Over the past year I have been working for Seconde Nature designing a public multi-touch platform via my Atelier Hypermédia in Aix-en-Provence. It’s a fairly ambitious project and involves many partners and most importantly, a whole bunch of students and researchers from five different schools/departments exploring interactivity from the perspectives of art, design, architecture or some combination therein. While I’ve been tooling away at the project in some form or another over the past 12 months, the production team was officially formed at the beginning of 2010 and still has about 6 months to go before completing the project with an exhibition planned for early 2011 in Aix-en-Provence and Marseille. In other words, we’re only at the half-way point and anything you see here should be considered highly work-in-progress, and purely experimental/speculative in nature.
That said, we have amassed enough material from the exploratory/workshop phase of the project to create the following document which can be considered a collection of ideas that we found interesting enough to record and group into this 20-minute demo reel. There were actually far more ideas explored than those you will see in this reel but they were unfortunately either lacking decent documentation or were simply too preliminary/unpolished. That said, many if not all of these ideas will need to be completely reworked during the production phase of the project. Only a few will be retained and most of those will be redesigned in collaboration with our content partners.
All of the projects were built within one of the four workshops, with each workshop lasting either 1 or 2 weeks. In total, this reel represents the accumulation of about 6 weeks of direct prototyping.
I’m about to get on a plane (yearly Silicon Valley trip home) with our dog, Duke and we had to place « Live Animal » and « Up » stickers on his cage. Since I didn’t have any, I whipped these up, using that oh-so-2008 / Hopey-changey sans-serif, Gotham and printed them out onto pre-cut inkjet sticker paper (hence the odd positioning of items).
If you use this pdf for your own travel needs, know that it’s officially Friendly-Ware®™, i.e. « be friendly » (send a picture, say thanks, give ‘er a woof, et caetera).
And here are some shameless pictures of Duke, because, well, he’s adorable and has officially teary-eye-stared my protective cynical sheen to oblivion.
On Saturday, I’ll be speaking at « code_source », an exhibit organized by Etienne Mineur (cf. Incandescence) as part of the Féstival international de l’affiche et du graphisme de Chaumont. The exhibit will attack the question « what is interaction design? » through a historical survey of software, hardware, theoretical productions and games from this still-emerging field. There will also be a section devoted to the creations of art and design students from France, Colombia, USA, Canada, Japan, Switzerland, China, etc. This is where I fit into the picture, as several works from our Atelier Hypermédia in Aix-en-Provence will be documented in the exhibit (more details to come).
Several designers, yours truly included, were also asked to discuss the subject of interaction design for the French graphic design magazine Étapes in conjunction with « Code_source ». We were all asked the same set of questions related to the definition itself of Interaction Design as well as the historical landmarks that influenced us. The selected designers were: Geoffrey Dorne, Jean-Jacques Birgé, Jean-Louis Fréchin, Gabriel Jorby, Éric Viennot, Projet Mü, and abstractmachine and have just been published in the May 2009 edition of Étapes (#168). Here are a few photos of my interview.
You can read the article yourself for my full comments, but here are video links to the four historical events I chose to highlight: Ivan Sutherland, Sketchpad (1963); Myron Krueger, Videoplace (1972-); Seymour Papert, Logo (1967-); Steve Russel et al., Spacewar! (1962). These are fairly standard responses, I know, but I was dealing with an audience (graphic designers) that often confuse (contemporary) software with the conceptual frameworks that made them possible. From this perspective, some history can do little harm.
Of all the interviews, I thought that Jean-Louis Fréchin’s list was the coolest:
The dissociation of gold and the dollar, thereby « announcing the birth of a society of immateriality and exchange »
The personal computer (« augmenting people’s capacities and means of expression »)
1969, the year of the moon landing, for its’ introduction of « mass transportation (747), hyperspeed (Concorde) and networks (Arpanet) », i.e. the concerns and constructs of our present world
So, as I mentioned above, several works produced in part at the Atelier Hypermédia over the past 10 years will be documented at « Code_source ». Here is a list of the works (sorry, in French, but at least I’ve included some images/videos) :
Le WebWaste est une poubelle sur Internet. Par l’activation d’un robot-éboueur, ses utilisateurs se font vider automatiquement le contenu de leurs poubelles (sur ordinateur) dans cette décharge collective (Internet). Les document s’empilent sur le serveur de la décharge. En visitant le site web www.webwaste.net, n’importe qui peut ensuite naviguer à travers les images, textes, sons et vidéos dont d’autres auraient souhaitaient se débarrasser. On peut y chercher de l’inspiration, ou y flâner par curiosité — avec la possibilité bien sûr de récupérer des fichiers pour une consommation chez soi. Les règles sont ouverts, on peut y faire ce que l’on veut : jouer, manifester, dire la vérité ou proliférer des mensonges — c’est aux utilisateurs de choisir.
