On Growth and Form, Daniel Brown, Decode: Digital Design Sensations
The latest developments in digital and interactive design are currently on show at Decode: Digital Design Sensations at the V&A London. Pieces have been commissioned especially for the exhibition by the V&A in partnership with software specialists SAP, and sit alongside work by established designers, such as Daniel Rozin and Karsten Schmidt, as well as groups such as Troika and Fabrica.
Co-curated by Louise Shannon of the V&A and Shane Walter, director of contemporary arts organisation onedotzero, the V&A’s collaborative partner on Decode, the exhibition brings together many exciting new and recent pieces of work. A busy programme of hands-on tutorials and workshops is scheduled for the next three months – check the V&A microsite for details.
At the entrance to the exhibition is On Growth and Form, a large format floral animation created by Daniel Brown for the V&A. The petals are generated textures derived from works from the museum archive including William Morris textiles and kimono fabrics.
Mirror, Mirror, Jason Bruges Studio
As well as the exhibition space itself, there are installation pieces located inside and on the outside the museum itself. Mirror, Mirror is a commissioned piece by Jason Bruges Studio, London and is on display in the John Madejski Garden, the central courtyard.
The studio explains: ‘Mirror, Mirror explores the concept of narcissism and the individual’s relationship with space and others. The playful nature of the work encourages you to explore the interactivity and consider the interconnected relationships. The white dot matrix digital panels seem to float on the pond, awakening as visitors come into view. Cameras mounted within the LED dot matrices capture activity in the garden and simultaneously reflect this back to the viewer; the animated images are then mirrored once again in the surface of the water, creating multiple reflections.’
bit.code, Julius Popp
Another commission by the V&A is bit.code by Julius Popp, a large-scale installation in the main entrance of the Museum. The V&A tell us, ‘bit.code consists of a large bank of spinning black and white moving energy chains. The energy chains represent the vast quantity of data we receive in our daily lives. As the chains spin they create a confusing image of unreadable information. At certain points, the energy chains align and words become readable.’
‘Working closely with Julius Popp, exhibition partner SAP (software solutions) has utilised its SAP BusinessObjects Text Analysis software to collect heavily used words from various news feeds, blogs and news sites according to popularity. These words are then fed in to a database which bit.code will draw from and visualise. Within the Grand Entrance of the Museum it will be possible to see what is happening across global information networks. The installation will be constantly updated creating a dynamic visualisation of online news activity. bit.code filters this activity to give a sense of clarity and perspective.’
Video capture from Recode by Karsten Schmidt for Decode exhibition identity
To add to the Interactive element, the V&A has commissioned Karsten Schmidt to design a digital identity for the Decode exhibition using open source code. Visitors to the website can recode Karsten’s work and create their own original artwork. A number of the recoded works submitted will be chosen by the V&A and outdoor advertising group CBS to appear on London Underground digital screens to promote the exhibition. Each work used in this way will appear fully credited with the name of its artist. You can also save your artwork as a video or still image and upload it onto Vimeo or flickr, tagging it decode09, which will allow it to feed through into the Decode Live page.
The exhibition is divided into three themes: Code explain how computer code has become a new design tool; Interactivity shows works that react to our physical presence; Network visualise the digital communication between us.
Dandelion, YOKE and Sennep
Interactivity is where you will find most of the exhibition visitors at any one time and where you will hear the most laughter and amazement. Works include Dandelion by YOKE and London based design agency Sennep.
YOKE explain: ‘The intent of the piece was to make a playful and magical experience with a simple and satisfying interaction for young and old. The viewer use a hairdryer to blow the seeds of by pointing the hairdryer at the projected dandelion on the screen. The seeds can be blown around after they have come off and the grass also react to the hairdryer. We use an infrared camera to track an infrared beam of light coming from a light source in the tip of the hairdryer.
