Project 3

A little exercise in growing complexity out of minimal gestures..

Maya Paint Effects is a 3d modeling tool that is capable of ‘growing’ objects, plants, images etc. These are some initial explorations with that tool. What makes it interesting is that the top down input is minimal. The randomizer in the program, in combination with the preset input, will start to generate complex patterns that vary each time..

Why Sleepy Glasses?

I was not able to really articulate the more interesting notions in the last project in the time frame. It was confusing to return to that normal Art Center place of isolated investigation and again with a paper acting as a monologue or aside. I dont know how to talk for the work itself nor for the paper in general because it seems to go against the intention of the class.
The animation and this text are useful and I am sure that they will feed my knowledge of a larger context but not so much in relation to this class specifically. The intention of the animation was to question what I felt was amiss in the text. The scientific approach of asking one question and reducing reducing reducing. My aims are not to reduce but to build up. Interaction as a growth. Hopefully this is a departure and allows for something if not unique at lease uncommon. The animation was not to answer anything serious or pressing. Just to suggest a possibility that all of this information could be made as absurd as it is relevant. To open the dialogue a bit more.

One of the most interesting aspects of this course has been our exposure to different methods of visualizing networks. Coupling this with the increasingly common occurrence of me being asked for my business cards, and not having one, I realized that a business card is the perfect opportunity to “visualize” a network.

The idea is this: everyone of my business cards has a ‘badge number’ and a link to ‘Jonathan’s Network.’ When I hand out my card, I peel a sticker off of my card that has a copy of the badge number on it. I stick it onto the card of the person with whom I am exchanging.

Later, when I’m at home, I scan in all of the business cards that I’ve accumulated and post them on ‘Jonathan’s Network.’ When my new contact checks the web site, he now has the advantage of seeing my entire network. My network not only provides a ‘portrait’ of me as an accumulation of acquaintances, but also provides an opportunity for me to put two of my contacts in touch with each other.

In essence, the card leverages my existing network by making it into something tangible, that people can see and interact with.

the objective was to see if the bots could make it to the other side of the barrier!

Sandwich Deconstruction

-Nathan Cooke

The goal of this work was to dissect and breakdown the elements of a sandwich. An extension of the primary goal, is to represent the sandwich in some way, that is accurate to all the elements inside of it, while at the same time, not being immediately recognizable as a sandwich. This was inspired by the TED Talk with Craig Venture in which he described how he is working with others to digitize gene information in an effort to understand them. I was intrigued by two things Craig Venture said in the TED Talk. The first was how he described some of the genes as having no purpose, and removable. The other point of interest was that his group could have all the genes coded, and organized, and would have no idea what the final organism looked like.

This process has been highly beneficial in developing various ideas surrounding my sandwich experience project. Though the original goal of the Sandwich Breakdown was somewhat theoretical without any specific application in mind, there have been a few concepts that have naturally germinated from this. Upon seeing all the ingredients written out on a page, someone commented upon how fantastic it would be to use this as the wrapper for the sandwiches, to see what was inside of them. This idea was taken further by another suggestion to use this as a new form of nutritional information labeling. Given the rise of sustainability and the need to visualize abstract concepts, I find this suggestions very applicable. This is just one we can start to see the individual parts or efforts that make up what we see.

My Network Card
Jonathan Jarvis…

One of the most interesting aspects of this course has been our exposure to different methods of visualizing networks. Coupling this with the increasingly common occurrence of me being asked for my business cards, and not having one, I realized that a business card is the perfect opportunity to “visualize” a network.

The idea is this: everyone of my business cards has a ‘badge number’ and a link to ‘Jonathan’s Network.’ When I hand out my card, I peel a sticker off of my card that has a copy of the badge number on it. I stick it onto the card of the person with whom I am exchanging.

Later, when I’m at home, I scan in all of the business cards that I’ve accumulated and post them on ‘Jonathan’s Network.’ When my new contact checks the web site, he now has the advantage of seeing my entire network. My network not only provides a ‘portrait’ of me as an accumulation of acquaintances, but also provides an opportunity for me to put two of my contacts in touch with each other.

In essence, the card leverages my existing network by making it into something tangible, that people can see and interact with.

-MIRA YANG

I just finished my work and take pictures of it. Haha.

