sculpture
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Craig Kaths' intricate synth sculptures look real enough to play
Recently, I spent the afternoon traipsing through the streets of Brooklyn for Gowanus' annual open art studios tour. It's a yearly ritual for me because the industrial neighborhood, which is full of warehouses turned CrossFit gyms, is a veritable playground for creative types. Every abandoned-looking building opens its doors to reveal dozens of artists' studios.
Exploring life's digital boundaries with 'Factory of the Living'
Two new works from the Factory of the Living exhibition at the Pompidou Center in Paris show how digital technology is influencing art and biology. Both pieces were developed in "collaboration" with living organisms:The first, H.O.R.T.U.S. XL astaxanthin.g, from ecoLogicStudio was built using cyanobacteria, and the second, Urban Morphogenesis Lab's XenoDerma, gets an assist from an asian fawn tarantula.
Google's Trafalgar Square lion uses AI to generate crowdsourced poem
In London's Trafalgar Square, four lions sit at the base of Nelson's Column. But starting today, there will be a fifth. Google Arts & Culture and designer Es Devlin have created a public sculpture for the London Design Festival. It's a lion that over the course of the festival will generate a collective poem by using input from the public and artificial intelligence.
'Untrained Eyes' explores how computers perceive you
If you search for "man" on Google, most of the image results you'll get are of white males looking confidently at the camera. "Woman," meanwhile, brings up pictures of women that appear to have been taken from a male gaze -- and yes, you guessed it, they're also predominately white. That lack of inclusion in machine learning is what "Untrained Eyes," an interactive art installation, aims to shed light on. The project, created by conceptual artist Glenn Kaino and actor/activist Jesse Williams, comes in the form of a sculpture that uses five mirrors and a Kinect to get its point across. Stand in front of it, wave and, within seconds, you'll be presented with an image that will "match" your appearance.
A mirror exposes AI’s inherent flaws in ‘Untrained Eyes’
In July 2015, Google's public-relations machine was in full-on crisis mode. Earlier that year, the search giant announced Photos, an AI-driven app that used machine-learning to automatically tag and organize your pictures based on the people, places and things depicted in them. It was an exciting step forward, but Photos wasn't perfect. While the app was capable of recognizing some faces, it mistook others. It would have been easy to pass this off as a routine software bug if it weren't for the nature of the failure.
'Toki' uses 3D printing and projection to represent time
Akinori Goto is a stop-motion animator who has translated his art to work with modern materials and techniques. Goto creates smooth movement by passing simple light through highly complex wire mesh sculptures. He's one of several artists picked to exhibit their work at SXSW this year, and his installation, Toki, is one of the most impressive on display.
Watch code and projections bring a paper sculpture to life
Paper art doesn't have to be flat and lifeless... just ask Aristides Garcia. The artist recently created an interactive sculpture, Tesela, that uses a combination of 3D projection mapping and tesselation algorithms to cast real-time, viewer-influenced patterns over 103 paper pyramids. The effect is a bit hypnotic, as you'll see below -- it's as if the paper has suddenly become a living landscape. You sadly can't see this in person at the moment (Garcia debuted it at a Berlin exhibit in August), but it still shows that the right technology can liven up just about anything, even if it's made from dead trees.
Google Art Project adds hundreds of 3D sculptures and animal skulls
The Google Art Project already archived thousands of murals, paintings and more for viewing on the web. Not all artifacts are flat, though, but the folks in Mountain View added nearly 300 3D scans so you can examine detailed animal skulls and ornate sculptures from the comfort of your sofa. Flip through new collections from six museums before rotating a skull with your mouse or touchpad to see features from every angle -- like the Helmeted hornbill above from the California Academy of Sciences. If you're not into animal bones, don't fret: There's art, too. Thanks to places like the Dallas Museum of Art and Museo d'Arte Orientale, you can ogle sculptures, masks and other ancient artifacts as well. And all without having to get in the car.
The Big Picture: living sculpture made from programmed wooden balls
Let's face it: with certain exceptions, most sculptures are pretty static and won't hold your interest for more than a brief glance. You may pay more notice to Hypersonic's Breaking Wave project, however. Effectively, it's a "programmed" analog display -- an elaborate, centralized motor system pulls 804 wooden balls up and down to create elaborate patterns that you'll only see if you watch from the right perspective. The size of the drums attached to each ball decide just when and how far they move. Breaking Wave's owner, Biogen-IDEC, is using the artwork as a commentary on medical science. It's supposed to show how researchers sift through "billions" of seemingly meaningless data points to create a clearer picture of the human body. It's a one-of-a-kind design, so you sadly can't buy one if you're entranced by the concept. However, you can either check it out in the videos below or swing by Biogen's office in Cambridge, Massachusetts to see it in person.