Dans l’Atelier Hypermédia, nous trouvons qu’il est parfois pratique de suivre le principe de « Just Fuck Around® » quand il s’agit d’apprendre une nouvelle technologie. Dans ce visualiseur/jeu, il n’y a pas eu d’autre but que d’apprendre les fonctionnalités 3D de base du logiciel multimédia Director. Ce modéliseur 3D a été le résultat d’une heure d’expérimentation avec quelques heures d’ajustements par la suite. Il n’y a pas réellement d’autre but que celle de l’exploration d’une nouvelle forme.
Le flux télévisuel est pris en tant que potentiel, un potentiel d’images, de mouvements et de signes. Le processus y extrait, de façon automatisée et en temps réel, toutes les parties d’images qui ont changé lors de la diffusion de l’émission télévisuelle. Il les capture et les redistribue ensuite de façon spatio-temporelle sur une boucle de vingt-quatre images. En l’exposant au spectateur image par image, il agit ainsi sur la diffusion elle-même, en gardant en mémoire et en présentant potentiellement plusieurs fois chaque fragment d’image. L’esprit hypnotisé s’habitue aux fragments, voire les attend et tente de les recomposer. Mais cet effet recherché de rémanence n’empêche pas un effacement progressif de la configuration. Car chaque fragment additionné à la boucle est présent et répété jusqu’à ce qu’un autre le recouvre et ainsi de suite jusqu’à sa disparition et son oubli.
Lors de son passage à l’Atelier Hypermédia, Nao expérimentait principalement avec les formes interactives où image, son et jeu se mélangeaient en une seule entité audiovisuelle. Pour ses performances extra-muros, Nao a décidé de créer un instrument nomade qui nécessiterait uniquement une machine connecté à Internet pour être joué.
Tetris adventure est une variation autour du célèbre jeu de réflexion, mais se jouant désormais en ligne de commande. Il faut entrer manuellement les commandes au clavier dans la console pour faire se déplacer les pièces. Ce changement au sein même du gameplay instaure un rapport au temps différent. La réactivité du jeu n’est plus immédiate et impose au joueur de faire preuve de davantage de stratégie et de réflexion.
Il s’agit également d’un hommage aux premiers jeux d’aventure textuels (Adventure ), où le joueur devait entrer en toutes lettres les instructions.
Quelques faits intéressants à propos de Tetris adventure:
-Tetris adventure est déconseillé aux dylsexique, dixlesquique, dyslexiques.
-Tetris adventure est conseillé par le Medef pour former des dactylos plus performantes.
-L’homme qui a 8 doigts à chaque main est également le champion du monde de Tetris adventure.
Liste des commandes:
[gauche] déplacer la pièce à gauche
[droite] déplacer la pièce à droite
[tombe] faire tomber la pièce
[tourne] faire tourner la pièce
Tetris adventure a été conçu et présenté à l’occasion d’Eniarof 0.4, une fête foraine revisitée, qui laisse (entre autres) une large place aux détournements de jeux vidéos.
8=8 est un groupe de 4 programmeurs / 4 compositeurs / 4 VJs / 4 musiciens / 4 artistes. Tout les quatre apportent leur propre sensibilité esthétique et techniques dans un instrument numérique collectif: L’Hypertable. Par le déplacement de leurs mains sur la surface de l’Hypertable, images et sons sont générés, créant une opportunité unique d’improvisation musicale. 8=8 utilise l’Hypertable pour y jouer des programmes / instruments originaux, dans des contextes de concert / performance / demo.
En 2003, Douglas Edric Stanley crée « L’hypertable » – dispositif d’image/surface interactive. En 2005 il invite trois de son atelier à Aix-en-Provence à se joindre à lui : TM (a.k.a. Thomas Michalak), univers grouillant et mécanique ; Naoyuki Tanaka (artiste japonais résidant à Marseille) ; JankenPopp avec son monde teinté de fraises tagada et d’énergie punk ; et enfin l’univers d’ abstractmachine, plutôt sobre et conceptuel. L’hypertable a été co-produit par le CIREN, avec le soutien d’Arcadi, le DICREAM, et le SCAM.
