data>art transformations

1) Make a Processing sketch that uses objects and arrays.

2) Do some research/thinking about how you would obtain or collect data that relates to the concept you worked with today during the “nothing-to-something” process. If you have time, experiment with making a matrix.

4) ANALOG assignment. Show the passage of time. Any time-scale (short/long), any media.

CODE: In pairs or groups of three, come up with a rule set for a simple interactive game. Make a list of the tasks your program will have to do in order for the game to work, just like we did in class. Use these tasks to define functions. Divide up the work among the members of your group, and build the program in processing, function by function.

READ: Chapters 7 and 8 in Learning Processing to get more info on functions, classes and objects. If you feel up to it, you can also look at Chapter 9, which is about arrays. We will be going over this material again in class next week.

Also, you can read about the dist() function at Processing.org.

Tim C. is available for extra help; email or chat me with questions or problems. I will have office hours from 12:30 to 3pm on Monday– email me if you plan to come during that time.

Analog Assignment: Review lecture info and look at links from Wednesday’s class. Create a Rule Set. The rule set could aim to generate a work of visual or word-based art (like Sol Le Witt’s wall drawings, or Oulipo’s experimental literature), a performance (like the Fluxus event scores), or a certain type of interaction (like Paul Auster/Sophie Calle’s Gotham Diaries or Vito Acconci’s Following Piece). Ideally the rule set should express or explore a concept. Exchange the rule set with your assigned partner. Execute the Rule Set you receive, and document your results (with photos, video, writing, etc).

Code Assignment: Make a few sketches using conditionals and loops. Experiment with Booleans. Please post code assignments by NOON on Tuesday… this will give me a chance to look at them before class. If you are having ANY problems at all, email me with questions. Post your broken sketches, too!

Reading: Sol LeWitt (handout)
Casey Reas on Software Structures
NYT Review of LeWitt at Dia Beacon

Please review the work by/about Saul Bass and Paul Rand that we looked at in class (see lecture notes post from class 2).

Code Assignment: In Processing, make two sketches, experimenting with variables, conditionals and loops. Think about visual language and design principles. Practice balancing code with visual language. Keep in mind Rand’s elements of visual langauge: order, variety, contrast, tension, symmetry, balance, scale, texture, space, shape, light, shade and color. Try to work some of these elements into the composition and animation in  your sketches. It may help to watch the short Paul Rand animated video a couple of times to remind yourself of these principles.

Reading: handout, Data Visualization as New Abstraction and Anti-Sublime (Lev Manovich)

In addition to reading the handout: Hackers and Painters by Paul Graham, please complete the following analog AND code assignments:

Analog Assignment Collect some data from a physical space you inhabit and make a representation of a a pattern or relationship you see in that data. OR show a database that somehow represents you. Analog = not in code! So you can make sketches on paper, take photos, make a video, work with physical objects, string, lint, clay, wood, etc. You need to either bring your project to class, or show some documentation of what you did. Play! Have fun!

Some of the work that we looked at in class that may be helpful to you:

Gretchen Nash’s Letters Project

Pop Up Calendar Book

Work by Sarah Illenberger (she also did the tag clouds we looked at in class. Click around her site for more inspirational stuff, she does lots of interesting object-based works like this).

Christoph Niemann’s Abstract City Blog, with sketches and lego diagrams.

Code Assignment Download Processing to your own computer. Make three or four “screen drawings” using only 2D primitive shapes – arc(), curve(), ellipse(), line(), point(), quad(), rect(), triangle() – and basic color functions – background(), colorMode(), fill(), noFill(), noStroke(), stroke(). Remember to use size() to specify the dimensions of your window. In Learning Processing, Chapters 1, 2, and 3 may be helpful. ALSO, using the bouncing ball example I showed in class, try to keep the ball from flying off the screen along the x axis. Hint: we already have the ball contained along the y axis. I’ve made some slight modifications to the code we looked at in class (see previous post for code examples)– I’ve renamed our “dir” variable to “speed.” Extra credit: How would you change the code so the ball moves at a steeper/gentler angle across the screen? How would you change the code so the ball picks up speed as it moves across the screen?