Nuit Blanche
Nuit Blanche from Spy Films on Vimeo.
Prix Ars Electronica Computer Animation / Film / VFX Golden Nica 2010. Watch the “making of” here.
The Sandpit
The Sandpit from Sam O'Hare on Vimeo.
Prix Ars Electronica Computer Animation / Film / VFX Award of Distinction 2010. More background information available here.
Better for wear
You know, it’s funny how sometimes new ideas come at you from different sources at the same time.
Yesterday Arne Henriks of Platform21 presented the Repair Manifesto at Ars Electronica. One of its principles is “What doesn’t kill it makes it stronger”, meaning that by repairing an object, it becomes richer and more valuable, because we add to its potential, its history and inherent beauty. (Another interesting point raised by Arne Henriks was that “even fakes become originals when you repair them”.)
And then today, i read this excellent post by Tom Armitage of BERG:
[I]n some ways, [this camera is] more attractive for its wear. This isn’t a camera that’s been locked away in its packaging by an over-protective collector; it’s been well-used for its intended purpose. Part of the attraction to such an object isn’t just the aesthetic quality of its patina: there’s also something attractive about the action that wear represents.
They are making a slightly different point, but there’s definitely a common theme here.
Ars Electronica Day 2
Today’s talks at Ars Electronica were spectacular, with outstanding speakers such as Anthony Dunne, Golan Levin, Carlo Ratti, John Thackara, Geert Lovink, Saskia Sassen, Joichi Ito and Derrick de Kerckhove.
Herein a few very brief, incoherent notes:
Anthony Dunne on the Strangle Poise Lamp: It explores the taboos on emotions transferred to technology
On the Attenborough Design Group: A survival instinct in technologies can create sympathy as well as increase their durability
Golan Levin: A lot of intelligence in robots is only in the mind of the viewer
A tip against the uncanny valley effect in resting robots: Put Perlin noise on the joints
Derrick de Kerckhove quoting Geert Lovink: “It’s not a shame that we exist.”
Just as there’s an illusion of privacy, there’s also an illusion of publicy. [Which is an interesting notion to contemplate regarding social network anxiety.]
The global unconscious manifests itself on the grassroots level
Symbolic reversal (regarding Trash Track): A trash tracker is not just following trash, it brings it back. [Which seems like a very astute and poignant observation to me that carries a lot of the promises of pervasive, ubiquitous sensor networks and spimes with it.]
