Wired Magazine Articles
October 12, 2006
Origami in Space
October 12, 2006
This is an amazing object that changes size and shape for very practical reasons.
Robert Lang collaborated on a project to put an enormous folded-up lens into space to create enormous telescopes, far beyond the abilities of the Hubble. His expertise in origami was sought in the folding of the lens, required to fit such a huge surface into the narrow payload compartment of a rocket. Lang suggests that lenses as large as a kilometer may eventually be possible using this technology.
Assignment #3:Assembling/Disassembling
October 2, 2006
Using a kite or umbrella as a model and inspiration, create a form that disassembles for storage. While I am asking that you work with the idea of a kite/umbrella, both in terms of function and principle of collapsibility…
Additional links:
http://www.drachen.org/default.html – great information!
http://www.gombergkites.com/nkm/hist1.html
http://kitehistory.com/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Umbrella
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kite
More fantastic body extensions
September 18, 2006
We Make Money Not Art continues to be an excellent resource for ideas of “body extensions” and has a new post on electronic garments. While that is a cool idea in itself, look at the way these garments transform those wearing the clothing, and how sculptural and dynamic the form of the body becomes. Consider how the body has become the system of display for these objects, similar to how the pedestal/floor functions for sculpture and the wall for painting.
Now this is an extension of the body
September 15, 2006
Free book, Free Culture
September 15, 2006
Professor and writer Lawrence Lessig has written extensively on the social dimension of creativity and the public domain of ideas. Consistent with his ideologies, he is offering his latest book Free Culture, as a free PDF download. It is worth a serious look, both as an artist and consumer.
All creative works—books, movies, records, software, and so on—are a compromise between what can be imagined and what is possible—technologically and legally. For more than two hundred years, laws in America have sought a balance between rewarding creativity and allowing the borrowing from which new creativity springs. The original term of copyright set by the Constitution in 1787 was seventeen years. Now it is closer to two hundred. Thomas Jefferson considered protecting the public against overly long monopolies on creative works an essential government role. What did he know that we’ve forgotten?
Throw-n-sow
September 14, 2006
Very nice, particularly the third paragraph.
Throw-n-Sow is a flying disc toy similar to a Frisbee that uses the centripetal force generated in the act of throwing to distribute seeds into the environment. Manufactured as a toy made from environmentally-friendly, biodegradable plastics, Throw-n-Sow consists of a main body and a separate container that slides and locks under the disc. This container contains adjustable holes of different diameter to accommodate variant seed sizes. In other words, Throw-n-Sow is a literally empty container into which individuals and communities emplace selected seeds.
Throw-n-Sow is interactive eco-art project that engages diverse communities in each step of the project (manufacturing, seed-selection, site-selection, plant stewardship, art education), Throw-n-Sow raises questions about the expanded field of drawing, indigenous ecologies vs. selective human cultivation, landscape evolution and succession, ethnobotany, agronomy, etc. Throw-n-Sow ultimately aims to valorize distributive intelligence and interdisciplinary learning.
Throw-n-Sow is the kind of art that literally passes between two or more individuals. Leaving behind a trail of seeds as it sails through the air, Throw-n-Sow essentially imprints moments of play into the landscape. Individuals carrying the Throw-n-Sow disc from one place to another develop an affective relationship to the toy and to the sites in which it is deployed.
One perspective on the creative process
September 14, 2006
I ran across this article from The Design Observer after our discussion in critique today. While not entirely related, as this account is of a designer working for a client, I think there are many correlations to most any creative process.
The other day I was looking at a proposal for a project I finished a few months ago. The result, by my measure and by the client’s, was successful. But guess what? The process I so reassuringly put forward at the outset had almost nothing to do with the way the project actually went. What would happen, I wonder, if I actually told the truth about what happens in a design process?
Truly Flexible Architecture
September 13, 2006
Wired News recently ran an article on architecture that could potentially respond to it’s environment and external forces.
What if buildings could function like living systems, altering their shapes in response to changing weather conditions or the way people use them?
That’s the vision of a new breed of architects who are working on what they think is the future of architecture — “responsive structures” that observe their internal and external environment and change form to suit any situation.
Smart Buildings Make Smooth MovesAmong Bubbles
September 12, 2006
We Make Money Not Art has a great post on a pneumatic installation that relates to architectural and adaptable space.
Bubble is an adaptable spatial pneumatic installation made of large air bags or bubbles that inflate and deflate in reaction to the visitors coming to the site. As visitors enter and move through the installation, they must navigate the 6′ to 8’ diameter spheres that fill the space. When the bubbles are bumped, sensors initiate a chaotic exchange of air between the spheres. If approached the section the visitor is closest to deflates offering a pathway into the installation. A ramp allows visitors to move up into the space and be completely surrounded by bubbles. When no visitors are present, the system returns to a state of equilibrium.