The mashup-machine est un instrument electronique qui prend la forme d’une boite en bois surmontée de quatre boutons lumineux. Chaque bouton de la taille d’une main permet la manipulation et le mixage intuitif de plusieurs sources multimédia aléatoires. La machine est une interface polyvalente, dynamique et expérimentale qui a été utilisée de 2005 à 2007 lors de performances AV et de concerts lives, elle a également été présentée en tant qu’installation sonore interactive lors de festivals et d’expositions collectives (Eniarof 0.2.2, Festival Emergences).
Deux GameBoy reliées par un câble sont posées sur une réplique miniature d’une table de pingpong. Les visiteurs sont invités à jouer a une version classique du jeu vidéo « Pong » (jeu de tennis). À la différence du jeu original la balle n’est pas visible par les deux joueurs en même temps mais passe d’un écran à l’autre en créant la surprise.
Partant du concept de la machine schizophrénique chez Deleuze et Guattari, le « Gameboy nucleus » est une technologie pour laquelle les facultés de commandes auraient été mises à l’extérieur de la machine construisant ainsi une machine en perpétuelle reconstitution. Autrement dit, ce « nucleus » suit un processus de « physicalisation » dans laquelle l’algorithme, le programme, ou le code, s’exprime à travers des objets tirés entre fonctionnement physique et fonctionnement logiciel.
« Objets Orientées-Objet » (workshop), Douglas Edric Stanley avec l’assistance d’Anne-Laure Schneider et de Pierre Rossel, 2005
Workshop avec les étudiants de l’Haute École d’Art et de Design Genève avec la participation de l’Atelier Hypermédia ESA Aix-en-Provence
Ce workshop de 5 jours exploraient différentes possibilités de l’utilisation du dispositif « Hypertable » créé à l’origine par Douglas Edric Stanley pour son logiciel de cinéma algorithmique Concrescence. Trois étudiants et un enseignant ont terminé des projets pour lors de ce workshop : Pierre-Erick Lefvbre, Jana Korcjomkina, Pierre Rossel, Baptiste Coulon (dans l’ordre d’apparition des projets).
« Déplacements » est constitué de 24 ventilateurs formant un rectangle. Chaque ventilateur est « pixel », sa vitesse de rotation et l’intensité de la lumière de ses LED varient en fonction du niveau de gris correspondant au pixel de référence. Cet écran de ventilateurs est piloté par un ordinateur sur lequel tourne un programme simulant un automate cellulaire intitulé « Le jeu de la vie » (créé par John Horton Conway en 1970). C’est un modèle mathématique où chaque ventilateur est une cellule. «Déplacement » en tant que détournement de cet objet, composant de l’ordinateur, devenant image. Il ne s’agit pas d’un « déplacement » physique mais d’un mouvement, d’un flux.
Stefan Piat travaille sur la reconstitution de monuments et d’espaces en utilisant un système de mosaïques photographiques et vidéographiques qu’il relie dans des cartes dynamiques et interactives. Dans Forsinicola, Piat construit le Fort Saint Nicolas à Marseille. S’y mèle non seulement des images de formats divers, mais surtout des images avec des temporalités multiples, allant du cliché instantané à la chronophotographie (Marey/Muybridge) en passant par des ralentissements et des images-panoramiques. Le tout s’agrège dans une forme qui peut se décomposer et se recomposer selon les mouvements du joueur et du programme.
Que nous habitions là où Cézanne peignait, que nous y vivions ou que nous traversions quotidiennement les paysages que Cézanne a peints, nous sommes tous un peu des habitants de ses peintures. Le studio de création Digital Deluxe a conçu et réalisé Le Voyage immobile, une invitation à partager cet héritage commun. Mais de quoi s’agit-il ? D’un module itinérant que l’on va retrouver dans l’espace public : le centre ville, les villages, les lycées, etc. qui va offrir au passant une découverte sensorielle de l’univers du peintre.