‘ A speaker in the hairdryer plays an adaptive hairdryer sound and speakers in front of the screen play a soundscape that changes depending on where you blow. In terms of software we have used processing for the camera tracking, MAX for the sound, and Unity for the visuals. We use OSC (open sound control) to communicate between the programmes.’
Body Paint, Mehmet Akten
Mehmet Akten’s Body Paint is ‘an interactive installation and performance allowing users to paint on a virtual canvas with their body, interpreting gestures and dance into evolving compositions. It is not intended as a painting application, but rather a full-body instrument that people can play with, and create something ‘beautiful’.
‘Something fun that will make them happy and put a smile on their face, the same way finger painting (and getting extremely messy and covered in paint) makes little children happy.’
Other works in this section include Ross Phillips’ Videogrid and Daniel Rozin’s Weave Mirror explained thus: ‘Weave Mirror assembles 768 motorized and laminated C-shaped prints along the surface of a picture plane that texturally mimics a homespun basket. A seemingly organic smokey portrait comes in focus to the sound made by the sculpture’s moving parts. Informed by traditions of both textile design and new media, the Weave Mirror paints a picture of viewers using a gradual rotation in greyscale value on each C-ring. A playful juxtaposition between the rustic and photographic, this sculpture is suspended from the ceiling. Its functional circuitry and wiring is visible behind the picture plane, exposing its craft.’
Weave Mirror, Daniel Rozin; Videogrid, Ross Phillips
The section entitled Code explores how the computational code containing the core data necessary to run a computer programme is also becoming an increasingly prevalent design tool. Code is both a new ‘material’ that artists can use and an inspiration for their subject matter. Practitioners are exploring the beauty of algorithms and the artistic potential of computational systems.
One of the most significant developments within digital design is the concept of ‘open source’. Designers publish their codes on the internet, creating libraries of creativity free for others designers to borrow, develop or pass on within the design community and beyond.
Stockspace, Marius Watz; Swarm Draw, Joshua Davis
Works in the Network section include Stockspace by Marius Watz and Swarm Draw by Joshua Davis. Joshua Davis was one of the first web designers to work with open-source Flash programming, Swarm Draw is created within the Hype framework, a network that supports non-specialists programming in Flash.
Network explain how ‘mobile technologies have become increasingly widespread, allowing us to be connected to each other almost constantly. The internet has given artists and designers new platforms for production, interrogation and dissemination. This networked world has provided the basis and tools for works of art and design that are multi-sited and global.
Networks are saturated with the traces of our lives: messages we send, blog entries we post, borders we cross. Artists and designers are drawing on these traces of human presence, and using the ‘memory’ as the basis of new works. Translating our digital tracks into readable and understandable visualisations, they tease out the threads of our digitised activity.’
Exquisite Clock, Fabrica; Flight Patterns, Aaron Koblin
Exquisite Clock by Fabrica is ‘a clock made of numbers taken from everyday life – seen, captured and uploaded by people from all over the world. Built around an online database, the clock exists as a web 2.0 website, an iPhone application and as a series of site specific installations. The V&A Exquisite Clock is a hanging sculpture of deconstructed computers, screens and cables which visitors are invited to contribute to and interact with.’
Aaron Koblin’s Flight Patterns visualises the paths of air traffic over North America in colour and form over a 24 hour period. Using data from the Federal Aviation Authority and plotted using the Processing programming environment, the 205,000 flights taken on August 12 2008 are represented as colourful threads, each of which translate into hundreds of people.
Decode: Digital Design Sensations runs until April 11 2010 at the V&A London.
Image credits: images 1,2, 3, 5, 6 & 7: Installation view, Decode: Digital Design Installations, Copyright V&A Images
Decode: Digital Design Sensations
onedotzero
Daniel Brown
Jason Bruges Studio
Julius Popp
Karsten Schmidt
YOKE
Mehmet Akten
Ross Phillips
Daniel Rozin
Marius Watz
Joshua Davis
Exquisite Clock
Fabrica
Aaron Koblin
