Dynamic Media Network » generative

obx | laboratory for experimental media

matwallsmith — Fri, 07 May 2010 04:32:43 +0000

obx | laboratory for experimental media – Obx Labs was founded by Professor Jason Lewis a computational artist and developer based at Concordia Univeristy, Montreal and a member of the CINER-G reserach group. The lab is part of the Hexagram Research Axis (http://www.hexagram.org/spip.php?page=home&lang=en&sid=0) . The lab is interested in ‘ living letterforms, massively multi-contributor texts and time-travelling provocateurs’ – Obx it has research-creation as its principle focus and develop tools and repurpose technologies to demonstrate the potential for computational expression.

Some projects with which the lab is associated include:

Nexttext : nexttext.net – A project (based in Processing-Java) that allows the breakdown of text into unit hierarchies (phrases, words, letters) and to apply dynamic behaviours and interactions to those hierarchies.

Aboriginal Territories in Cyberspace Project: http://www.abtec.org/

Mr Softie: A typographic text editor, for working with the nexttext framework.

Alex McLean

Estee Wah — Wed, 16 Dec 2009 14:27:24 +0000

Alex McLean is a PhD student in Arts and Computational Technology at Goldsmiths College in London, where he works with the Intelligent Sound and Music Systems (isms) group.

He developed and administers runme.org, an online repository for software art, which has given rise to works like dot_matrix_synth, where a dot matrix printer is reprogrammed to play music while it prints its own notations in patterns as it is performed. He forms part of slub, a trio of coders who develop their own software for the creation and performance of process-based improvisations and live generative music. In the same vein, he is also a member of TOPLAP, a group of highly improvisatory programmers who write software while it is being executed to generate music and live visuals during a performance.

Marius Watz

Estee Wah — Wed, 16 Dec 2009 14:07:43 +0000

Marius Watz makes drawing machines. He uses code to construct systems that generate art in screen-based and material forms – from live visuals for music, to 3D printed shapes.

In 2005 he started Generator.x as a curatorial platform for generative art and design which has since resulted in a conference, a blog, a travelling exhibition and concert tour. Watz practices out of New York City and Oslo, where he is a lecturer at the Oslo School of Architecture and the Oslo National Academy of the Arts.

ec(h)o

Margie Borschke — Tue, 08 Dec 2009 05:02:03 +0000

A prototype of an “augmented reality interface”, Ec(h)o was created by Ron Wakkary, Kenneth Newby and Marek Hatala at the School for Interactive Arts + Technology at Simon Fraser University. The interface uses “spatialized soundscapes and a semantic web approach to knowledge” and was trialed at the Nature Museum in Ottawa in 2003.

The creators state that the objectives of ec(h)o are:

to develop a “next generation” interface that augments an existing physical environment with a virtual audio environment, and enables people to interact with the system without directly using a computer device; to develop an interaction model based on a semantic web approach to networked digital object repositories in order to create adaptive responses; and to demonstrate that enabling end-users access to digital object repositories engenders a participatory model for interaction and communication.

Soundscapes are generated based on the users position in the gallery and audio objects can also be triggered based upon his or her past visits and expressed interests. Customisation is possible as each user generates a “knowledge tree” or “a map of relationships” based on their interaction with the artifacts. Taken together these many maps create a “collective intelligence”. Their design is influenced by the philosophy of Pierre Lévy.

Kokkugia

margie — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 05:58:09 +0000

An experimental architectural practice with offices in New York and London, Kokkugia is a collaboration between Jonathan Podborsek, Roland Snooks and Rob Stuart-Smith. Their work is focused on generative and algorithmic architecture – emergence and self-organization are key themes. The results of their agent-based algorithimic design methodologies are structures and plans that appear organic and even whimsical.

Kokkugia’s wiki collects open source scripts and collaborative tools for teaching and research.

Podborsek and Snooks both hold Bachelor of Architecture degrees from RMIT.

Marius Watz

Xavier — Wed, 26 Nov 2008 01:14:36 +0000

Marius Watz is an artist concerned with generative systems for creating visual form, still, animated or realtime. His signature is a brand of visual hedonism, marked by colourful organic shapes and a maximalist attitude. Most of his works deal with drawing machines implemented in software, live visuals for music or large-scale projections of plastic visual systems.

Watz discovered the computer at age 11 and immediately found his direction in life. At age 20 he defected from Computer Science studies to do graphics for raves, using his programming to create organic shapes in 2D and 3D. In parallel to creating his own work, Watz worked as a graphic designer for many years, probing the limits of design. In the years 2000-2002 he ran the studio Products of Play with Erik Johan Worsøe Eriksen before deciding to focus on his art practice.

In 2005 Watz started Generator.x, a platform for generative art and design which so far has resulted in a conference, a blog, a travelling exhibition and concert tour. The Generator.x conference took place at Atelier Nord in Oslo September 2005, while the Generator.x exhibition premiered at the Norwegian National Museum. The exhibition is currently touring until 2007. A concert tour of Norway with generative sound and visuals took place in April 2006, organized by the National Touring Concerts.

In 2005 Watz received an honorary mention for his project Universal Digest Machine. He had previously received a mention for Sense:less (Pendry / Mork / Stenslie / Watz) in 1996. In 2003 he premiered the public art commission Drawing Machine 1-12, a work that was shown for two years on the home page of the Norwegian Government and Ministries of State. In recent years he has created several animated works for projection on building facades such as Neon Organic, which is currently being projected on the Vattenfall headquarters in Berlin.

Watz currently lives in Berlin. His tools of choice are Java, Processing, VVVV and Flash. He continues to edit the Generator.x blog and prepare future Generator.x events, as well as teach workshops in computational design and generative art.

Marius Watz can be contacted at marius@unlekker.net