External Expert

For my graduation project I have to find myself an external expert within the subject I'm graduating in. There are two teachers from within the Academy of Popculture who follow my process and give me feedback on my research. When I started looking for an external expert I kept stumbling upon Dieter van Doren for several reasons.

Dieter van Doren is a media artist, performer and developer. His work balances on the edge of creative arts and scientific research and development.

I sort of already knew him from the Cycling'74 forum where I learned a few MaxMSP tricks from him in his replies to others. He was nominated for the STRP Talent Pit Award 2011, where a teacher of mine (Adri Schokker) was nominated as well. Because of this nomination I got familiar with his work.

We met in Rotown, Rotterdam where we spoke about my ideas, where it could go, and what form/outcome I had in mind. I got a lot of stuff to think about, and material wise I have a lot of experiments to do.

Integration.03 STRP Talent Pit Award submission (Dieter van Doren // dtr)

Textile instead of elastic bands

I found a fabric that I might use as the projection screen. It's the Polystretch P5 and I had to call ShowTex to find out that I could order small amounts as well instead of the 50m bulk. For now I ordered 100cm x 215cm piece of the white Polystretch P5.

They were kind enough to send me some steels of the Polystretch P6 and the Polystretch Flex CS as well. The last fabric is printable, the advantage of these fabrics is that they come with licenses and are flame retardant.
The P5 stretches up 1,5 time its length in both directions simultaneously. This fabric has a medium satin shine and I'm wondering how projections will look like on this fabric.

Right now I'm looking for a way to attach the fabric to nylon, and I might need an elastic thread to be able to sew it without loosing flexibility. Their site says the fabric will keep it's shape without tearing and fraying, this could mean that I don't need any sewing with threads at all.

Exposition Possibilties

Nacht van de Kunst en Wetenschap (the Night of Arts & Science) approached Viesueel Geweld with a request or we would like to be part of the festival and participate with a new or old work.

The initial idea behind the Night of Arts & Science was to organize a smaller version of the Museum Night and to give it a scientific twist. The first edition took place in 2009, the entire center of Groningen was dedicated to the theme of various art disciplines and science. Visitors enjoyed lectures, workshops, exhibitions, debates, scientific experiments, music, and unique performances combining science and the arts.

We pitched the prototype sculpture and they really liked it. Right now I have to think of a way to meet the theme of the Night of Arts & Science, which is 'Healthy Aging' for this years 2012 edition.

I'm thinking of visualizing evolution within living organisms or cells. Generative code is explicitly suitable for that and used within science to simulate for example, virtual live-forms. These types of generative code are usually referred to as Genetic Algorithms.

The prototype really helps me to explain my intensions and ideas I have with the generative sculpture. Let's dive into genetic algorithms and see what happens.

Constructing a prototype frame

The second step I took making the prototype was making the construction where all servos need to get fixed.

Materials:

• Wood
• Metal beams (x6)
• Screws & screw eyes
• Glue
• Nylon wire
• Elastic Bands
• some tape

I made a cube with additional beams for the screw eyes to route the nylon through the construction and fix the servos so they wont go anywhere when they start pulling.

Since I haven't got the textile yet I use elastic bands as a representation of it.

Work in progress.

Nylon and metal beams attached to servos.

Every corner is attached to two wires.

Final result using elastic bands.

Controlling Servos - MaxMSP & Arduino

This week I started with the first step for my prototype creating a patch to control the servos.

Hardware:

• Arduino (1x)
• Breadboard (1x)
• 5V Robbe FS-100 servos (6x)
• 5V Adapter (1x)
• some wires and a plug.

I wired the 6 servos through the breadboard to the Arduino board. Because I use several servos I need to power them from another source than the Arduino. The adapter powers the servos (+ red, - black) and the ground wire from the servos is connected to the ground of the Arduino. The only thing left is connecting the signal wire (white) to a digital pin on the Arduino board.

Arduino wired to 6 servos

Software:

• MaxMSP
• Maxuino

The patch I made allows me to manually control the servos with a nanoKontrol MIDI controller. The servos get a float signal from 0. to 1. and the Arduino pins are set in the servo mode.

nanoKontrol to Arduino

** edit 10-03-2012 Replaced maxpatch **

The Max patch:

Servo-Maxuino[Max6].zip