Positive Technology Journal

fantastic photo manipulations by Tokyogenso. See more here

The Heart Chamber Orchestra consists of classical musicians who use their heartbeats to control a computer composition and visualization environment. To my best knowledge, this is the first example of "group biofeedback".

The musicians are equipped with ECG (electrocardiogram) sensors. A computer monitors and analyzes the state of these 12 hearts in real time. The acquired information is used to compose a musical score with the aid of computer software. It is a living score dependent on the state of the hearts.

While the musicians are playing, their heartbeats influence and change the composition and vice versa. The musicians and the electronic composition are linked via the hearts in a circular motion, a feedback structure. The emerging music evolves entirely during the performance.

The resulting music is the expression of this process and of an organism forming itself from the circular interplay of the individual musicians and the machine.

The sensor network consists of 12 individual sensors; each one is fitted onto the body of a musician. A computer receives the heartbeat data. Software analyzes the data and generates via different algorithms the real-time musical score for the musicians, the electronic sounds and the computer graphic visualization

Below is a video documentation from the Heart Chamber Orchestra performance on the 28th of March 2010 at Kiasma Theatre at Pixelache Festival in Helsinki, Finland.

Harvest (2009) is a new art piece for the new instrument terrafon, traditional ensemble and cropland - by Olle Cornéer and Martin Lübcke.

In the first performance Alunda Church Choir, conducted by Cantor Jan Hällgren, played the soil of northern Uppland (in Sweden) on terrafon. Terrafon is a large agricultural version of the horn gramophone, amplifying the sounds in the track it ploughs.

Watch the performance here:
http://vimeo.com/5075042

Read more here:
http://corneerlubcke.com/

Download some other pics here:
http://ollecorneer.com/art/harvest/

I just can not wait for the new James Cameron's movie Avatar...

The Stanford Mobile Phone Orchestra (MoPhO) is a new repertoire-based ensemble using mobile phones as musical instrument. MoPhO's interactive musical works take advantage of the unique technological capabilities of today's hardware and software, transforming multi-touch screens, built-in accelerometers, built-in microphones, GPS, data networks, and computation into powerful and yet mobile chamber meta-instruments.

The researcher behind the idea, Ge Wang, believes cell phones are becoming so powerful that we “cannot ignore them anymore as platforms for creativity. . . . It levels the playing ground in some ways, because everyone has a cell phone.”

The Stanford Mobile Phone Orchestra’s performance on December 3 at Palo Alto (CA) used an Apple iPhones amplified by speakers attached to small fingerless gloves. Here is a video of the concert.

Solar - by Rejane Cantoni and Leonardo Crescenti

(under development)

Solar is a robotic installation, immersive and interactive, designed to simulate qualities and measures of solar light in relation to man-space time.
 The interactor can agency the machine in two ways: he can control his geographic position with his feet and/or he can speak with it. 
Agencying via positioning make it possible for the interactor to inform his geographic position to a data bank. One possible example of this type of user-system interaction could be: 
You enter the machine – a black rotunda of 6.30 in diameter x 3.50 high. In the center, there is a movable platform. Upon stepping on it, the gravitational force of the body is interpreted by the system that, in function of the relative latitude and longitude, alters the original setup.

For example, when you step in front of the platform, the system advances to the north, i.e., it produces, on the plasma wall, visual feedbacks that appear as modifications in the latitudes of the imaginary lines which, in this case, advance from Equador to the North Polar Circle (see on video an example of navigating in the inverse direction, south). 
Agencying via voice command, on the other hand, makes it possible for the interactor to particularize a date and a moment of an event. For example: when the interactor says “August 03 at 3 p.m.”, the system associates to this command the information to his relative position, which makes it possible to simulate the solar light intensity relative to the space-time solicited. 
To the eyes of the outside observer, without movement or without the interactor’s voice command, time, in this machine, stops.

Rejane Cantoni and Leonardo Crescenti

Nice video of magnetic liquid (ferrofluids) created by Sachiko Kodama and Minako Takeno that reminds me to some sort of artificial life

Earthquakes are complex natural phenomena that are difficult to predict but also to understand.