C’est le Centre européen de création et de développement culturel (CECDC) qui a lancé cette ambitieuse réalisation en collaboration avec l’association Terre active. Elle permet d’évoquer, sans chercher à la reproduire ni à l’expliquer, l’expérience sensorielle que représentait l’acte de peindre chez Cézanne. Voici donc une promenade interactive, différente, et sans bouger d’un pouce, sur les pas de Cézanne. Une balade qui, du paysage à l’oeuvre, permet d’évoquer le regard de Cézanne sur la nature, de comprendre le passage du motif au tableau.
Production CECDC / Conception et réalisation Digital Deluxe / Itinérance et tournée Terre Active
Le système présenté est une installation venteuse, constituée de 15 ventilateurs disposés en cercle. Chaque ventilateur souffle en fonction d’informations fournies en temps réel par Internet et utilise le flux de stations météo du monde entier pour générer des dessins à la surface d’une feuille.
Chessynthesis est un dispositif sonore qui transforme deux joueurs d’échecs en des musiciens. Chessynthesis analyse en temps-réel les mouvements de chaque pièce sur le plateau, même celle qui se trouve dans la main du joueur. Avec ses informations, il interprète les indices tactiques/stratégiques du jeu, les tensions, les centres de gravité, et les transcode en de la musique avec de la synthèse granulaire.
« Episureo », Stefan Schwabe & Sebastian Neitsch, 2008
développé à l’Ecole supérieure d’art Aix-en-Provence et au Kunstuniversität Linz
The paths we choose to follow each day, to go to work, to move around in our own homes or even the ways we move during our free-time are mostly pre-defined by architecture, human crowds or subconsciously learned behaviours. During all this, the personal space we keep around ourselves depends on the place we are at and the people surrounding us. We all need privacy but also depend on social relationships and so-for on close contacts to other humans. Our aim is to show this never-ending, pulsing conflict and the trails the participants leave in space and time.
To realize this within an interactive installation, we had to find a place where the participants would stay for quite a while and where they would have to move consciously but also relaxed. We wanted the people to naturally communicate to each other so that groups would appear and we needed them to move in a quite large radius. A swimming pool is almost perfect for this. It is like a stage you step on and just by its architectural form, it already pre-defines paths the swimmers usually follow and with which we as authors can play. On top of that the swimming and the water might relax the visitors so that they have the time and mind to concentrate on the installation. This was never been done before, so not only the visualisation of movement and the dynamics of human crowds where our main topics now, but also the difficult task to convert a public swimming pool into a huge interface.
The picture on the ceiling responds via motion-tracking to the swimmers in the water. Depending on their movements, their speeds and their distances to each other, the visualisation changes and with the help of an underwater loudspeaker variant sounds are generated. Abstract graphics slowly appear and get more and more complex after time, showing trails, movements and the group dynamics in the pool. To picture
the whole movement and not only the one of each single swimmer, sometimes a kind of current appears that influences the whole visualisation.
développé au studio Lentigo, ENSBA Marseille avec l’assistance de l’Atelier Hypermédia ESA Aix-en-Provence
La ville est complexe, en perpétuelle mutation. Les flux d’images, d’information et de déplacement superposent en strates. Dans Node City, on se déplace à l’intérieur de ses strates via un système de navigation corporelle : autour de notre corps une projection au sol nous immerge à l’intérieur d’une carte que l’on peut explorer tout simplement en se déplaçant. Via un système de surveillance, on repère les promeneurs et leur propose un carrefour mobile de vidéos à explorer; en se baladant on découvre les différentes strates audiovisuelles de la ville.
shades of white, mêlant danse, images et son, a été pour le festival les affluents au pavillon noir d’aix-en-provence, en collaboration avec bruno péré. l’idée principale est une évolution de la lumière blanche au travers de ses trois composantes colorées : rouge, vert et bleu. les projections sont la seule source de lumière pour les danseurs sur scène. elles sont diffusées au sol, sur le mur du fond, voire les deux.
la majeure partie de ces histoires colorées est programmé, puis exportée en vidéo et montée sur logiciel vidéo. voilà un petit résumé sur ce que l’on a essayé de symboliser par ces temps colorés :
le rouge est le commencement, comme une naissance hésitante et fragile.
le vert correspond à la création d’un espace hésitant, une sorte de paysage sans dimension.
le bleu est le résidu, après l’explosion blanche des trois couleurs réunies.
tantôt au mur, tantôt au sol, la lumière est image. l’image est matière. le mouvement du corps évolue avec un espace coloré qui se raconte peu à peu. rouge. vert. bleu.
