Can you feel the virtual flow??

Laila Sakr explores different definitions of embodiment, virtuality and how both come in contact with reality and actuality. One of the interesting topics she covers in her essay is how something virtual becomes real even though in its entirety is not actually real.

Techology nowadays has advanced so much that we are able to create different worlds without the need of them of being real, and that is what we call the world of VIRTUALITY!

As she mentions a lot of people claim that something is not real if cannot be felt, but one of the things that I find interesting as she mentions is that the reality in virtuality its not that it cannot be "physically" felt but in fact can be "emotionally" felt.

It is curious how far we can go with technology, not only from developing machines that make people lazier from day-to-day but also we can create events that might not be 'actual', but the fact that they are taking place in a type of environment or world (which is virtual) make them real!

While I was reading the article, what first came to mind were video games! I believe they are the best example for this topic because everything that happens in video games is not 'actual'! Of course because there is no way that an assassin in the renaissance period met Leonardo DaVinci and overthrew the Borgia family, or dragons do not exist, nor magic elements nor anything fictional that video games contain.

But it is true for those hours that you play the game, the character's story, the game's environment and everything is real to you! IT EXISTS, even though you are not able to touch it!

Those emotions either of anger or happiness makes them part of our reality. The images that are formed inside of them, similar to the images that are made inside our minds, just as Sakr's says, which in fact we associate with the people or things around us.

I think virtuality in fact opens up barriers that reality itself is not able to. In a virtual world, anything and everything is possible, even though it might not be 'actual' its entire concept makes it real. And even though we are not able to physically feel something virtual, its image and what we FEEL from it makes it part of our reality.

The demo!

I think there is always a demo that comes out before a game or software is released, and our project is not an exception. We decided to cover the user interaction concept for this project assignment through a demo, because it would allow us to explore the methods to use for the completion of the final project in terms of the user interface and interaction with the world.

Throughout the process of the demo, we developed classes in charge of the construction of world. The classes build each area with the objects, sounds, characters, directions and commands the user will  interact with. We also created a layout of a small section of the world’s map, dividing the section in a grid of areas. Through the parser we developed we were able to setup each area according to its position inside the grid. We also worked on parts of the physical user interface (number display, button commands) and set up the connection between java and arduino. And in the end, we implemented a visual interface similar to the ones used for other text-based experiences.

DEMO:

I believe what I learned from the accomplishment of the demo was, first to work with many of the elements and tools in the java environment; I learned that by using multi-dimensional arrays we would be able to construct the world more easily than doing it through a linked list. I also learned to setup the connection between java and arduino. Working on this demo gave me a notion of how a game or project similar to ours is developed from scratch; how the story, programming aspects and interfaces are put together.

On terms of what modifications we might make to the project; well, we decided to implement the world using multi-dimensional arrays instead of using a linked list graph. Also the introspective concept contained in the experience will be presented to the user ambiguously (i.e. user’s decisions, position and paths discovered) inside the environment of the world, instead of making it obvious by asking the user to choose between a good or bad decision. In regard of the physical interface, we were thinking on the elimination of the LED part at the back of the board but it is still on debate.

In the end, we explored the tools we will use to finish Lenimentum. The demo gives a quick look to the environment and a few areas of the world. The classes as well as the parcer and the interface implemented for the demo will be used for the final project. The same goes for the connection between arduino and java, and the physical components we worked on.

I am very excited to finish this project, I believe so far we are heading in a good direction and will be working now on the physical user interface, the java and arduino interaction and on the story!

Media Art in music!

Great music video that shows the uses of media art nowadays! :) Enjoy! 

DATA...DATA....DATA...a show of lights and sound @ Nuit Blanche!

Nuit Blanche is an annual night-time art festival. I was not impressed when the theme for this year was  The Museum for the End of the World, of course it is the topic that many are talking about at this moment. Although at the same time I think it gives a more retrospective meaning to the exhibition.

This year unfortunately I was not able to assist but one of the works I was very interested on from the beginning was Quasar 2.0. Jean Michel Crettaz and Mark-David Hosale star incubator is the come back from an earlier work from Hosale, Quasar. Take a look! http://www.mdhosale.com/quasarexhibition/. It is an awesome work! 

Quasar 2.0 at Nuit Blanche

Now Quasar 2.0 is a light and sound installation. It gets data streams from a few sources that are very distant from the installation itself. This makes me think that now we have access to any sources of data, and even might think it is something that is out of our control we can actually use ‘tools’ to manipulate it and change it somehow! 

Hosale explain in details his idea when he says: “In order to know something that is beyond our senses we have to capture it somehow and transform and scale it into the domain of what we can sense, and that’s when it becomes real.” 

It is true! We don’t actually pay attention to any of those data streams that we get from the weather or space for instance. We know they exist but has anyone ever browse online and look for this data just to look at it? No right, because we think it’s boring and it is just data, and we think cannot do anything with it! It is there and will be always there forever and that never, EVER changes! 