German artist Franz John created an online installation - Turing Tables - that makes earthquakes easier to fathom while reminding us how alive the Earth is.

Inspired to the work of matematician Alan Turing, The Turing Tables gathers data from a multitude of small earthquake sensors (called “fingers”) stationed around the globe into a real-time, online installation before converting the data into image and sound. Green-and-black moving wallpaper—composed of numeric data and the locations and times at which the readings are taken—fills the room, along with a grating yet melodic soundtrack courtesy of Oakland-based sound artist Ed Osborn.

Via Idearium

Californian artist Reuben Margolin creates complex kinetic sculptures. His artworks are made using different materials - salvaged wood, metal, cardboard, and other recycled stuff - with sculptures ranging from tiny to looming, motorized to hand-cranked. Elegant and hypnotic.

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DXARTS | PROFESSORSHIP in HYBRID ARTS PRACTICE
www.dxarts.washington.edu

Pending budgetary approval, The Center for Digital Arts and Experimental Media (DXARTS) at the University of Washington is seeking to fill a tenured or tenure track faculty position in HYBRID ARTS PRACTICE. Rank is open, and we will consider hires from Assistant to Full Professor with tenure.

Established in 2001, DXARTS is a pioneering experimental arts unit with exciting undergraduate and doctoral degree programs. DXARTS brings together faculty from Art, Music, Dance, Computer Science, Electrical Engineering, Physics, Biology, History of Ideas, and Design in a hybrid research environment dedicated to the invention and exploration of new forms of digital and experimental art.

The successful candidate for this position should be an artist hybrid engaged in advanced generative digital and experimental arts practice, as well as integrating research on the epistemological and ontological questions raised by the broader art, science and technology discipline.

Applicants for this position should at minimum hold a Masters Degree or equivalent experience and present a well documented career of significant creative accomplishments. The ideal candidate will have a strong and deeply integrated background blended across numerous creative, interpretive and technical fields such as art, music, film, design, dance, theater, computer science, cognitive science, engineering, history, psychology, and philosophy.

Applicants should be prepared to pursue innovative art and technology research, as well as teach introductory and advanced courses in comprehensive studio practice, and the history and analysis of digital and experimental arts.

Applications must include: CV, artist statement, statement on pedagogy, and a cohesive portfolio of professional creative work. Support materials must include three references with phone numbers, mail and e-mail addresses, samples of previous course design and recent student work. Portfolio work should be formatted for viewing on any platform. Please include a SASE for return of materials. Also inform us if you will be attending the CAA conference in Los Angeles, CA.

Application materials should be addressed to: Chair, HYBRID ARTS PRACTICE Search Committee, DXARTS, 207 Raitt Hall, Box 353414, University of Washington, Seattle, Washington 98195-3414. Priority will be given to applications received before January 15, 2009. The University of Washington is building a culturally diverse faculty, and strongly encourages applications from female and minority candidates. The University is an Equal Opportunity, Affirmative Action employer.

A competitive recruitment and selection process is being conducted and if a U.S. worker is not selected pursuant to this process, an application for Alien Employment Certification may be filed on behalf of an alien to fill this job opportunity. Any person may provide documentary evidence bearing on the application (such as information on available workers, wages, working terms and conditions, or other pertinent information) to either:

Employment Security Department
AEC Unit
P.O. Box 9046
Olympia, WA 98507-9046

OR

Employment & Training Administration
Region VI, U.S. Department of Labor
Certifying Officer
P.O.Box 193767
San Francisco, CA 94119-3767

Via Networked Performance

Electrohype 2008 will present works by 5 - 8 artists or artist groups. To give the exhibition a broad perspective we are looking for Nordic as well as international artists. Electrohype has since the start in 1999 focused on what we choose to call computer based art. Art that runs of computers and utilizes the capacity of the computer to mix various media, allow interaction with the audience, or machines interacting with each others etc. in other words art that can not be transferred to “traditional” linear media. This might seem as a narrow approach but we have discovered that it gives us a better focus on a genre that in no way is narrow.

We are not looking for “straight” video art (even if it is edited on a computer) or still images rendered on computers and other material that refers to more “traditional” media forms. Forms were the traditional tools have been replaced with computers and software.

