Tag: John Marshall
Its been a funny kind of a year…
TL:DR – We did some stuff. More than usual.
Two of our Whithervanes have been acquired by Folkestone Artworks – Folkestone’s permanent public art collection of 27 works originally commissioned by the Creative Foundation for the Folkestone Triennial that are now on permanent display in public spaces in the town. The chosen sites are The Cube (adult education center) and Rocksalt (restaurant). This collection of permanent works includes work by: Adam Chodzko; A K Dolven; Christian Boltanski; Cornelia Parker; Cristina Iglesias; Diane Dever & Jonathan Wright; Hamish Fulton; Ian Hamilton Finlay; Mark Dion; Mark Wallinger; Michael Sailstorfer; muf Architecture/Art; Nathan Coley; Pablo Bronstein; Pae White; Paloma Varga Weisz; Patrick Tuttofuoco; Richard Wilson; Richard Wentworth; rootoftwo; Ruth Ewan; Sarah Staton; Spencer Finch; Strange Cargo; Tonico Lemos Auad; Tracey Emin; Will Kwan; and Yoko Ono.
The Whithervanes were rebuilt for the long haul in fiberglass and stainless steel. They went back on site in June. Hannah Conroy of Folkestone Artworks took some pictures:
We received a matching award from the 2014 Detroit Knight Arts Challenge to explore how fear is used in contemporary media. The goal is to expand the “Whithervanes” project to create an open-source toolkit and provide workshops to help others create their own sculptures to visualize and humanize additional data and information flows.
Locust Projects in Miami, Florida and FACT (Foundation for Art and Creative Technology) in Liverpool, UK are currently fundraising to commission sets of “Whithervanes” for their own cities.
HASTAC is an alliance of humanists, artists, social scientists, scientists and technologists working together to transform the future of learning for the 21st century. Since 2002, HASTAC (“haystack”) has served as a community of connection where 11,500+ members share news, tools, research, insights, and projects to promote engaged learning for a global society. HASTAC 2015 was held May 27-30, 2015 at the Kellogg Center on the campus of Michigan State University. We were keynotes.
We had our RBTS on hand:
TBD Catalog Vol 9 Issue 24. (Book) Near Future Laboratory. ISBN 978-0-9905633-0-3 finally arrived! Megan Mulholland has a write up of the originating workshop in Detroit here.
TBD, A Catalog For Your (Normal Ordinary Everyday) Near Future from svanes on Vimeo.
“This video tells the story of the making of TBD Catalog. The Catalog started out as a modest effort by a workshop in Detroit, USA to discuss what was jokingly referred to as the “State of Things” and to assess the future of products, their design and associated services as society evolved with its exuberance for cultures, businesses and daily rituals in which technologies and sciences played a central, defining role.
To address this, we started by posing provocative questions to ourselves. How might the promise of what at the time was called an “internet of things” play out in the near future? What would the future look like in a world blanketed by advances in protection and surveillance technologies? If Autonomous Vehicle innovations continued its passionate race forward, what would it be to pick up the groceries, take a commercial airline flight, commute to work, have mail and parcels delivered, drop off the dry cleaning, meet friends at a bar across town, go on cross-country family vacations, or take the kids to sports practice or school?
Our design brief was to ask these questions and then represent the answers as design fictional services, evolutions of product categories and new kinds of social, domestic and retail experiences.
The result took the form of a catalog of the near future’s normal ordinary everyday. TBD Catalog is a design fiction that makes implications without making predictions. It sparks conversations about the near future. It serves to design-develop prototypes and shape embryonic concepts in order to discard them, make them better, reconsider what we may take for granted.”
Video Creative Director: Christian Svanes Kolding
Video Producers: Nicolas Nova and Julian Bleecker
Production Manager and Technical Director: Tom Bray
Co-Director of Photography and Camera Operator: Marcus Bleecker
Camera Operators: Zack Jacobsen-Weaver and Meghan Mulholland
Voice Over: Wen-Ting Yang
rootoftwo were one of ten regional design studios nominated by an advisory council and then selected according to a criteria that included material use, functionality, impact and potential international significance of work for the DETROIT MADE exhibition at College of Creative Studies, A. Alfred Taubman Center for Design Education during the Detroit Design Festival and at DDF Design Village @ DLECTRICITY. We showed our RBTS. The selected studios were: The Smith Shop; Detroit Wallpaper Co.; Cyberoptix Tie Lab; Carhartt; The Floyd Leg; rootoftwo, LLC; Ali Sandifer; Mobel Link; Sundberg Ferar; and Shinola.
John’s Re:ToolKit project was also featured.
