Dane Lovett mixes retro and modern electronics with the tried and true classic, floral still life, to create a completely modern take on the idea of “still life”. His work looks into modern relationships with technology and pulls at the strings of technology of days past. Each piece is serene and intriguing, feeling both familiar and new all at once.

An amazing project taken on by two groups/individuals which I very much revere: Champagne Valentine & Aaron Meyers (responsible for YouCube)’ latest collaborative creation uses augmented reality (and a QR code which you download and print out) to create a virtual musical instrument. The future is so promising!

Tom Beddard plays around with home-brew programmes that can generate interesting pictures and are interactive nature. He also does what any good open-source artist does: offer the source-code for download. This particular project (result of “true fractal structure in three dimensions”, which renders out to look like a couple thousand year’s worth of exquisite pottery study) is called the 3D Mandelbulb Ray Tracer. So if you’re feeling a bit like foraying into “graphical-geekery”, go check out Tom’s site and code!

EATR, developed by Robotic Technology Inc:

“We originated the concept of the EATR in 2003 and the project was sponsored as a Phase II Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) project by the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA). The project is advancing toward Phase II Enhancement and Phase III Commercialization with assistance from our Teaming Partners, Elbit Systems of America and the Boeing Corporation; additional Teaming Partners will be joining soon.

The purpose of the Energetically Autonomous Tactical Robot (EATR)™ (patent pending) project is to develop and demonstrate an autonomous robotic platform able to perform long-range, long-endurance missions without the need for manual or conventional re-fueling, which would otherwise preclude the ability of the robot to perform such missions. The system obtains its energy by foraging – engaging in biologically-inspired, organism-like, energy-harvesting behavior which is the equivalent of eating. It can find, ingest, and extract energy from biomass in the environment (and other organically-based energy sources), as well as use conventional and alternative fuels (such as gasoline, heavy fuel, kerosene, diesel, propane, coal, cooking oil, and solar) when suitable.

In addition to missions requiring long-range, long-endurance ability, the EATR can provide direct support to combat units without requiring labor or materiel logistics support for refueling. EATR could forage for its own energy while the unit rested or remained in position. EATR, having a heavy-duty robotic arm and hybrid external combustion engine, could provide direct support to combat units by: carrying the unit’s backpacks and other materiel (the mule function); provide RSTA, weapons, support, casualty extraction, or transport; provide energy to recharge the unit’s batteries or directly power command and control centers.

This demonstration project can lead to three potential Phase III commercialization projects: (1) the development of prototype and operational EATR™ systems for military and civil applications; (2) new civil and military applications for the autonomous intelligent control system; and (3) development of the hybrid external combustion engine system for civil and military automotive applications, whether for manned or unmanned vehicles.”

View full PDF.

British/Turkish fashion designer Hussein Chalayan is not only an internationally known figure in the industry’s runway, he is also an artist and catalyst for change of what it means to wear something. With his progressive attitude to clothing as a decorate-able and manipulatable second layer of skin, Hussein Chalayan has expanded the the materials of construction to an awe-inspiring breadth of technology and innovation.

"Lake Intervention", 2007/2008. Sound installation/ 30" x 24" Digital C-Print. Collaboration with Samuel Ekwurtzel.

Tiffany Sum’s work explores the im/possibility of intimacy between body and technology. Through interactivity in participatory situations, impressions alternate between the visceral and palpable, the fleeting and intangible. The responsive environment generates a constantly changing social formation among the audience. The process of internalizing these impressions into personally meaningful enactments can be voluntary — as in the gallery, or involuntary — as in the public place.

Lake Intervention [was] designed and installed a temporary underwater sound system in a lake in Skowhegan, Maine. The music of hearing impared artists was broadcast underwater for the duration of the installation. Underwater sound* is heard through the body, not the ears. One actually hears more clearly when plugging the ears with fingers. First, we wanted to give swimmers an experience that would baffle them. Stepping into the water you hear nothing. Immerse yourself in the water and hear a symphony. Second, we asked the question, “what is it to ‘think’ a sound? How is a sound imagined before it is produced?” We were able to use the lake water as a medium through which our audience could connect to another artist’s experience, a composer’s thoughts. 

On a hot afternoon in August, students flocked to the lake for their afternoon swim. Soon they were surprised at the discovery of underwater sound and listened together. The following afternoon the water was once again silent. Our installation was perhaps as fleeting as that melody that gets stuck in your head for a moment, only to disappear at the next distraction.

"fingering," 2005/2006.

fingering is a reactive video installation where audience is tracked by the projected character. Expanding the “mirror-reflective” nature of video through interactive media, fingering transforms the tabloid of gaze from a sinister seduction. It stages viewers to bridge the cinematic representation and their physical presence, which “kills”. Interplay with the action genre in Hong Kong, the classic fatal kung-fu move of the index finger unfolds a cultural and sexual subtext. A Chinese woman holding a “finger-gun” aims at the moving viewer and will “fire” if the viewer stays completely still for more than 7 seconds in front of her. Nobody is hurt in the end but herself. The tragic representation through visual and audio effects relates the experiences of the psychological, the corporeal and the virtual landscape in digital technology.

"CELLebratory REDformative Flattenization," 2005

French artist Michael Schouflikir’s work revolves the daily struggles we have with technology & modern human condition. Basically, the condition of our machines and nature that becomes more and more machine-like. We’re beat out and attacked by overgrown plants, take escalators towards our certain future of decapitation, and develop USB flash drives as bones. But don’t we kind of like it?