Monday, September 2, 2013

lookingOut1: Austin


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EkvazIZx-F0 
(no embedding on the video :/)

"Rain Room" was an installation from Random International in Barbican Centre, London. It was exhibited from 4 October 2012 – 3 March 2013. It looks to be quite a visceral experience and even when watching the video I get an incredible desire to try to interact with the piece myself. In my opinion, most great interactive pieces have a certain magnetism that draws the audience/user into interaction with it, and Rain Room is successful in that regard.

From a Barbican Centre press release, "due to exceptional popularity and demand, the installation will remain open until 1am on Saturday 2 March and 12am on Sunday 3 March. There will be a short break in admissions at 8pm for approximately 60 minutes for essential maintenance. The Rain Room queue on 02/03/13 currently stands at eight hours." Not only is this popular piece great technically, but it is a good example of how interactive work doesn't necessarily need to be a distinct object, and that reaction is the foundation of interaction.



The next few pieces I am sharing all involve my interest in the reproduction of natural movement or the visualization of that movement. Natural things tend to move in sine waves, and as it turns out, a lot of mechanical motion (especially with gears) produces sine shapes as well. There is a something conceptually fascinating about how artificial mechanisms are tied to the movement of nature. Natural sound comes in sine waves (square, triangle, etc… do not occur naturally). The shape of sand dunes, the way a dolphin swims, or the way a snake moves – all sine shaped . This isn’t strictly about us interacting with things, but I thought it was worth sharing because many of the moving objects we make will have a relationship to these waves in one way or another.

 Drawing Apparatus – Robert Howsare:
Drawing Apparatus from Robert Howsare on Vimeo.


Reuben Margolin is a man obsessed with waves, there are many “waves” he creates, but here is a short and interesting one he did in collaboration with an interactive art class at Stanford in Spring 2010:

The Soda Fountain - Installation of Kinetic Sculpture from Stanford Arts Institute on Vimeo.


…and why not a few more :) http://www.reubenmargolin.com/waves/1.take.quick.html 


 Even a simple gear creates a sine shaped motion:
http://www.rkm.com.au/animations/animation-sine-wave.html

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