I have been invited to take part in a new department at the Haute École d’Art et de Design Genève exploring the emerging field of Media Design. Anyone who reads this blog should be able to see the affinities of what I do at the Atelier Hypermédia and the announced objectives of this new department. Although officially I will be intervening in the field of algorithmic design in its various manifestations, as well as specifically in the world of experimental game design, there are many other fields that this department (and its sister department Spaces & Communication) deal with that I too dabble in, so I assume I will be working on some of those projects as well.
To head off a question I can see coming : I will not be leaving my position at the École supérieure d’art d’Aix-en-Provence. I am currently starting up some important development projects in Aix-en-Provence (more on that later as it becomes official) and so, for the moment at least, I will be intervening merely as an invited lecturer to begin with the 2009-2010 session.
However, this does mean that I will be holding a lot fewer workshops in the future. I know that these workshops are very popular, but unfortunately these intense sessions are often too numerous and more importantly too frustrating to all involved because of their transitory nature. That said, if you are looking for brilliant and motivated young artists to run workshops on art & code, or the physicalization of objects, I can (and often do) recommend a whole slew of people I have worked with and trained over the past several years who are in many ways more competant than I.
Added note to all those across the pond who are looking for a more economic means of getting a quality higher education: over here in Europe, where institutions and infrastructure still work the way they’re supposed to, higher education fees are amazingly reasonable. Although currently in France major efforts are underway to model the education system on — gulp — the American University model, for the moment these suicidal tendencies have yet to give sway. Whenever I work over in my home country I am absolutely appauled by the fees, often up in the $20,000 range and beyond. Although I’m currently paid peanuts, I at least can take some consolation in the affordable cost of studying with me (these two factors of the equation probably have something to do with each other, by the way). So comparatively, the 320€/semester of this new department seems perfectly reasonable, especially given the fact that Geneva is an amazingly expensive city, along the lines of New York, Tokyo, etc. I don’t know if those fees apply to swiss students only or are a flat rate, but whatever the case they’re definitely far less that the fees which have gone totally out of control back in the States. Given the hard times, it’s perhaps time to reset the tuition fees along with the rest of the economy.
Here is the English announcement of the two new departments. En français plus loin.
The Media Design Masters programme is addressed primarily to students / designers, principally active in the field of new digital media (interaction, internet, game design), wishing to extend and develop their practical work. It also permits creators operating in closely related fields (graphics, fashion, architectural design) to expand and question their discipline by incorporating into it the approaches, tools and the potential for expression and communication of emerging technologies.
This professionalizing programme, unique in Switzerland, aims to train designers whose skills are based on the mastery of techniques, critical reflection and aesthetic evaluation. It provides the opportunity to invent and develop mechanisms, products or applications, as well as their content, through the employment of the codes and tools specific to digital technologies and networks.
Based on the fact that digital technology is a universal intercode making it possible to unify and to create crossovers between the different fields of media design, the programme covers the whole range of visualisation, modelling and communication processes involved with the new media. The teaching, which highlights the importance of the code and programming, encourages convergence of the different media design fields to which the students’ projects bélong : interaction design, dynamic data visualisation, digital fashion design, locative and mobile media, electronic publishing and publications, digital performance and real time.
The Masters in Spaces and Communication programme is addressed to students / designers for whom space (interior architecture / space design) or visual communication (graphic design, web design, video, signage) constitute the principal fields of activity and who wish to extend and develop their practice. It also permits creators working in closely-related areas (architecture, industrial design, typography, photography) to expand and question their discipline from the angle of an overall communication incorporating the spatial components.
The programme combines the capacities of graphic design and signage with those of space design and architecture following a multidisciplinary logic and a combined practical perspective. This Masters gives priority to the field of concrete spaces while still leaving a significant place for the use of new virtual media technologies and resources. It offers the chance to experiment and to develop real, ephemeral or lasting projects, in connection with the major cultural structures, companies and economic events (forums, fairs or shows) and the international organisations based in Geneva.
The teaching emphasizes the interactions between the different professional fields : exhibition design, design of commercial spaces and services (stands, show-rooms, concept stores,…), signage and graphic design in the public space, event design and corporate identity.
These Master programmes attaches prime importance to research, and benefits from numerous institutional and private partnerships on the national and international level.