But no Quasar 2.0 I think brings it to a whole different level! Taking data from sources we might not know about and represent it with a show of light and sound, and also shows how these data streams are changing all the time! Oh and also the theme of The Museum for the End of the World as Crettaz thinks “pushes everything beyond to a new horizon, transform it into a new dimension! “ I think too as I mentioned before gives a different meaning to the works, just think about it, even if the world ends everything else will keep moving!

Many works have used data not only because it might give a ‘pretty’ or more generic look to the work itself, but rather by doing such thing works are able to provide a meaning for people! It drives attention to what is going on out there. 

I believe this work to me, and I would say to many others as well, would be a source of inspiration for their own works. When I started this program I never thought I would have a chance to do these types of work, get abstract data and represent it in a way for people to reflect upon!  It gives your imagination access to a river of infinite sources!

If you want to know a little bit more about this great project you can go to http://www.slaphq.com/quasar2/ there's a bit of more pictures, info and more!

Feedback, Feedback and more Feedback! oh and art?

Alright so for this week I will be writing a bit about Cristiane Paul's article Feedback: From Object to Process and System. He talks about an exhibition, FEEDBACK, which presents different types of works that involves the new media arts and how also now some have achieve to create "art" through feedback and machines.


She explains the way in which the artworks presented in the exhibition exploit different mechanism uses and functions to develop some kind of art!

I find that it is interesting how people have been able to establish an interaction between spectators and the machines themselves. In a way one of the questions that may arise is if these types of things are what people expect from technology?

Many could object that for example 5voltcore's Shockbot Corejulio was not inspired in someway to create an image and therefore is art; rather what the machine is presenting is the idea of the entire process that takes place in order to create something else.

I believe that with the evolution of technology people are able to experiment in different grounds and with different types of art as Paul mentions in her article. Some concept art, optical art and kinetic art concepts are borrowed and presented differently in order to create new media art!

Thus I believe that people are using technology as a tool to create works derived from ideas of the other arts mentioned in Paul's article, to the point where one gets to believe that it is the machine that is creating the art and not the actual artists.

I have to say that I was a bit dissapointed by the article, it presents different projects and ideas that result interesting but at the same time it is very vague and the entire idea of "response" seems too repetitive. For this fact I have to say that I give the article a thumbs down on that aspect.

Either way I believe that the idea of presenting such projects is very intriguing since shows how society is changing the tools to create different artifacts and art forms! Who knows what else we will be able to achieve with these techniques and sophisticated tools!

Could we consider Video games an art? hmmm... Perhaps!

Video games give you the power to do anything. You can go around a huge city gliding around kicking criminal faces, you can be anyone and visit beautiful places that you might had never dreamed of, but now one question to be discussed is if they are an art?

Well I have played video games through my entire life, but as Mariarty says in his article, it all begins with your own understanding of what is art? I like to believe that art is a medium from which we express and experience deep emotions and ideas. 

Now video games make every dream you have a reality, and fill you with emotions of joy, excitement and a bit of adrenaline, specially when you play your favourite game; but they are mostly in a way a part of entertainment and industrial production, as Moriarty calls them a kitsch art.

Moriarty speaks on how most people get bored of a game and move on, and that sublime arts stay the same for everyone but isn't it actually the same with other arts? I mean it is part of being human to look for something new once in a while, you want to experience new emotions. I don't think that a person would stick to the same album or painting to feel the same emotions every day, eventually that person will go around and pick up something different but in the end comes back to whatever he/she put aside.

We have to consider that is true that many of the producers gather around to make a game with the goal of making more profit and make themselves famous. Although it does not apply for every industry, and indie in some categories is one where this might not completely apply.

I have been able to play a few indie games that I would in consider them as an artwork not only because of the beautiful backgrounds, but the experience speaks of how the games do not only have a purpose as a principal but were also made with emotion. They make you feel like you are the shower of petals flying around the fields or the one exploring a beautiful dessert, discovering the past of your own people.

The games 'Flower' and 'Journey' took me to a great experience, the way you interact with the game make you feel like you are present in the place where the game takes place, you take part of the game and that for one I believe that is what art works do. They find a way to interact with the viewer or spectator and fill them with the emotion from which they were created.

Moriarty might say that even though some games might contain artistic works (music, architecture, etc) they are not considered arts; which is true because there are many games that do not give any emotion other than the chance to go through a different experience. But he should also consider the interaction between the game itself and the gamer, the way they involve people and make feel them with different emotions. 

In the end I think that games have one main purpose: to entertain us! but at the same time we should give credit to those who put their efforts and emotions on creating a piece that not only will entertain us but also will drag into a different reality and experience. 

Some might be considered as art and some might not but nevertheless I will continue playing video games because they keep me sane from things like school, work and other affairs. But most important because I always find myself going through a new experience.