From douglas at music.columbia.edu Tue Apr 1 10:17:11 2008 From: douglas at music.columbia.edu (douglas repetto) Date: Tue Apr 1 10:17:18 2008 Subject: [dorkbotnyc-announce] dorkbot-nyc: 02 April 2008 Message-ID: <47F243E7.7080505@music.columbia.edu> what: dorkbot-nyc meeting when: 7-9pm, 02 April 2008 where: Location One, 26 Greene Street between Canal and Grand $: $FREE$ +++++ The 1923rd dorkbot-nyc meeting will take place at 7pm on Wednesday, April 2nd, 2008 at Location One in SoHo. The meeting is free and open to the public. Please bring snacks to share. Also: we need more theme songs! Bring one and we'll post it on the website and play it at the beginning of the meeting. Also: dorkbot t-shirts! $15 in person, $17 online. Cute colors, cute cuts. Profits go to support our host, Location One! +++++ Featuring the non-numerical and un-boolean: David Nolen, Dan Phiffer & Mushon Zer-Aviv: ShiftSpace While the Internet's design is widely understood to be open and distributed, control over how users interact online has given us largely centralized and closed systems. ShiftSpace (pronounced ?) is an Open Source platform that attempts to subvert this trend by providing a new public space on the web. By pressing the [Shift] + [Space] keys, a ShiftSpace user can invoke a new meta layer above any web page to browse and create additional interpretations, contextualizations and interventions using various authoring tools. We will talk about the platform and the ideas behind it, and present the ? API inviting you to develop your own metaweb interfaces. We will also use the stage to announce the winners of the ShiftSpace Commissions program, in collaboration with Turbulence.org http://www.ShiftSpace.org Adam Parrish: Frotzophone The Frotzophone is an interface for making music with interactive fiction. The topography simulated in the game is used to generate sound, as is the player's path through the game. A Frotzophone "performance" looks just like playing a text adventure; but in addition to playing a game, you're also playing music. After a brief performance demonstrating how the Frotzophone works, I'll talk about what went into building the software, and establish a framework for talking about how games, maps, and musical instruments are related to one another. http://itp.nyu.edu/~ap1607/frotzophone Eric Siu: Quadocular mobile vision and cinematic toy Project 1: Technology is powerful enough to transform one?s body experience. I am currently developing a wearable device called "Optical Handlers ? Quadocular", which is a head mounted device that electronically alters or augments your visual experience by expanding your pair of eyes to two pairs, and extending them onto your hands. Project 2: Face Hack, a cinematic toy that allows you to role-play film characters by putting your real-time facial present onto someone?s body. Yes, enjoy Bruce lee's muscular chest below you neck! http://www.ericsiuart.com From douglas at music.columbia.edu Thu Apr 3 17:23:19 2008 From: douglas at music.columbia.edu (douglas repetto) Date: Thu Apr 3 17:23:23 2008 Subject: [dorkbotnyc-announce] thanks! Message-ID: <47F54AC7.307@music.columbia.edu> Thanks again to David Nolen, Dan Phiffer & Mushon Zer-Aviv, Adam Parrish, and Eric Siu for their terrific presentations last night. Pics and links at: http://dorkbot.org/dorkbotnyc Next meeting: 07 May 2008 See you there! -- ............................................... http://artbots.org .....douglas.....irving........................ http://dorkbot.org .......................... http://music.columbia.edu/cmc/music-dsp .......... repetto............. http://music.columbia.edu/organism ............................... http://music.columbia.edu/~douglas From douglas at music.columbia.edu Sun Apr 27 13:14:25 2008 From: douglas at music.columbia.edu (douglas repetto) Date: Sun Apr 27 13:14:33 2008 Subject: [dorkbotnyc-announce] ArtBots 2008 Call for Works! Message-ID: <4814B471.8060102@music.columbia.edu> PLEASE FORWARD WIDELY! DEADLINE FOR SUBMISSIONS IS THIS WEEK! +++++++ ArtBots 2008 Call for Works ArtBots (http://artbots.org) is pleased to announce that the fifth international ArtBots exhibition for robotic art and art-making robots will take place at the Trinity College Science Gallery in Dublin, Ireland on September 19-21, 2008. Creators of talented robots are invited to submit their work for possible inclusion in the show. We have no fixed idea of what qualifies as robotic art; if you think it's a robot and you think it's art, we encourage you to submit your work. Regardless of whether it?s hi-tech, low-tech, or neg-tech, we?re interested in the ideas you?re working with, not just the gear. Proposals for workshops, performances, and other kinds of participation are also welcome. Each ArtBots is a bit different; the location changes and we invite new humans to co-curate the show with us. We hope that by changing the specifics of the show each year we can keep it accessible to a diverse range of people, works, and ideas. +++++++ This year?s co-curators are: Warren Ellis: author of novels, comics, video games, and screenplays; blogger and creator of numerous online forums Marie Redmond: computer science professor; director of the MSc Multimedia Systems Course, Trinity College; entrepreneur Douglas Repetto: artist and teacher; Director of Research at the Columbia University Computer Music Center, director and founder of ArtBots, dorkbot, organism, and music-dsp +++++++ ArtBots is a hands-on, community-oriented show, run by and for artists. Participating artists install their own work and are present during the show to meet one another, maintain their pieces, and talk with visitors. Each participant is given a 1000 Euro artist fee to help cover the cost of attending. All costs, including shipping, travel, lodging, meals, etc., are the responsibility of the artist. While we cannot provide additional monetary resources, we are happy to provide invitation letters or other documents that might help artists with local grant applications, sponsorships, etc. Important Dates: Deadline for entries: 1 May Acceptance notifications sent: 2 June Artists confirm participation by: 16 June Show load-in and installation: 16-18 September Show open: 19-21 September Breakdown and load-out: 22 September +++++++ To submit your work for consideration for ArtBots 2008, please fill out the following form. In addition to the form, please provide documentation (photos, video, sounds, plans, etc.) and a