My project is about constructing me and deconstructing me. I would like to express physical body and mind(soul) both together as a human being. The procedure of making a big cube indicates mind-body coordination. I can see and experience my physical body parts through building up the cube. On the other hands I can express my soul parts through putting my facial expressive pictures in each cube. Maybe facial expressions are not enough to be representative of my soul, but we can feel it at least. As a result, it will be like a puzzle (little bit). The puzzule instruction is like this:

For the facial expression, I took my self-portraits and selected 16 pictures as there are 16 cubes.

and the final is here:

It was interesting that I took pictures of pictures again, and all photos are me, myself. My sister took pictures of me and I was mostly lay down. I would like to show more gravity in these photoes. I enjoyed this work and hope you enjoy, too. Any question contact me: mira0123@hotmail.com

<a href=”http://“>

-Yana Kramskaya

Format

Here are some images of frozen droplets of water that Masaru Emoto examined under a dark field microscope. He labeled samples of water and froze them and ended up with these results:

Left: Fujiwara Dam before prayer. Right: Fujiwara Dam after offering a prayer.

Left: Hitler Right: Mother Theresa

Left: You Make Me Sick, I Will Kill You Right: Love & Appreciation

Something to try and think about: http://www.thank-water.net/english/

Let us tell water our Love and Thanks

• Put a glass of water on a table in your kitchen, dining room or private room. Tell the water “I love you” and “Thank you”, gently. At the same time, briefly visualize that all the water on Earth is connected with each other. You can do this with your children, family members and friends. Your Love and Thanks will be sent out to all the water on Earth through the water in the glass.
• How about imagining the following when you are touching the water coming from the faucet while doing the dishes, washing rice before cooking, or washing your clothes? The vibration of your Love and Thanks is overflowing from your heart through your chest, shoulders, and arms, and going through your palms that are touching the water into the water going out into a drain pipe. Your vibration will go through the flow of water very easily into the drain, into the nearby rivers and finally enter the ocean. The vapor from the ocean will build clouds and then the water will fall down as rains onto various parts of the world. In this way, the vibration of Love and Thanks that has originated from your heart will be transmitted to all over the world through the water network. This is a very easy way, and you can do this every day and every time you use water.
• An easier way will be just to tell gently “I love you” and “Thank you” to the water that is flowing out into a drain pipe after it has finished its role. This will surely change the vibration of the water.
• It is also very effective to put a “Thank you” sticker to the surface of the faucet. Every time you turn the faucet, it will remind you of the importance to express your gratitude to water.
• Or, if you want to do it a little bigger, then you can have a gathering around a pond, a lake, a river or along seashore. Then make a circle, holding hands, and say the same thing as above or more. Remember that the power of prayer is proportionate to the square of the number of people. You can add to this ceremony your own prayers that express your Love and Thanks toward water or Planet Earth.
• As the vibration of your Love and Thanks flows from your heart, you may feel your chest getting warmer and warmer. This will be the result of the Law of the Universe “What you give, you will receive.”

Here is the first MINDSPIRIT text:

We have bodies. These bodies house jelly (organs), and bones that are hard. The most important thing living in this bag we’ve all got, holding all of this gunk, is the brain, which leads us to the MIND/SPIRIT. THE MIND/SPIRIT…MINDSPIRIT…is the force that elevates humans. Too often, however, humans neglect what is actually the most normal thing, the most natural thing for us to feel, or to be. That is TO BE ONE WITH THE BALL OF MATTER UPON WHICH WE HAVE SLOWLY GROWN UPON. So what is contributing to the disconnect between the BALL and the BAG? I believe the poison is culture…popular culture…the culture that Los Angelinos live amidst, the culture that people can mindlessly follow, mindlessly become apart of. THIS FRAUDULENT MANIFESTATION OF ALL THAT IS EXPLOITED IN SOCIETY IS KILLING ANY SENSE OF CONNECTION BETWEEN US BAGS AND THE GREAT BALL! Humans used to know the land. Indigenous peoples worshipped Mother Earth; they loved her and respected her. These people knew and embraced their relationship with her. Human beings were not meant to destruct and merely turn away. All organisms have the capabilities to use, re-use, replenish, etc. Today, replenishment is not considered important. The average American knows not of the blind destruction he/she causes. They know not of the peril OUR GREAT BALL is in. The crime at hand is the fact that humans are now more distant from Mother Earth than ever. POPULAR CULTURE is one great reason as to why this relationship has disintegrated. GO HOME, NOT GREEN. By “Going Home” I mean, turn to the roots of life. Look to the forest floor, the ocean floor, and the desert ground. We are as much of Earth as great pine trees, kelp, and cacti. We are biodegradable, just as compost. WE ARE COMPOST. We are compost that has the ability to compute, that has the ability to comprehend emotion that can conceptualize and rationalize. We have the gift of abstraction. Our brains are one of, if not the most advanced organic object in nature. We have created synthetic brains, computers; these are extensions of ourselves, extensions of humans. Synthetic humans have allowed organic humans to gain, however because humans tend to bastardize our ability to seek out and enjoy pleasure, these synthetic beings have and may become a threat to our Earth. The waste of synthetic objects is killing organic life and destabilizing our organic world. Synthetic objects are taking humans far from Mother Earth, they are distracting us from what is the ultimate truth: WE ARE COMPOST, WE ARE BAGS UPON THE BALL. Humans must acknowledge that we’ve evolved into a blessed species. We are a species of INDIVIDUALS. Each of us have an identity, we are unique, however not to the point at which any one of us is superior over the other, or superior over the Earth. We frown upon those who murder, but Earth’s countries have sent millions around Earth to KILL OTHER HUMAN BEINGS. America kills. Most countries are giant, cancerous tumors. They feed off of the weak, just as this culture feeds off of the weak. Culture will eat away at decent morals. It will kill intelligence. CULTURE DOES KILL MORALS AND INTELLIGENCE. MANY ASPECTS OF POPULAR CULTURE KILLS ALL THAT IS NATURAL AND PURE. To end this cycle of death and destruction, babies born of today must be educated from the bottom up. Children should be made aware from the very start of their beautiful, and harmonious connection with the Earth. We all have this connection. WE ARE ALL ONE: EARTH, PLANTS, ANIMALS, HUMANS, LAND MASSES, AND BODIES OF WATER. Even these synthetic objects made by man have the ability to be made aware of their relationship to the great ball. THE BALL HOUSES ALL THAT EXISTS, it is home to all that has grown, evolved, and has been created. HOW COULD WE KILL OUR MOTHER? We do it every day. I do it every day. I am aware of the fact that I am a product of this massive ball, and yet I kill her every day. HOW CAN I CHANGE? The fact is that I am aware of where I come from, and can now clear my mind and can FORGE AHEAD WITH ALL LIFE AND OBJECTS in one unified mass. This mass can replenish, but not over night, and probably not in my lifetime, however of humans can create all that we have created in the past 100 years, than I do not doubt that in the next 200 we can create and build a beautiful Earth with this awareness. TEACH OUR CHILDREN TO LOVE, TO SAVE, TO ENJOY, TO BE AWARE. This is an individual practice. We all have our own systems, our own beliefs, but if these are unified under common principles and morals, than unity is possible even in a society of absolute individualism. TO BE SELF-AWARE IS TO BE PURLEY OF THE EARTH, JUST AS PLANTS AND STREAMS AND ANIMALS ARE OF THE EARTH. Humans are no different. Humans are leaders whom have been corrupted by gluttony for centuries. We have allowed gluttony to infect our abilities to experience pleasure, and therefore have inflicted harm upon ourselves, others (plants, animals, nature at large), and Mother Earth. Humans must be made aware that OUR MINDSPIRIT IS PURE AND IS NATURALLY ONE WITH MOTHER EARTH, THE GREAT BALL. The mindspirit creates empathy, compassion, emotion, irony, coincidence, so on and so fourth. Humans must center themselves with the body and mindspirit. We must not allow greed and gluttony to infect the purity that is mindspirit. Anger should not exist; it is the first sign at a disconnection between mindspirit and brain. Humans have been gifted through evolution to control anger and violence, and yet it surrounds us. The media thrives off of negativity such as anger and greed. This is an indicator that our culture is a deadly cancer, not a unifying extension of the positive energy that wishes to radiate from the mindspirit. This positive energy is natural, and yet we stifle it. WE MUST ALLOW THE POSITIVITY TO FLOW FOURTH AND INFECT THE CANCEROUS CULTURE KILLING EARTH AND ALL OF ITS CHILDREN. Tell your babies where they come from, for they are the hope in our future. WE ARE ONE. THE MINDSPIRIT IS A GIFT. Breathe. Center. Thrive. Replenish. LOVE.

The Origin of Sacred Symbols

By Nora K

The Painting, “The Origin of Sacred Symbols”, was produced to depict the subtle

network of nature’s influence on our most common symbols. The of the eye on the

pyramid was experience by myself, within the confines of the Arroyo Seco Park, to be

manifested as natural formations on trees. The entire park is filled with trees which are

covered in this most common symbol. Upon making this connection I wondered if the

origins of this symbol were originally derived from natural form. Did the ancients revere

woods that were marked by this? The French writer, Anthony Artaud, upon visiting a

jungle region of the rain forest noticed the symbols of the tribe, in which he shortly lived,

occurring in the natural designs of the surrounding terrain. He even went as far to say that

their complete rituals could be observed as simulacra makings on the rocks and trees. If

this assertation is true, then how much of our own culture, myth, and religion have been

dictated by the interpretation of experience felt within the natural realm? The realms of

uncorrupted nature hold a power and fascination over the human viewer. One

feels small and helpless. The uneasy feeling of eyes following us is a common disturbing

quality our sixth sense. Our fragile minds are intimidated by the unknown and

vulnerable world of the woods. The word Panic is derived from this feeling. It

essentially means that one senses the mysteries of the god Pan and is made uneasy by this

realization.