Curators for the biennial are Anna Kindvall and Lars Gustav Midbxe.

Practical: You can submit with our online form or download the application form as PDF-file. You have to use one of these two forms to submit to our call. This can be found on this address. NOTE: Please do NOT send documentation material as attachments via e-mail. Put your material online and send us the download URL or ftp address, or send us a CD or similar in the mail. Do NOT send 8 pages CVs and only complement with enclosures if it is necessary. Please read the form and follow the guidelines. We receive a large amount of proposals and all of them are reviewed closely. To be able to do this we ask you to follow the structure in the application form and the topics mentioned above.

Financial: Due to a limited budget we will encourage everyone submitting material to look for possibilities for local funding to help cover costs for transport, travel and rent of technical equipment. This is not a requirement but a request; external funding can help us during the financial planning. The quality of the artwork will always be the determining element.

Electrohype covers all expenses, within reasonable limits, and also pays an artist honorarium to participating artists. Electrohype does not support development and production of unfinished artworks.

In previous exhibitions we have managed to keep a high level both in artistic content and exhibition design, even on a modest budget. It is therefore very important for us to avoid unpleasant surprises, so please keep this in mind when filling out the various posts in the form, especially when it comes to technical requirements, transport weight etc.

From Networked Performance

International Journal of Arts and Technology (IJART) - Call For Papers : Special Issue on Immersive Virtual, Mixed, or Augmented Reality Art : Guest Editors: Maria Roussou and Maurice Benayoun: Deadline: September 1, 2008.

For the past fifteen years, virtual reality (VR) and, more recently, mixed reality (MR) and augmented reality (AR) environments that immerse their participants in imaginary space, have emerged to define an area that blurs the lines between the seemingly different worlds of research, creativity, and technological practice, while exploring the interdependencies between the virtual and the physical. From the immersive, yet more esoteric, CAVE®-based projects of the mid-nineties to the contemporary open experiences spread out in virtual as well as physical space, creative VR / MR / AR applications are challenging the ways we perceive both digital art and the science and engineering behind them.

Early enthusiasm with the use of projection-based display structures and the development of authoring solutions for application-building has brought a level of maturity, characterized by the emergence of new technical and conceptual forms. It is this particular moment in the evolution of immersive VR / MR / AR art practice that this special issue seeks to capture. Hence, in this special issue, we aim to bring forth the topic of immersive art in its current maturity, present the newest developments and explore its evolving forms, aspiring to shape a framework that will help us to develop the next generation of environments.

Therefore, this special issue will not include contributions that deal solely with describing a narrow and specific piece of art or research without reference to a conceptual framework or a critical analysis; rather we encourage contributions that take a broad and integrative view of relevant topics, encompassing both theoretical and empirical perspectives of digitally-generated creative spaces.

Submissions are invited that touch on but are not limited to the following themes:

- Theoretical discourse on immersive virtual, mixed or augmented reality art environments.
- Novel design concepts, applications, implementations and experiences from the actual deployment of immersive VR / MR / AR art applications
- Research or empirical work addressing some of the open questions in the design of immersive art environments. For example:
- Issues concerning creativity and aesthetics, visual depiction, storytelling and narrative, triggering other senses, embodiment, etc.
- The fine line between designing for entertainment or for artistic pleasure
- Issues in the design of interactivity, interfaces, and interaction methodologies, such as navigation by and tracking of multiple users, meaningful group interaction, the integration of multi-modal interfaces (e.g. tactile and haptic displays, sensing technologies), etc.
- Issues concerning the design and development process of immersive artwork, such as the conceptualisation and collaboration challenges presented by multitalented interdisciplinary teams working together, the unavailability of resources and work environments, etc.
- Issues in the deployment of different display configurations, sizes, and installations, as well as challenges in the practical use with diverse audiences (e.g., the need to guide people in experiencing the artwork)
Contributions are encouraged from different disciplinary perspectives, including fine arts, computer science, performance art, theatre, design, architecture, communications and social sciences, philosophy, cognitive psychology, and enabling technologies.

Contributions should take a broad and integrative view of relevant topics, rather than merely describing a narrow and specific piece of art or research.

