Breaking out from an organized structure it reforms into a system that reflects the natural order that cannot be denied. But even nature can spin out of control and it is this constant battle of order and entropy in all realms of existence that hinges the arc of the piece.

Conditions combines generative visual programming with narrative animation techniques. It was designed specially for the IAC video wall in Chelsea, New York, with a massive resolution of 11540×1080.

Conditions was made in collaboration with Anna Pinkas and Genevieve Hoffman.

The little people in this piece live in a world of three contextual islands and act according to each island’s context. When on ‘Dance Island’ they dance, when on ‘Sleep Island’ they sleep and when on ‘Boring Island’ they just want to get off! The only way they can move between the islands is by interacting with the viewer. Initially afraid, they will run away when a viewer brings their hand close, but if the hand is still for long enough the little people will begin to trust the viewer and jump into their hand to be carried between the islands.

This is a commentary on social context and appropriate actions for appropriate spaces. The hope is to make the viewer think about why they act certain ways in certain spaces.

Islands from Chien Yu Lin on Vimeo.

My partner Chien Yu and I developed the concept and designed the interaction flow. We used openframeworks with the xbox kinect to track hand motion and do projection mapping onto moving objects.

In order to develop this project, it was extremely important to outline all the possible ways that we expected the audience to interact with the little people and how the little people would respond. This was not only for coding purposes but also for generating content of people’s actions. These are some early flow charts of interactions we used:

we used this one to decide what actions we needed to shoot for each of the little people:

Creating the atmosphere to engage the viewer in the world was also a challenge. We decided to go with the paper look because of it’s delicate and whimsical feel.

cardboard provided a flat top surface to begin the construction from and then wire mesh created the body of the islands. After the forms were created then they were covered with paper to give them the storybook look and feel.

The crowning elements of the grass, pillows, books and radio really complete the context for each island.

A bit messy at the moment, but you can download our code for this installation here. This project will be installed again May 15th-17th as a part of the ITP spring show with a smoothed out interaction and hopefully cleaner code.

Storytelling has as much to do with situation as it does with memory. Inhabiting community public spaces, ‘Lanterns’ collects and shares unmoderated stories between community members from physical places within these community.

The final piece will take the form of larger than normal lanterns suspended just above head height from trees or a custom stands in parks and other public spaces throughout a city. Throughout the day and night, ‘Lanterns’ uses intriguing lighting and a unique shape to draw in distant passersby to investigate the installation. When a participant steps underneath the piece, the lantern shares a story from a previous user. After listening to someone else’s story, the participant is then invited to record their own story to add to the piece or to continue listening to more stories.

Using directional sound, ‘Lanterns’ creates a space of perceived seclusion, while retaining visual immersion in the piece’s location. Each lantern fills with stories unique to its location and facilitates connections between people who inhabit the same place at different times. The stories recorded each day are wirelessly uploaded to a remote database where their content is reviewed and edited if necessary and then sent back to the lantern to be heard by future visitors to the lantern where they were collected.

This project is an experiment in getting people to engage with an object through story. I am also exploring what types of stories make sense in the context of a sound installation that tells stories as well as asks for the user to thoughtfully contribute.
Balancing aesthetic with an interface where people understand what is going on is definitely the main challenge of this project.

This piece is designed to be a long-term installation in parks and other outdoor urban public community space. Visitors to these spaces are attracted to the lantern by its shape and its glowing sides. Once someone is close enough to the lantern, a story held inside of it is triggered by a proximity sensor, with the best audio experience occurring when a participant stands directly under the lantern. As the story plays, light floods out the bottom of the lantern onto the visitor. Should the visitor stay and listen to end of the story, they are be presented with the prompt for the story they just heard and the opportunity to record their own story relating to that prompt by just speaking back to the lantern. If they choose not to share their own story, they can stay and listen to more stories.

My target audience is people who visit parks or public spaces in off-peak hours. I have found that when there is less activity in the park, people’s thoughts are more reflective about their own life and less distracted by people watching. I would like to capture and share stories from people in this state.

That said, the installation will be around during peak hours as well. During these times people will likely likely be more inclined to listen than to share. In my research, I have found that people are less willing to speak to an object in the park when they are surrounded by other people and do not give their full attention to the lantern’s stories.

BASIC TECH
Lanterns in made up of four primary elements: the physical lantern structure, audio components for playing and recording the stories, lighting and sensors that direct the piece’s reactivity.

The prototype lantern consists of a 1/2 inch plywood lantern skeleton that houses the Arduino controlled lighting and audio elements of the piece. The design of the skeleton was hand drawn with pen and paper and then translated into vector pieces using Adobe Illustrator. The vector paths were then converted to cut paths in MasterCam and then cut using a CNC router. The cut pieces were then assembled with screws and wood glue.