Upon returning numerous times to the Arroyo Seco, after my initial realization of the

occurring symbolic phenomena of this little park, I began to make further colorations that

linked the symbols on the trees to different elements of the land. I found numerous

stones that were shaped like triangles. I noticed that one of the ponds formed a giant

triangle. At the apex of the pond’s formation, was a large stone that was also a

triangular. This capped the pond, like the cap stone tops the pyramid on the dollar bill.

My mind wondered even deeper into correlation. I saw the crossing branches of trees

echoing this shape, as well as the fallen sticks on the ground crossed to share the same

language. This may seem like madness for a modern woman to experience, but I believe

what I envisioned in the Arroyo is an experience of synchronicity that played a role in

ancient mysticism. After my visits to this park a couple dreams followed in which I saw

beautiful images of giant pyramids made of crystals and of granite. These dream images

brought a sacredness to what I had come across in the woods. To the ancient peoples,

such visions were probably taken very seriously as a communication with the divine

powers beyond our practical reality. This mystic realm, which links imagination to

reality, linked the ancients to world beyond definition. It made their world, “magical” and

lifted the veil to live outside of practical thought. To believe what one feels is

communicated though nature in this way, one leaves behind his/ or her old world.

Perception is profoundly changed. A world in which the borders of imagination and

reality are not well defined is inhabited instead. Religion becomes something experienced

first hand.

I invited a friend of mine who studies is a practicing Rosicrucian to the Arroyo, to see

what he thought about what I had discovered. Upon exiting my car his first response was

to inform me that this was the park that Jack Parsons, inventor of jet propulsion and co-

creator of JPL used to test his rockets. Lacking a proper education, Parsons believed that

his genius in this field was contributed to his occult beliefs. Upon testing a rocket, he

would do a mad dance to Pan. It was here in the Arroyo that after one of his, “mad

dances” that he experienced the success of a rocket he developed using solid state fuel.

This discovery enabled the technology that has made jet travel, space travel, and modern

warfare possible. The Arroyo is the birthplace of these inventions. I asked my

Rosicrucian friend what he knew about the symbol of the triangle. He said it was a

symbol of transformation, calling it, “the jumping off point.” I found this description

interesting because looming over the park is a huge bridge that is known in the Pasadena

Area as, The Suicide Bridge” Numerous people during the depression era jumped off

this bridge, ending their life in the park. Latter on, in my own research I found that the

triangle is often used to symbolize men and women. The triangle pointing up is man and

the one facing down in woman The circle represents the life cycle of earth and the square

is the heavens. The triangle when paired with it’s like can form a square or what is

known as the star of David, which points, if followed, will form a circle. Thus meaning

that the combination of masculine and feminine is the ratio between heaven and earth.

The all seeing eye is the elevated consciousness of third eye perception. On our dollar

bill, it is written above the great seal, “New world order.” According to Harold Percival,

who wrote, “Masonry and it’s Symbols,” the new world order is one of a raised

consciousness. The capstone hangs above the temple of man’s flesh, the pyramid, waiting

to be united with the whole.

I hope through my painting, “The Origin of Sacred Symbols” to create a pictorial

text that relays this event in my life. Through this piece and pieces like it, I wish to tell

the story of my own shamanistic visions, in which I learn and change from. These

experiences, when expressed and captured as art, become sign posts that may help other

explorers in this vast world of the great unknown.

Justin Gier
I stumbled upon this Antennae Palm one day while out running errands. It’s biomimetic form got me thinking. The palm leaves still move in the breeze, and yet no birds landed on it while I was watching. Maybe they do at different times of the year, or times of day. This link between the nature we make and modify/replicate is interesting, and what a curious blend with our technological means…in this case to disguise the technological regime in the natural. A form of camouflage. I tried to create an image to question the reality of something that is trying so hard to blend in…perhaps the birds will land there eventually and then we’ll have really succeeded.