Supervision is provided by versatile and multidisciplinary teams of lecturers, professionals, creators, researchers and invited contributors.
Deadline for application: 29 May 2009
Qualification awarded: Master of Arts HES-SO in Design – major Spaces & Communication / Media Design.
This qualification is internationally recognized.
Fees: CHF 500.- / 320 Euros per semester.
Language: teaching is given in French with additional contributions in English.
Le programme Master Espaces et Communication s’adresse aux étudiant-e-s / designers, suisses ou étrangers, dont l’espace (architecture d’intérieur / design d’espace) ou la communication visuelle (graphisme, webdesign, vidéo, signalétique) constituent les terrains d’action principaux et qui souhaitent élargir et approfondir leur pratique. Il permet aussi à des créateurs actifs dans des domaines connexes (architecture, design industriel, typographie, photographie) de développer et d’interroger leur discipline dans la perspective d’une communication globale intégrant les composantes spatiales.
Espaces et Communication croise les compétences du design graphique et de la signalétique avec celles du design d’espaces et de l’architecture dans une logique multidisciplinaire et une optique de pratique concertée. Il vise à former des designers dont les compétences se fondent sur le développement de concepts spatiaux et communicationnels innovants, sur la maîtrise des savoirs et des savoir-faire, ainsi que sur une réflexion critique et éthique. Informé par les apports théoriques des sciences humaines, valorisant le potentiel créatif de chaque étudiant-e, ce master original, unique en Suisse, offre la possibilité d’expérimenter et de développer des projets réels, éphémères ou durables, en lien avec les grandes structures culturelles, les entreprises et manifestations économiques (forums, foires ou salons) et les organisations internationales implantées à Genève.
L’enseignement met l’accent sur les interactions des différents champs professionnels : design d’exposition (exhibition design), design d’espaces commerciaux et de services (stands, show-rooms, concept stores,…), signalétique et graphisme dans l’espace public, design d’événements et communication institutionnelle (corporate identity).
Le programme Master Media Design s’adresse prioritairement aux étudiant-e-s / designers, suisses ou étrangers, dont les nouveaux médias numériques constituent le terrain d’action principal (interaction, web, game design) et qui souhaitent élargir et approfondir leur pratique. Il permet aussi à des créateur-rice-s actifs dans des domaines connexes (graphic, fashion, architectural design) de développer et d’interroger leur discipline en y intégrant les démarches, les outils et le potentiel d’expression et de communication des technologies émergentes.
Ce programme professionnalisant, unique en Suisse, vise à former des designers dont les compétences se fondent sur la maîtrise des techniques, la réflexion critique et l’évaluation esthétique. Il offre la possibilité d’inventer et de développer des dispositifs, produits ou applications, ainsi que leurs contenus, en mettant en œuvre les codes et les outils propres aux technologies numériques et aux réseaux.
Basé sur le constat que le numérique constitue un intercode universel permettant d’unifier et de croiser les divers champs du media design, le programme concerne l’ensemble des processus de visualisation, de modélisation et de communication impliquant les nouveaux médias.
L’enseignement, qui met l’accent sur l’importance du code et de la programmation, favorise la convergence entre différents champs du media design dans lesquels s’inscrivent les projets des étudiant-e-s: interaction design, visualisation dynamique des données, digital fashion design, médias locatifs et mobiles, édition et publications électroniques, performance numérique et temps réel.
Ces deux programmes Master accordent une importance primordiale à la recherche et bénéficient de nombreux partenariats, institutionnels ou privés, noués au niveau national et international.
Leur encadrement est assuré par des équipes polyvalentes et pluridisciplinaires d’enseignant-e-s, de professionnel-le-s, de créateur-rice-s, de chercheur-euse-s et d’intervenant-e-s invités.
Délai d’admission: 29 mai 2009
Titre délivré: Master of Arts HES-SO en Design – Orientation Espaces & Communication / Media Design
Ce titre est internationalement reconnu.
Coûts: CHF 500.- / 320 Euros par semestre
Langue: la langue d’enseignement est le français, complétée par des apports en anglais.
Collaborations: ces deux orientations master font partie intégrante du Master HES-SO en design qui offre également deux autres orientations à l’ECAL – Lausanne (Art Direction et Design de produit).