We formed r+d LAB, LLC as a research-led collaborative entity to remix models of practice including laboratory, workshop, think-tank, garage, studio, and agency that lead to innovative approaches, designs and environments. r+d LAB grows out of a meshing of rootoftwo + daub-lab.
r+d LAB presented Rules of the Road at Liberty Annex, Ann Arbor as part of the Research on the City exhibition series.
Rules Of The Road: Connecting Chicago To Underutilized Freeway Infrastructure Zones
r+d LAB (Karl Daubmann, John Marshall, Cezanne Charles with Patrick Ethen, Ryan Goold, Qetuwrah Reed and Claire Matucheski).
Transportation infrastructure such as waterways, Roman roads, railroads or the federal highways have always informed the design of cities. The National Interstate and Defense Highways Act of 1956 forever changed transportation, economic flows, connectivity and the landscape of the US. The mechanical efficiency required for the success of the freeway is created through separation from everything that might slow it down, but unfortunately the benefits of speed created by separation are constantly at odds with the slower, finer-grained, human concerns of dense urban cores.
Chicago is a unique city to consider regional and local connectivity given the history of commerce and the transportation of goods into, around, and out of the city. Many designers have considered the forces, forms, and implications of the freeway with wholesale utopian visions of buildings and roads merging into mega-infrastructural proposals such as Chambliss’s 1910 “Roadtown” or Jellicoe’s 1961 Motopia. Rather than negate the rich existing conditions of Chicago and its infrastructure, Rules of the Road engages the Federal, parametric, Fordist logic of the freeway with the requirements of a post-Fordist city and proposes urban design strategies that mitigate environmental, social, and formal concerns with an architecture that engages underutilized freeway infrastructure zones.
We did some other stuff too. Cezanne completed a Masters degree at the Gerald R. Ford School of Public Policy at the University of Michigan; John got tenure (see talk below) and promotion at the Stamps School of Art and Design and promotion at the Taubman College of Architecture and Urban Planning at University of Michigan; and John became the first Program Director of the new Master of Design in Integrative Design at the Stamps School.
rootoftwo & daub (Karl Daubmann) are collaborating on a new work for the DLECTRICITY nighttime, outdoor contemporary art festival.
menotme is a luminous, playful, responsive form activated by squeezing which causes it to purr, giggle, and burp and is designed to provoke public affection as a defense against post‑industrial anxiety. menotme is an urban comfort object; part street toy, part environment. For DLECTRICITY, rootoftwo + daub have created menotme to inspire new types of social behavior, interaction and play. Participation is essential. The more you interact with it, the more it will perform. Organic in form and feel, menotme creates a comfy place to dawdle during the festival where informal social exchanges and a good cuddle with the work are encouraged. rootoftwo + daub are interested in transforming the urban environment in ways that increase socialization and pleasure.
The work will be on public view in the grounds of the Horace H. Rackham Education Memorial Building at the Woodward & Warren Corner, 100 Farnsworth, Detroit, MI, 48202. Friday, October 5, 2012 7:00pm-12:00am and Saturday, October 6, 2012 5:00pm-2:00am.
Electronic schematic. We are using these, these and lots of these.
Plus 300 translucent beach balls.
A single-unit LED test. Only 107 more to go…
Testing the LEDs with the Powermesh skin.
Karl stress-testing the material.
Parametric seating model.
Seating prototype.
First ring test in the studio (tennis ball for scale).
DLECTRICITY is a free nighttime, outdoor contemporary art festival which will invite emerging and established artists, lighting designers, performers and architects to make site-specific installations of light, sound, performance and projection – transforming the Woodward corridor into an illuminated urban spectacle for thousands of visitors.
DLECTRICITY will be held at night on October 5 & 6, 2012.
The book that resulted from the ‘inter_multi_trans_actions: emerging trends in post-disciplinary creative practice’ symposium at Napier University in Edinburgh, Scotland on Thursday 26 June, 2008 is nearing publication.
The book ‘Digital Blur: Creative Practice at the Boundaries of Architecture, Design and Art’ edited by Paul Rodgers and Michael Smyth will now be published by Libri Publishing following Middlesex University’s decision to close Middlesex University Press.
According to Amazon the book is due on 31 March, 2010.