———————————

Jake Michaels

“speaking with smoke”

http://www.vimeo.com/899277

———————————

http://www.vimeo.com/876494

Adam Mason

———————————

by Mari Nakano

I decided to create a visualization that would depict systems complexity. I took the idea of a Japanese Kusudama, which is a modular origami sculpture, literally meaning “medicine ball” and pieced together very geometric pieces. I printed old world maps on one side of the paper and kept some of the original patterns of origami paper to create a juxtaposition that was both aesthetic, but also that would show that within a system, there are other patterns and designs, often derived from society and culture (in this case, referring to my own Japanese culture) that play a role in systems complexity.

I felt it was important to experiment with ways to visualize complex systems. After finishing this kusudama, I realized how each piece was necessary to completing the entire sphere. Without one piece, the sphere would not hold together.

Also, each piece needed to be folded as precisely as possible. If one piece was folded wrong, the entire sphere’s alignment would shift, or other parts would not fit in properly. I had to be very careful while folding the creases in each paper.

I pieced together these modular bits. The kusudama was made up of about 28 pieces. I lost count somewhere down the way.

Even the inside of the kusudama is complex. This is a shot of the structure underneath the visible shell. It’s just as complex as the exterior, and you can’t see if anymore once you close the sphere.

This is a close-up view of the patterns part of the kusudama. Looking closely, you can see old world map graphics intermingled with the colorful Japanese patterns.

I used geometric shapes to piece the entire sphere together. The map patterns and Japanese patterns created an interesting juxtaposition that I felt was somehow rhythmic and culturally unique.

The idea of a geodesic sphere is nothing new. We’ve created architecture based on geodesic modeling. Geodesic domes and spheres are actually said to be stronger the larger they are. On a biological level, molecules are shaped in the same way to create basic elemental structures that we rely on for our very existence.

This experiment was important because it contextualized the whole and the sum of a system’s parts. On a design level, there’s room now for more experimentation with graphics, typography and technology (i.e. turning the sphere into a hanging lamp or glowing indicator of room toxicity levels). There’s also an opportunity to play with scale, materials and placement. What if these Kusudama were made of recycled papers? What if one was constructed to be the size of a human? What if this structure was placed in a public space?

Project 3
kusudama created/ photos taken by Mari Nakano
Media Design Program, Art Center College of Design
mari.nakano@gmail.com

“Item 95125-1 VGA Mini Helicopter” demonstrates my mind’s deconstruction habits,a result of my industrial design education. “Common Fate,” an element of Gestalt, is the phenomenon in which we interpret objects and bodies as singular entities (as opposed to seeing multiple components adjacent to one another). While my mind automatically interprets this way, my perception of the whole is quickly overshadowed by my awareness of multiple parts, materials used, and how each part is manufactured.

Katrina Rivere-Feld

—————————————————————————————————————-

Poject 3 self-portrait of the networks

For the third project I choose to make a digital collage self-portrait. I paste down 565 pieces fragments to create this portrait. Each fragment is from my physical and digital art works. Different classes have different subject matter, concept, and drawing technique. After I break them down to the fragments, each piece can connect to each other amazingly. Each fragment is connecting to different fragment like a web, a network. This web-like connection is representing my crafting, creativity, and thinking that I have learned from different classes.

Major: Entertainment Art

Student: Yen-Huei Max Wu.

————————————————————————————–

Posted by Tony Van Groningen

This exercise is based on two quotes that I found especially interesting from the Beautiful Networks class lectures. The first, by M.A., says “Creativity in nature exists at the minimum level of energy needed to function.” The second came the following week from Rob: “Seeing is actually what we see combined with what we know.” Thinking about them in relation to each other seemed to me to have a lot to do with creativity, individual perceptions, and how communication with someone outside of yourself can effect these things. It also served to contrast the efficiency of nature’s creative problem solving with the inefficient and sometimes tedious processes that are often involved in humanity’s creative endeavors.

I set up an exercise wherein I asked somebody else to select nine non-similar photos that she considered to be world famous, and that I had probably seen before. The other person then attempted to analytically give me accurate instructions on how to draw an image representing each of the photos. Nothing in the photos can be named in the instructions; for example, heads became “vertical egg shapes” in the instructions. I wanted to feel out how economical the representations of these photos could get, and I used the other person as sort of filter to prevent any personal bias or previous knowledge I may have had of these images to influence me while drawing them. It was interesting to consider how much of the meaning gets lost as accuracy and detail are reduced. Perhaps a difference between human image making and nature, as related to creativity and efficiency, is that changes in nature tend to solve very specific and real problems? In nature, being efficient is the desired result, whereas in image making, the desired result requires a certain amount of detail to be realized.

Here are the results:

————————————————————————————–

————————————————————————————–

————————————————————————————–

————————————————————————————–

————————————————————————————–

————————————————————————————–

————————————————————————————–

————————————————————————————–