Important Dates

Submission intent (title and 300-word abstract): 1 September, 2008
Deadline for full paper submission: 31 October, 2008
Review results returned to authors: February 29, 2009
Deadline for camera-ready papers: June 30, 2009

Via Networked Performance

Via Networked Performance 

Locative Media Art: Towards New Types of “Hybrid” Places for Communicating Meaning - A moderated discussion on YASMIN beginning on December 3, 2007: with Dimitris Charitos , Martin Rieser and Yanna Vogiazou.

The convergence of new mobile telecommunication networks along with geographical positioning systems and interactive graphical interfaces on mobile devices, are beginning to extend the potential of media technologies for supporting communication among mobile individuals. The aforementioned technologies allow groups of people to interact with each other, while being aware of each other’s location at all times. By introducing context awareness and by supporting multi-user communication, these ICT systems alter the patterns of information flow as well as the situation within which communication takes place, thus bringing to light new spatial structures where social interaction will occur and novel forms of cultural practices will emerge.

With: Roy Ascott, Mike Philips, Derrick de Kerckhove, Michael Punt, Laura Beloff, Elif Ayter, Isabelle Choiniere, Nicolas Reeves, Natasha Vita-More, Wolfgang Fiel, Semi Ryu, Francesco Monico, Pierluigi Capucci, Tommaso Tozzi, Massimo Cittadini, Stefano Sansavini, Domenico Quaranta, and Franco “Bifo” Berardi.

Topics-Themes: Media Art, Syncreticism, Technoetic, Moist Media, Phenomenology, Media Studies, Psychotechnologies, Transmodalities, Interactive Media Design, Virtual Reality, Enhanced Reality, Freud and Dream Science, Radical Thought, Semilife, Cultural Studies, Cognitive Architectures and Consciousness, Enteogenesis …

Now more than ever artists work through cultural interfaces, the ways and means, turning to evocations of both science and mythology, technology and tradition. The legacy of postmodernism has transformed itself in this “technoetic” variation. Today man is molded by hyperlinks, processors and networks and by bio and wet methodologies. Our senses are redefined, or rather, re-oriented from a collision with emerging realities, generated by new models of our world and of our subjectivity.

New art is linked to means that introduce it to a new praxis of production that is instantly pragmatic and philosophical. It (What? Art or the praxis?) generates interactivity and the transformation of common sense, both socially and aesthetically, while reflecting on the changing nature of perception, of connectivity and of conscience.

The man is not more into the center of the realm.

Works produced, both concretely and mentally, are made of a stratum of conscious associations, of unconscious sensitivity, of historic scientific data, of multiform unity and gripping discourse, fully interwoven in new telematic environments. These environments can be digital or natural and biological, furnishing us with new experiences and original creative visions.

Via Networked Performance

At the core of the fundamental questions of “what is art” and “what is technology” we focus The Handbook of Research on computational Arts and Creative Informatics at the convergence of computer science and artistic creativity. We seek to discover new ways to conceptualize art and investigate new methods of self expression through the use of technology. Here we are inviting experts in a wide range of disciplines to discuss the emergence of expression and art through that of science, information technology, computer science, artificial intelligence and many other related fields. We see this book as a comprehensive recourse where artists and scientists can collaborate on ideas, practices and experimentations on these topics. As technology becomes meshed further into our culture and everyday lives, new mediums and outlets for creative expression and innovation are abound. We are emphasizing the creative nature of technology and science itself. How does the human side of technological achievement influence our creative abilities as technology is a creation in itself? Has the ontology of the information age influenced society at the level of both the human and non human? Through this handbook we are addressing novel concepts from creation, interaction, communication, interpretation and emergence of art through various technological means and mediums.

The Handbook of Research on computational Arts and Creative Informatics will provide a comprehensive range of topics regarding the interaction of the sciences and the arts. Key concepts, theories and innovations involving the computational side of the arts and other creative technologies will be discussed. This particular volume will feature chapters (8,000-10,000 words) written by experts and leading innovators of their respective fields.