The book contains an essay by Julian Bleecker and myself that is preambled thus:
Marshall and Bleecker, in their essay, propose the term “undisciplinary” for the type of work prevalent in this book. That is, creative practice which straddles ground and relationships between art, architecture, design and technology and where different idioms of distinct and disciplinary practices can be brought together. This is clearly evident in the processes and projects of the practitioners’ work here. Marshall and Bleecker view these kinds of projects and experiences as beyond disciplinary practice resulting in a multitude of disciplines “engaging in a pile-up, a knot of jumbled ideas and perspectives.” To Marshall and Bleecker, “undisciplinarity is as much a way of doing work as it is a departure from ways of doing work.” They claim it is a way of working and an approach to creating and circulating culture that can go its own way, without worrying about working outside of what histories-of-disciplines say is “proper” work. In other words, it is “undisciplined”. In this culture of practice, they continue, one cannot be wrong, nor have practice elders tell you how to do what you want to do and this is a good thing because it means new knowledge is created all at once rather than incremental contributions made to a body of existing knowledge. These new ways of working make necessary new practices, new unexpected processes and projects come to be, almost by definition. This is important because we need more playful and habitable worlds that the old forms of knowledge production are ill-equipped to produce. For Marshall and Bleecker, it is an epistemological shift that offers new ways of fixing the problems the old disciplinary and extra-disciplinary practices created in the first place. The creative practitioners contained within the pages of this book clearly meet the “undisciplinary” criteria suggested by Marshall and Bleecker in that they certainly do not need to be told how or what to do; they do not adhere to conventional disciplinary boundaries nor do they pay heed to procedural steps and rules. However, they know what’s good, and what’s bad and they instinctively know what the boundaries are and where the limits of the disciplines lie.
BioLogic: A Natural History of Digital Life
The artworks chosen for the SIGGRAPH 2009 juried art exhibition explore what can happen when nature and technology combine. Recent projects by 11 artists representing 10 countries offer both serious and playful scenarios in which biological forms and life processes are grafted together with digital code and devices. All of the projects are kinetic, most are interactive, and many are large installations that immerse the viewer in fantastic environments of shivering tendrils, singing strands of hair, and fuzzy, cloud-like surfaces that respond when stroked. The complex technologies and intriguing topics encountered in the exhibition offer viewers a compelling survey of ideas and issues that characterize contemporary life – a tangle of digital devices, natural processes, and us.
A Special Issue of Leonardo, The Journal of the International Society of the Arts, Sciences and Technology will feature the artists and projects included in BioLogic along with SIGGRAPH 2009 Art Papers.
Artifacts from a Parallel Universe: Tentative Architecture of Other Earth_Coastline Inhabitants
Xárene Eskandar, UCLA Design | Media Arts, Architecture
Artifacts from a Parallel Universe is a garment that emulates the breathing of its wearer, and its form is inspired by marine coral. Using sensors and shape-memory alloys embedded in hand-knitted and felted wool, this garment blurs the boundaries between garment, technology, environment, and wearer. Eskandar is an artist and architect. This piece was produced by Grant Davis in collaboration with Joshua Hernandez (electronics) and Christopher O’Leary (photography).
Biological Instrumentation
Nina Tommasi
Biological Instrumentation is a time-based spatial installation of mimosa plants, each connected by a series of tubes to an air compressor and wired with audio speakers and other electronic equipment. Algorithmically triggered compressed air forces the plants to contract. As the plants begin to open their leaves again, sound signals play from the audio speakers. This work explores the poetics involved in creating new relationships between machines and plant life. Nina Tommasi is an Austrian-born media artist and architect.
Electric Eigen-Portraits
Face Shift
Arthur Elsenaar, Nottingham Trent University
Electric Eigen-Portraits and Face Shift are original performances of algorithmic facial choreography exhibited as two video works. These works turn a computer-controlled human face into a medium for kinetic art. Arthur Elsenaar is an artist and an electrical engineer, finishing his PhD work investigating the choreographic capabilities of the computer-controlled human face. He collaborated with Remko Scha, artist, programmer, and professor of computational linguistics at the University of Amsterdam.
Fur-Fly
Kumiko Kushiyama, Tokyo Metropolitan University
Shinji Sasada and Soichiro Takeyama, Japan Electronics College
Fur-Fly is a tactile display composed of individual pieces of faux fur that uses sensor-driven computer technology to control the movement of the components in response to the user and to transform the visual effects projected onto the surface. The texture of the display surface encourages interaction. Kumiko Kushiyama is an artist, interaction designer, and professor at Tokyo Metropolitan University. Shinji Sasada is an artist and advanced computer graphics designer. Soichiro Takeyama is studying advanced technology and computer graphics at Japan Electronics College.
Growth Rendering Device
David Bowen, University of Minnesota Duluth
Growth Rendering Device is a kinetic installation that records the growth of a pea plant over a 24-hour period. It displays a dialog among plant, environment, machine, and maker all working to thrive, to grow. David Bowen is an artist and assistant professor of sculpture and physical computing at the University of Minnesota Duluth. His work has been featured in exhibitions nationally and internationally.
Hylozoic Soil
Philip Beesley, University of Waterloo
Hylozoic Soil is a visually striking and multifaceted installation. Made up of a network of micro-controllers, proximity sensors, and shape-memory alloy actuators, this interactive environment draws the viewer into its shimmering depths. Philip Beesley is an artist, architect, and professor of architecture at the University of Waterloo. Hylozoic Soil was recently awarded first-prize honors at VIDA 11.0.