brief statement describing the work and your motivation for creating it. Tell us why the work is interesting, and help us understand how it fits in the context of the ArtBots show. We strongly encourage you to create a website with your entry materials in an easily viewable form. This will allow the three geographically separated curators to view the materials as you intend them to be viewed. Email attachments, printed documentation, slides, videotapes, CD-ROMs, and DVDs are all acceptable as documentation, but will make it more difficult for the curators to view your work. We regret that we cannot return submitted materials, so please do not send originals. Please send your entry form and documentation to: artbots@artbots.org or: ArtBots c/o Douglas Repetto Columbia University Computer Music Center 632 W 125th St. 318 Prentis Hall New York, NY 10027 USA Entries must be received by May 1st, 2008. There is no entry fee. We will send you confirmation via email when we receive your entry. Have fun! Douglas Repetto Marie Redmond Warren Ellis Curators, ArtBots 2008 +++++++ ArtBots 2008 is a joint production of The Science Gallery at Trinity College, ArtBots, and The Columbia University Computer Music Center. http://www.sciencegallery.ie http://artbots.org http://music.columbia.edu/cmc What is the Science Gallery? The Science Gallery is a new public science centre located in the heart of Dublin city. A place where ideas meet, the Gallery will bring together people with diverse interests and backgrounds including creative thinkers and young innovators, to connect, explore, create, debate and share ideas on science, technology and the arts, opening up these fields to new audiences. The Science Gallery ?space? consists of a 144-seater multimedia theatre, studios, caf? and stunning open gallery space, providing an ideal location for new emerging creative talent to be discovered through a programme of changing exhibitions, events and workshops. With a target audience of 15 year olds up and an emphasis on creating a collaborative community, the Science Gallery, which launched in February 2008 with LIGHTWAVE, a nine-day festival exploring the art and science of controlling light already has over 2000 members. For more information on the Science Gallery and our past and upcoming programmes visit www.sciencegallery.com +++++++ ArtBots 2008 Entry Form Title of work: Contact name: Contact email address: Mailing address and phone number: Other project members: +++++++ What are the physical dimensions of the work and its operating area? How is your work powered? Does it have any special power needs? Does your work require access to any resources (other than electrical power) that you cannot provide yourself (e.g. a sound system, video projector, net access, special lighting, compressed air, running water, etc.)? Is your work particularly loud, bright, or active, or does your work require extreme quiet, darkness, or other particular sound/light conditions? How long does it take you to set up your work, and how difficult is it to set up? Has the piece traveled before? Do you foresee any problems transporting the work? How long can your piece run reliably? Can it run continuously for several hours over the course of several days? Does it need frequent maintenance? Is this a completed work, or is it still being designed or built? If it is still in the planning stages, what is your timeline for completing the piece? List any elements of your work that are potentially dangerous or may cause fire/safety code problems in indoor spaces (gas engine, fire, hazardous chemicals, projectiles, etc.): Is there anything else you think we should know about your work? From douglas at music.columbia.edu Wed Apr 30 12:32:37 2008 From: douglas at music.columbia.edu (douglas repetto) Date: Wed Apr 30 12:32:48 2008 Subject: [dorkbotnyc-announce] The coherent and detectable dorkbot-nyc! Message-ID: <48189F25.6060701@music.columbia.edu> what: dorkbot-nyc meeting when: Wednesday, May 7th, 2008, 7-9pm where: Location One, Greene Street between Canal and Grand $$$: $FREE$ +++++ The 1895th dorkbot-nyc meeting will take place at 7pm on Wednesday, May 7th, 2008 at Location One in SoHo. This is the last meeting of the season! The meeting is free and open to the public. Please bring snacks to share. Also: we need more theme songs! Bring one and we'll post it on the website and play it at the beginning of the meeting. Also: dorkbot t-shirts! $15 in person, $17 online. Cute colors, cute cuts. Profits go to support our host, Location One! Featuring the coherent and detectable: Sean Montgomery: Vital Threads Biofeedback Apparel I began developing Vital Threads biofeedback apparel to open fashion to dynamic new forms of personal expression and interpersonal communication. I will debut three prototype pieces from my Vital Threads collection: heart-on shirt, truth wristband, and thinking cap. The heart-on shirt projects rhythmic pulses of light synchronized with the wearer's heart beat. The truth wristband displays the wearer's galvanic skin response as a continuous metric of his/her psycho-emotional response to the environment. The thinking cap measures brain activity from the wearer's scalp EEG and projects changes in neuronal synchrony on modular light arrays. http://www.produceconsumerobot.com/vitalthreads Brian House: TXTML TeXT message Markup Language and its software interpreter comprise a (beta!) DIY system for creating interactive text-messaging applications. It is the result of experimenting with text-messaging as a narrative and performative medium and designing story-systems for non-traditional contexts like Berlin's S-Bahn and the Statue of Liberty. TXTML also reflects my philosophical interest in inventing formal languages to reflect one's artistic biases. At the moment, TXTML is being used for "The Wrench", an art project that re-imagines Primo Levi's novel The Monkey's Wrench as a text-message exchange with an automated character. http://brianhouse.net http://txtml.org NYCResistor: Barbot NYCResistor is a new Brooklyn-based hacker collective that generates an endless stream of amusing objects. One of our current projects is the second iteration of our Barbot, a rack-mounted system designed to ensure that anywhere that data is served, tasty beverages can be as well. We'll also talk a bit about our new space, some of our other projects, and why a marshmallow cooked over a 15,000V electric arc just tastes better. http://www.nycresistor.com