Wieslaw's Crit

Today was Wieslaw's final crit, and the day we set up our final project. Some things changed along the way, and we decided that rather than do a video, we would do a seminar type project, and hand out pamphlets with instructions and other information on GPS drawings. Like we mentioned in one of our other posts, our project was more about the practice, rather than the final project. We fine tuned Squirtle so he worked much better. Not %100 perfect, which was expected, as when you sodder 100 LED's in place, there is undoubtedly room for error, but he did work reasonably well. We were proud we undertook this project and challenge, as we didn't really know much of what to expect. It was a lot of fun, and a lot of work, but we'd definitely think about researching GPS drawing further, as it's a relatively new and interesting way to merge the use of technology and art. The circuit was more tedious than anything, but it's really inspiring to see how far you can take this kind of thing. Robyn decided she's going to build a light for above her bed!

Crit...

So today we had our Final Crit. Squirtle wasn't fully function, he worked, just not properly... but, we unveiled him to the public non-the-less. We had a few questions about the idea and the project. Our project is more about the theory behind the piece and the practice of GPS drawing, rather than something that can be put in a gallery to look pretty. I think that our idea is cool, and different, and ambitious. We didn't know what to expect at all when we undertook this project... so that keeps us on our feet and keeps things exciting! It was really cool to see some of the other students projects. How cool was the painting machine????

Here are a couple photos of Squirtle's debut. Be advised... he's naked... his wire's are showing. This may be NSFW.

100 LED's sucks...

So after an eternal amount of soddering, about 6 billion wires, and enough confusion to confuse ... well ... us. Squirtle is now functional! Almost! There is still some kinks we need to work out... but for the most part, he lights up. And THAT my friends, is something to be excited about.

Let's Do It Then!

So today we built our sculpture/model of our path. We named him "Squirtle". So in order to avoid future confusion, when we refer to "Squirtle", we're talking about our model! After having to annoyingly feed the reluctant wire trough the tubes, we molded it into the shape of our path, and to our surprise it actually ended up looking pretty cool! We spoke to Norm more about the circuits, and realized it's a much larger task than we thought. But hey... we've come this far, no sence in changing the whole idea now. It doesn't appear to be that complicated, just a lot of tedious wiring and stuff. Wieslaw's portion of the project is coming along well, we're excited about the installation!

Here's Squirtle!

How We Gon' Do It?

So today we went shopping at Active (twice) for the parts that we needed for our project. Some of them anyway. We picked up 110 LED's, 20 100K resistors, some fairly sturdy wire, and this weird tube stuff that shrinks when heated up (we're going to put the wire through it when making our model).

We still can't decide if we're going to do the 4017 circuit, or use the basic stamp and write a code. Whatever we end up doing... it's going to involve a hell of a lot of wiring. Wiring 100 LED's is never fun. Never!!!!

What'cha Gon' Do?

After a lot of brainstorming and discussion, me (Jeff Graham) and Robyn Murphy have finally decided on a final project for our Physical Computing class. Since we have two large technology based projects due this semester (this one, and one for Wieslaw) we have decided to combine both to create a large installation piece. In our blog entries we'll save you the extra reading, and only discuss the physical computing aspects of our project. ;)

We have decided that the main artistic focus of our project is to create a GPS drawing. We found this technique to be particularly interesting as it is a fusion of art and technology which we felt to be very New Media-esque. We will be creating a GPS drawing of the path below:


Does that look like a turtle? Ehh...? we think it does! Upon completing the drawing, we plan on creating a large sculpture of the path which will be lined with approximately 100 LED's. We hope to use the 4017 circuit, or the basic stamp to have the lights illuminate in a sequence to show the path in which we walked to complete the GPS drawing. We will be suspending this sculpture from the ceiling in our space. In Norm's words, we are "ambitious!"

Along with the suspended object, we plan to construct a screen and project a video behind the sculpture. The video will show footage of our path, information on GPS drawing, among other things.

We really liked this idea and how it blends art and technology together, GPS drawing is a relatively new practice that most people probably won't know much about, so we hope that by creating an installation piece and presenting some visuals to attract the viewers attention, they me become interested in learning more, and we hope that the viewer will find it as interesting as we do!