I’m currently playing about with Safari 3.1’s embedded font feature. It’s great, and about time. If you’re reading this blog directly from my website and with Safari 3.1+ then you know what I’m talking about. Otherwise, you’ll just have to wait until Firefox and Explorer catch up.
I’m not sure I’ve found what I’m looking for in terms of legally embeddable fonts. It actually harder than you might think to find interesting, yet readable, open fonts. If you use this feature, be careful: you cannot embed commercial fonts as this would be the equivalent of distributing them and could get you into trouble. Some web designers have complained about this, but I actually think this is a Good Thing™. We need a more developed open type community — and no, embedding fonts in Flash is not a solution — and this will only accelerate that process.
Which reminds me — there’s this brilliant project currently in beta where you can “build, share, download” open typefaces: FontStruct over at the infamous FontShop. It’s a great service, even if it still needs a lot of work. You can even embed a flash example into your blog or webpage, as in the following Pixel Cube example:
I don’t know how long I’ll be using this font (it has a lot of issues), and for the moment I have yet to figure out how to single out browsers that do and do not support this feature, in order to create the right type relationships for those that do not. For the moment, I’m figuring most cannot see these fonts, and so the sizing is all wrong. But whatever the case I think it’s great to see a community tool perfectly in sync with this complex issue, and if you think my website is now even uglier than before, please give me some time to figure out how to deal with this (welcome) extra layer.
Ok people, you can stop sending me emails about Microsoft Surface. I’ve seen it already. And as I mentioned in this interview and this one the experimentation phase of interactive surfaces is over. Everyone knows that Microsoft is the pretty much the last cog in the technology wheel. When they’ve figured it out, well that means that just about everyone else has already figured it out some time ago.
I love that historical timeline on the surface web page. NO REALLY EVERYONE, LOOK, WE THOUGHT OF THIS BEFORE THE IPHONE. NO, HEY, WHY ARE YOU LAUGHING? IT’S TRUE! The funny thing about Microsoft is that they are still actually sincere after all these years. They just don’t get the joke. They really do think that they have invented all these technologies, only they just weren’t savvy enough to make people realize it. For example, to them, OS X’s interface is actually a rip-off of ideas they were already working on in Vista and not the other way around. Back in my little bubble world, we digital artists are always suffering from the same illness — it’s in fact our favorite sport (oh, I was doing that years ago) — but it’s even funnier to see one of the richest companies in the world fretting over their public image: gosh, if people only knew!
But kidding aside, this is a really good thing. I said in the above interviews that when Jeff Han’s solution was shown, it was officially over for surface innovation. I called them Hypertables, Hypersurfaces and Object Oriented Objects, MIT people called them Things That Think amongst other terms (and ages before me), and then before all that there was Bill Buxton and Myron Kruger. So none of this is new. But what we needed was a starting block, a sort of ok, fiddling’s over, time to use this stuff. Jeff solved the fundamental visual-gestural language, and all we had to do from there was to start using it.
I also should mention here what got cut out of the Fast Company interview, in response to the question « are hypertables the replacement for the keyboard/mouse combination? » My answer to that was « look at the Wii ». You cannot seperate the iPhone introduction from the introduction of the Wii controller. Both are looking to phsyicalize algorithms, make algorithms maleable physically, and as far as that goes, the field is still wide open. Keyboards and mice are still workable, so they probablly won’t die, no, beacause people will be writing things for a long time to come. Neither the Wii, nor the iPhone, to Surface, will help you write your blog. Maybe your video blog, but not your text blog.
Or maybe a million little things will complement the keyboard and mouse, or maybe just a half-dozen solutions will turn out to be modular enough to solve most of the things we will want to do. Or maybe Cronenberg is right, and it’ll be your body itself. But in my opinion 1) phyiscal objects are good for abstract thinking, and 2) no single object will be fully modular enough for all uses. There will not be one single system, although touch will indeed solve quite a few of the old ones. But whatever the case, the interfacing will require interfacing algorithmically. And when it comes to interacing algorithmically, nothing beats the Rubik’s Cube.
So now are finally seeing real-world hypersurfaces that we can work with. Personally I was expecting Apple to solve the commercialization problem first, and maybe they will. With that $5000+ tag, Surface still feels like vaporware. But I don’t think Microsoft will have any problems shipping at the end of the year as they predict. Trust me, this is very easy technology. For my installation at the Pompidou Center in 2004, for example, I solved my lighting problem with a 5€ bathroom lamp from theBHV down the street. Now, if I can make Hypertables with household appliances, Microsoft can probably commercialize the thing with more professional processes.*
I’m also intrigued that so many people are offering the same solution. That more or less solves the patent problem right there.