Recommended Reading: Google starts over, sculpture on the moon and more
Recommended Reading highlights the best long-form writing on technology in print and on the web. Some weeks, you'll also find short reviews of books dealing with the subject of technology that we think are worth your time. We hope you enjoy the read. The Day Google Had to 'Start Over' on Android (1,933 words) by Fred Vogelstein, The Atlantic Pocket!function(d,i){if(!d.getElementById(i)){var j=d.createElement("script");j.id=i;j.src="https://widgets.getpocket.com/v1/j/btn.js?v=1";var w=d.getElementById(i);d.body.appendChild(j);}}(document,"pocket-btn-js"); Back in 2005, Google had tasked teams of engineers with developing a secret mobile product that would position it to better compete with Microsoft. When 2007 rolled around, teams had worked 40- to 80- hour weeks for almost a year in an effort to revolutionize mobile phones. However, Apple was first out of the gate, revealing the iPhone on January 9th and forcing Google to rethink all the work that had been done. Fred Vogelstein recounts the outfit's post-iPhone Android development and a touchscreen Dream device built to make up for iOS shortcomings.
Patterned by Nature: it's big, blocky and earth-approved (video)
Quick quiz: which consumes more power, an "energy-efficient" 55-inch LED TV, or the 90-foot "Patterned by Nature" video installation at the North Carolina Museum of Natural Sciences? It's actually a trick question, because the sculpture does eat less power -- just 75 watts -- but then it only has a fraction of the TV's pixels. Each of its 3600 "dots" is in fact a 6-inch glass pane which can vary its transparency, a decidedly more lo-fi approach than similar tech we've seen before, but no less arresting as a result. As the video shows, it combines an eight channel soundtrack with twenty Mario-like animations on its serpentine skin -- ranging from bacteria to flocking geese -- to bring mother nature to the viewer without sapping her energy.
Waste Landscape installation reminds us why CDs weren't that great (video)
For most people, the term "waste landscape" may evoke images of desolate industrial zones, toxic sewage leaks, or Phish concerts. But architect Clémence Eliard and artist Elise Morin took a slightly more digital approach to the concept, constructing their undulating Waste Landscape installation from 65,000 unsold (and unwanted) CDs. To do this, the pair sewed the discs together by hand, before blanketing them over dune-like wire constructions inside the Centquatre -- a Parisian art space that, appropriately enough, was once a funeral home. The result is an array of sloping, shimmering hills that emerge from the floor like disco ball pimples, creating a space that the artists not-so subtly compare to an oil spill. It's a pretty sobering reminder of the environmental fingerprint archaic technologies can leave behind, but Eliard and Morin's story has a happy ending. When the exhibit comes to a close, every single CD will be recycled into polycarbonate. Spin past the break to see a video that'll make you wanna give your iPod a hug.
LED Moon shines message of hope, no dark side to see
Scale models of manmade wonders are usually the stuff of gimmicky travel souvenirs, but could you resist a faithful replica that was a topographic clone of our closest celestial body? We didn't think so. Dedicated to the super moon that brought his catastrophe-stricken nation comfort, Japanese designer Nosigner culled imagery taken by the lunar orbiter Kaguya to create a hope-swelling, LED-lit copy of Earth's favorite satellite. Recently on display at the Dwell on Design exhibit in LA, this spherical lamp of lunar love doesn't yet appear to be available for order -- but then again, how do you put a price on hope?
No Gods or Kings, only Blocks: BioShock's Rapture made out of Legos
And here we thought our AT-ATs and 55 Central Park (you know, the Ghostbusters' building) Lego diddies were neat ideas -- not even close. Turns out Lego sculptor Imagine Rigney has the game on lock, evidenced by this amazing recreation of Rapture, which can be seen in full past the break.
Visualized: awesome, non-functioning 'robot' made from worthless computer parts
It might not actually do anything, and it's certainly in no danger of crawling into (or out of, however that metaphor works) uncanny valley, but Mike Schropp's latest creation sure put a smile on our face. All this thing needs is a pair of Pentium Nikes and it'll be truly styling! Get a closer look after the break, and then hit the source link for plenty of glamor shots at the Total Geekdom blog.
