crafters and programmers that all share the same common goal, make the unimaginable and do it yourself. This do it yourself ethic of creating art installations or even just simple technical projects is fast becoming a facet of society.

The website www.Instructables.com is a perfect example of the newly found maker movement is being developed by the “Maker” community. This site has a collection of DIY projects and pieces of arts and crafts instructions; they are outlined in a clear repeated format. These instructables can be printed or saved for later use in making art or other technical projects.

I think that websites like instructables will help to further develop a rich and diverse collection of projects and art on the internet will further spread and develop rich communities based off of the projects contained within www.instructables.com

For instance through instructables.com I went and downloaded the plans to make a fuzz box for my electric guitar and after a trip to Radioshack for basic components and ordering a few key components off of the internet, and maybe taking apart an old piece of electronics for a switch or something else in the salvaged parts bin a week later I had a functioning fuzz box I built exclusively from the plans I found on www.instructables.com . Instructables is a great website to kickstart a new DIY project  .