Also, Vista is running behind Surface, and while I think Vista is oh-so Mac 10.2 (which is still just a fancy NeXT machine), it’s ultimately great news that there’s a boring old operating system sitting under that coffeetable. Running Processing or Flash or vvvv or whatever on top of it shouldn’t be all that hard.
This is going to sound bad, but personally I’ve got about a five-year start on what works and what doesn’t in these touch-contexts, and plenty of ideas that have just been waiting for the technology to become a reality. But I’m also a little bored with it as well, so we’ll see if I invest a new round in this technology. Our crew has it’s work cut out for it whatever the case: neither Microsoft, nor Apple, nor Perceptive Pixel for that matter, have proposed any tangeable experience with this technology. So far, we’re just talking about « interfaces ». So artists still have a lot to offer in this field.
So thanks Microsoft. I guess I’m trying to say thanks for being so reassuringly tweed coat and making this technology feel like Daddy’s old jalopy…
Filed under: design, rant — Douglas Edric Stanley @ 19:30 pm
Ok, this is one of those things that only an engineer could think of — also known as how to shave off a minute here, a minute there, when you have perfectly better things to do…
Take a look at this photo. It is my Epson R300 printer just after replacing the ink cartridge. It has just made all sorts of spugeeech, zhmurrrr, shpukwaaaaam, shazzaaaam noises. All this takes about a minute. There is a nice little screen on the right that first told me how to do things, and when I was ready it asked me to press OK. In French we say, « jusqu’ici, tout va bien » (up to this point, everthing’s going fine). And that’s when all the smuuuuunch sounds whirr and buzz and I go back upstairs to print out my document, figuring that the printer can take care of things from here.
Ah, but no. Of course it can’t be that simple…
Once I’ve shlepped my way upstairs, my computer still won’t print. Hmm. Wifi troubles? Trying pinging the damn thing. Nope. Not Wifi. So I trek back down to my printer to see what I’ve done wrong, and there I find this glorious, « user-friendly », i.e. over-zealous-engineer-message-of-love :
« Ink Cartridge Replacement. Ink cartridge replacement is complete. Press OK to finish. »
Sheesh. Couldn’t it just have pushed the damn OK button itself? Do the Epson engineers really think that I want to spend 1 minute watching my printer go whrrrr, pliiing, shmeeeeerunk? What, do they want a pat on the back? Hey printer, that was a beautiful spectacle of engineering! Good job!
And can someone tell me why on earth I have all those buttons to begin with? I remember the good-old-days of our Apple printer at school that had one button. Yep. One button. And in most instances you never had to push it, since it’s plugged into a computer. And the computer already knows how to push buttons by itself.
This is a recording of my presentation during the Symposium Audio/Espaces/Réseaux organized by Locus Sonus. In the accompagnying pdf file (destanley.pdf) you will find links to all of the films and interactive animations described during the talk. This talk is in French (why the hell am I writing this in English? I have no idea)
Here is a link to an installation that Alexis Amen and I finished for the “Salon du livre et de la presse de jeunesse” in the Paris neighborhood of Montreuil. At Alexis’ request, the Hypertable was turned into an interactive story illustrating different renditions of Little Red Riding Hood. It was a youth-oriented installation, which was interresting for me because I had been trying to find some more design-oriented uses for the Hypertable while still maintaining a certain artistic integrity. Working with children gives you some unique design constraints. I’m not 100% thrilled by the result, but it was a worthy exercise. Hopefully, Alexis and I can find another collaboration in the future where we can explore some of the design ideas we ultimately had to throw out.
Inside of Opixido, Alexis works on Piloti, which helps other artists code their works. Obviously I didn’t need to give him any pointers, at least not any pointers than those to my incoming data (bad programming joke).
This interactive manual was designed for the E-Rex, an experimental robotic screen designed at the Loboratory LOEIL for the exploration of images in a 360° space. To accompany the installation, this manual was placed at the periphery of the exhibit, giving instructions on the manipulation of the device. Significantly, the interface re-enacts the endless circular mouvements of the screen, and allows the users to manipulate the different parts of the system through interactive video illustrations.