Chinese designer makes Megatron tank a steel-toothed reality
It doesn't move and it certainly doesn't transform, but we're still not sure we'd stand anywhere near this jagged metal contraption ripped right out of the silver screen. The giant Megatron tank replica from Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen not only looks like it'd grind us up like so much beef beneath its spiky treads, it reportedly weighs five tons and stands eight feet tall. It's allegedly constructed entirely out of scrap metal by a designer known as "Steel Legend" -- a honorific that we imagine few will dare question now. If only it could take on junkyard Optimus Prime in a Beijing Battle Royale. More pics of the tank at our source links below! [Thanks, leungxd]
Plato shown holding an iPad in a creative clay sculpture (video)
When technology meets art, the possibilities are endless. We have seen the iPad used as a canvas to paint portraits, most recently of Woz, and multiple iPads used to create a giant Lara Croft-emblazoned iPhone. This latest iPad-themed artistic experiment takes a traditional sculpture of Plato and places an anachronistic iPad into his hands. No longer contemplating the pressing social issues of his time, the great thinker can now ponder the meaning of FaceTime and whether he really wants it on his iPad, the influence of the App Store, and the validity of the reality distortion field. After the break, you will find a time-lapse video detailing the sculpting process which starts with a simple wire frame armature and ends with an iPad-toting Greek philosopher. It is definitely worth the four minutes it takes to watch it from beginning to end. Thanks to Adam who created this work of art and sent it in!
Troika's mechanical LED sculpture lights up Art Basel (video)
Art Basel down in Miami has been the go-to place to see the best and brightest in design this past week, with Troika's 'Falling Light' installation falling squarely into the latter category. This mechanical LED sculpture needed a room to itself, as it hosts 50 ceiling-suspended devices with each incorporating a custom cut Swarovski crystal optical lens, a computer programmed motor and a white LED. As you can see in the video down below, the white metal armatures rise in syncopation by rotating cam before gravity releases them earthward, which then activates the LED to move closer to the crystal lens. Through the magic of diffraction, you end up with a rainbow effect being flung to the floor, creating a perfect environment for... let's say, a rave. Or, you know, your next bedroom.
Lego Android is 15 inches tall, eats apples for breakfast
Say it with us now, awww. The adorable green bot family scene above is highlighted, rather conspicuously, by a 15-inch tall dude in the middle. He (it?) was built by one Grayson Wendell, who went to the trouble of coding up a program for designing Lego domes mathematically, before spending an entire week putting his own lime-green droid together. Between this and the Android tattoo girl, Google really seems to have cornered the market on fanmade art, while we also appreciate the classy touch of including an iPhone in the shot -- hacked with an Android installation, of course. [Thanks, Grayson]%Gallery-101859%
Halo: Reach marketing campaign flexes giant robo-arm
What's gonna give Halo: Reach the best shot at topping Modern Warfare 2's $310 million in day-one sales? Marketing. Much to no one's surprise, Microsoft is splurging on its biggest game campaign to date, according to Advertising Age. While Reach's marketing budget has not been disclosed, it's expected to easily top Halo 3's reported $6.5 million bill. The ad campaign, which began in earnest with a big-budget plug ... for the multiplayer beta (way back in April), will continue to use live-action segments to attempt to forge an emotional connection with a broad audience across TV and the web. "We're trying to get people to connect back to their lives, not computer graphics or something overly sci-fi," Taylor Smith, director of global marketing communications for Xbox, told Ad Age. "Live action is a way to capture that." In particular, director Noam Murro (Smart People) has created three live-action short films that depict life on planet Reach before the Covenant invasion. Meanwhile, potential buyers will be urged to "remember Reach" as they consume Pepsi products. A renewed partnership between Microsoft and the snack-time mogul will put Halo branding on some 300 million Mountain Dew bottles and 30 million Doritos bags beginning next month. Of course, to top past efforts, Microsoft will expand the Reach campaign beyond these somewhat pedestrian reminders: Cue massive KUKA KR 140 robotic arm! The viral site RememberReach.com, which becomes fully operational at 3AM ET tomorrow, features a user-generated light sculpture of Reach's Noble Team, created by the robo-arm and some fancy camera equipment. Typically used to assemble cars, this KUKA bot has been outfitted with an LED and stationed in an undisclosed San Francisco warehouse. As detailed by GameLife, visitors will direct the machine to plot the 54,000 points of light that will form this Noble Team "monument." Bizarre. Halo: Reach launches on September 14.