Recommended topics include, **but are not limited to**, the following:

+Essays and Discussion on Art and Technology
+Art and web design
+Fractals, tessellations and Creativity through mathematical expression
+Interactive and computational sculptures and artworks
+Kinetic sculptures
+Creativity as an emergent property of art and science
+Digital art and creative expressions
+The creative process in IT education
+Art created by Artificial Life and Intelligent Agents
+Creativity in computer interface and web design
+Creativity from emergent properties
+Art expressed or created by multi-agent systems
+Virtual spaces and Art of synthetic/ virtual worlds
+Art and expression through information visualization
+Animation, simulation and modeling
+3-D artwork
+Art for the blind and visually impaired- Universal Creativity
+Human expression through cybernetics
+Robotics and Art
+Future trends in Art as influenced by emerging technologies

Submissions: Interested individuals are invited to submit a 1-2 page manuscript on their proposed chapter by November 15, 2007. We encourage the inclusion of related topics not mentioned above that may be related to both the theme of the handbook and your particular research area or expertise. Upon acceptance of your proposal, you will have until February 28, 2008 to submit a completed draft of your chapter.

A set of guidelines will also be sent to you upon acceptance. Each potential author will receive notification on their acceptance status by November 30, 2007.

An article recently appeared in Time magazine reports about Smart Ambience Therapy (SAT), a series of interactive technology programs designed by Horace Ho-Shing Ip to help children overcome the effects of abuse.

From the article:

Decode is a multimedia exhibition showcasing the work of two artists: Jason Van Anden and Christy Matson. Experienced in traditional art-making processes - Van Anden in sculpture and Matson in weaving - both have integrated time honored methods with digital technologies. From sounds and projections to video games and robots, Van Anden and Matson’s work engages the senses and challenges perceptions in compelling and innovative ways.

Manchester Craftsmen’s Guild’s Kerr Gallery will feature Jason Van Anden’s life-sized emotive robots, Neil and Iona. The week preceding this opening, Van Anden will conduct a workshop with 10-12 students from Pittsburgh Schools at the Manchester Craftsmen’s Guild on Pittsburgh’s North side. Students participating in this workshop will be challenged to collaborate in the creation of an interactive piece that explores improvisational concepts and is inspired by the artist’s online videogame Farklempt!

Manchester Craftsmen’s Guild is a multi-discipline arts and learning center that complements traditional humanities education with studio-based art and performance programs that help catalyze academic achievement. MCG Youth serves Pittsburgh School students through year-round programs and, in conjunction with MCG Arts, promotes cultural discovery and empathy by connecting diverse accomplished artists to young people and their communities.

Neil and Iona made possible thanks to the generous support of the Finishing Fund.

Part of the Melbourne International Arts FestivalOribotics [network] is a unique art and technology installation in the Atrium at Federation Square, drawing on cutting edge research in biology, computing, and scientific origami. Discover living biomimetic works attached to the glass panes of the Atrium’s Fracture Galleries.

Seek out Oribotics [network] and you will find robots rooted to the architecture, surviving on solar power, with their faceted folded mechanical blossoms attracting data, moving in response to the physical audience and stimuli from online users at www.oribotics.net. In Oribotics [network] each robot is individually connected to the vastness of the internet, and to local mobile phone, Bluetooth and wifi networks, enabling interaction via mobile devices and the web.

Bring your laptop, PDA, or mobile phone, start up your bluetooth and wifi connections and ‘network’ with the Oribots. Or point your browser to www.oribotics.net and explore the virtual world of the oribots digestion. Oribotics [network]Matthew Gardiner’s research into the hybrid art / science field that fuses the ancient art of origami with robotic technology. Witness the results of four years development of intricately folded designs integrated with robotic mechanisms. continues multimedia artist

This is the most complex generation of oribots to date. With support from Arts Victoria Innovation fund, we are powering ahead into new realms.

At the moment we are working with compact computers (about the size of a greeting card), Micro Linear Actuators, designing flowers from water bombs, and using some of the strongest sticky tape in the world… If all that sounds a little odd, then you’d better read the blog. - Matthew Gardiner

Oribotics.net is designed and coded by Matthew Gardiner & My Trinh Gardiner at http://www.airstrip.com.au.