Mr. Lee Experiment
Sanghun Lee, Jayoung Kim, Hyomi Mun, Jungmi Kim, and Junghwan Sung, Soongsil University
Mr. Lee Experiment is an interactive installation that allows the viewer to move human experimental subjects between different environments that can then be observed. In this work, humans have been reduced to the same status as other species, that of experimental subjects. Sanghun Lee, Jayoung Kim, Hyomi Mun, Jungmi Kim, and Junghwan Sung, all from the Media Department at SoongSil University, have created this work drawing on expertise across interactive media art, sound art, filmmaking, hardware and software design, and electronics.
MSOrgm (Motivational Sensitive Organism)
Scottie Chih-Chieh Huang and Shen-Guan Shih, National Taiwan University of Science and Technology
MSOrgm (Motivational Sensitive Organism) is a robot designed to interact with the viewer in a more personal and subtle way. This robot plant presents the viewer with restrained and graceful gestures, and collaborates with viewers’ movements using cameras and facial recognition software. Scottie Huang is an artist and architect interested in tangible human-computer interfaces. Shen-Guan Shih is an associate professor in the Department of Architecture at National Taiwan University of Science and Technology.
One
Yoon Chung Han, UCLA Design | Media Arts
Gautam Rangan, UCLA Design | Media Arts
Erick Oh, UCLA Department of Film, Television, and Digital Media
Mubbasir Kapadia, UCLA Computer Science Department
One is an interactive piece consisting of a single drop of ink in a suspended Petri dish and a large projection of the same drop. Viewer interaction with the suspended dish is the means of evolution for the animated ink blot. Yoon Chung Han is an artist and designer specializing in interactive media design. Gautam Rangan is an artist and designer creating animations for the Discovery Science channel. Erick Oh is an award-winning animation artist based in Los Angeles.
TRANSDUCERS
Verena Friedrich, University of Art and Design Offenbach
TRANSDUCERS is an installation composed of several glass tubes, each encasing a single human hair collected from different individuals. Triggered by the machinery, the human hair is stimulated to react, and the reaction is transduced into an audible output. Every audible result provides a technological interpretation of identity. Verena Friedrich is a German artist with a deep interest in science and technology. Shown internationally, her work has also been granted the \international\media\award\2005 for science and art from ZKM Karlsruhe.
Post Global Warming Survival Kit
Petko Dourmana
Post Global Warming Survival Kit is an installation that can only be experienced in infrared. In this post-apocalyptic world, viewers are invited to experience something that is at once bleak and beautiful, at a coastal outpost at land’s end. Petko Dourmana is a media artist based in Sofia, Bulgaria. Post Global Warming Survival Kit was one of eight works nominated for a Transmediale 2009 Award.
Generative Fabrication
The SIGGRAPH 2009 Design & Computation Gallery explores non-linear and biological processes in design and digital fabrication through selected works of art, architecture, and design. The work’s inherently generative nature encourages many lines of investigation along two main paths:
- Generative design – algorithm and process, explorations of phase space and path-dependent emergent phenomena, form-making versus form-finding, and iterative design such as simulation, analysis, and optimization.
- Digital fabrication – the interplay between digital representation and the crafting of physical objects; formation of structures by aggregation, weaving, and layered manufacturing; and exploitation of organic and composite material properties.
Monumental Nets
Janet Echelman and Buro Happold Consulting Engineers
Sculpture that synthesizes traditional fabrication methods with digital form-finding to create monumental public sculptures.
Schiara Lantern
Greg Lynn/FORM and Kreysler & Associates
A large, volumetric lantern made of translucent fiberglass composite panels formed on CNC-milled molds.
Complex Form in Timber
Fabian Scheurer
designtoproduction
Constructing free-form architecture in timber using parametric design and computer-controlled fabrication tools.
Assemblages
Chris Lasch & Benjamin Aranda
Architects pursuing design ideas based on Quasicrystals, forms that are rigorously modular yet grow wild.
MyLight.MGX
Materialise.MGX
A family of lamp designs that are unique for each customer, made with rapid manufacturing techniques.
Holy Ghost
Lionel Theodore Dean
A chair designed using genetic algorithms to determine modifications to the iconic Louis Ghost chair by Philippe Starck.
Ground Substance
Sabin+Jones LabStudio
A hybrid architectural design and biological research unit that demonstrates new modes of thinking in design and material construction.
Pluripotent Structures
Ferda Kolatan+Erich Schoenenberger
su11 architecture+design
An investigation into adaptive and variable formal and structural organizations that have more than one possible outcome yet maintain coherence.
Digital Blur: Stories from the Edge of Creative Design Practice
• ISBN: 978 1 904750 69 7
• 264pp
• 264 x 196mm
• £24.95
• Publication date: September 2009