The Audio component of the piece centers around a parabolic plastic dome at the base of the lantern with an electret microphone and a 3” speaker at the focal point of the dome. When audio bounces off the parabolic shape of the dome it creates a sound space underneath the lantern. Audio output from the lantern is only heard in this space and conversely, sounds made underneath the lantern are focused on to the microphone. The result is a open air private audio space underneath the lantern.

The lighting consists of an array of 12v LED strips. The LEDs provide feedback to the user about the state of audio playback and recording with the lantern. The light of the LEDs is diffused by Vellum paper.

PROJECT INVOLVEMENT:
Artist in residence at the Montalvo arts center, with Chico MacMurtrie, Geo Homsy and bill Washabaugh, to develop a final round project proposal. Working with this a multidisciplinary team I helped take the initial proposal idea to an implementation proposal and also helped with fabrication of a working scale model.

check out the project’s website: http://www.organograph-sj.org/

the user is prompted to deposit their memories by a question that would read something like, “it snowed today! what is a childhood memory you have of snow? turn the crank to start processing your memory.” by giving the person this simple task of turning a crank, the interface garners warm recounts of memories that would be shorter if the person were just presented with a microphone. the interface itself dictates the quality of the content.

when finished the memory, represented by a soft white light, is then deposited in the memory jar to be preserved. the memory can be shared with anyone who removes the lid and places the jar to their ear.

here are some of the stories from the snow prompt: “It Snowed Today!”

PROJECT INVOLVEMENT:
with a three person team, hatched and developed the idea as well as sourced the materials, wired the interface electronics and coded the back-end programming for recording, cataloging and replaying the audio.

HOW IT ALL FITS TOGETHER:
Here is our initial diagram of how the piece would function. This diagram allowed us to work out most of our questions about data flow as well as what peices we needed to get to talking to each other.

Arduino, LEDs and bluetoothmate, with battery in the jar.

Blootooth headset at top of jar. (this is covered with cheese cloth below the lid, too keep with the food theme)
the copper tape on the rim of the jar acts as a switch when the lid is open to start playing a memory out of the jar.

the grider crank is hooked to a 360degree potentiometer.

this connects to another arduino on the back of the post that holds up the grinder.

Here we set when to start and stop recording based on a movement threshold of the crank arm.

The computer itself is connected to a Bluetooth speaker in the jar and directly to a small lav-mic inside the grinder.

all the electronics fade away behind the warm interface of the objects themselves.

We are currently looking for a home for the memory jar so that it can continue to collect memories. It is a great piece for reflection and interaction. It allows people to open up and learn something about those around them.

The Infinitarium is an organic interactive space that engages people on many levels. The scale of this playful garden is exaggerated, making visitors feel part of the landscape. During the day, different aspects of the piece offer cooling water and misting effects and a shady retreat from the sun. After dark, the fire, water and light effects explode into a brilliant color and light show.

The trumpet flower piece itself engages the visitor from just above head level with a menacing stance that simultaneously intrigues and unsettles. The piece interacts with the visitor by blowing smoke rings from a toroidal cannon inside the flower. When standing in the path of the rings the piece reaches out to the viewer with a gentle puff of smoke

PROJECT INVOLVEMENT:
Executed lead artist’s vision and maintained an aesthetic dialogue as the piece took its final two-story shape. Integrated structural mounts and access panels into the design for incorporation of pyrotechnics and accompanying electronics. Coordinated volunteer labor.

The flowers among the rest of the garden at night.

front view of both the flowers

Me adding the skinning to one of the flowers.

Attaching the flowers to the stem for the first time. Check out the amount of deflection!

With Eghan, the lead artist on the flowers, after the install at Burning Man 2010.

To highlight the anniversary, I installed 10 TVs to showcase their fall and spring fashion shows from the past 10 years at their 59th st. Bloomingdale’s location during the 2011 ‘hot’ event. The televisions spiral up the central column in the space engaging the shoppers with the iconic Marc by Marc Jacobs brand history.

PROJECT INVOLVEMENT:
Contracted by Marc Jacobs for concept, artistic design, technical design and installation. The piece was on display at the New York Bloomingdale’s 59th St. location for one month.

PROJECT INVOLVEMENT:
fabrication and installation.

Reminiscent of stills taken from a high speed film reel. The artist hoped to convey the experience of riding a fast motorcycle to the limits of the human and the machine in a visual, three-dimensional way. The installation allows the audience to interact with and examine the physics and meaning of a high speed thrill ride.

PROJECT INVOLVEMENT:
Developed concept and layout with artists Sam Strauss-Malcolm and Tyler Poniatowski. Worked on the production and of the installation including consult on engineering elements.

the full installation – make sure to click on this one to see a larger view.

a forklift was used to raise the bikes above head height so that the viewer could have a truly immersive experience.

ratchet straps allowed us to fine tune the heights and angles of each bike.

the the steel tension cables were then cut to length and connected from the bikes to the anchors we had placed in the concrete ceiling.

the steel cabling was also used to set the angles of the bikes on the ground.

and spotlighting brought an amazing finishing touch to the installation.