15 May 2008 @ 12:52
Kunstvlaai pics
Some pictures of our bluetooth project we did for the KattenbakCollective (which we both are part of..)
((more to follow??))
grtz
e
15 May 2008 @ 11:14
We’re back online…
The website was down for a while, due to an unfriendly hacker who felt like hacking the webserver. However, everything is back now and up and running, using the latest and greatest WordPress and Mediawiki’s (PHP5, whoohoo).
In the next couple of days we will post about our experiences at the Kunstvlaai with the Bluetooth transmission point.
2 May 2008 @ 21:59
Programming the atomic bomb…
The gumstix computer of the mobilevideonet guys, which we’re going to use on the Kunstvlaai next week. I’m charging it so i can use it tomorrow to try to run my python-based software on it.
28 April 2008 @ 14:42
Kunstvlaai preparation
Well, getting complaints that we didn’t updated our blog for a while now, means that at least 1 person other than ourselves is watching this 
(thnx Ben)
But ok, it seems we are a bit busy doing lots of different things that all come at once.
So on-signal is busy with a project for the Kattenbak Collectief. Doing the presentation for the collective on the Kunstvlaai. Herefor working together with MobileVideoNet (which are cool guys..), to do something with bluetooth…
Also busy preparing our trip to Singapore (ISEA). Preparing in the sence that we have to come up with official writings and tha kind of things.
And it keeps on going.. But later more..
15 April 2008 @ 08:07
Isn’t it pretty…
It looks a lot bigger than it actually is… but, it works! Last saturday we tested it and we got a range of at least 150m in which the device was able to discover devices. Kunstvlaai here we come!
13 April 2008 @ 18:13
Ludic Interfaces
Well, we know it allready, but still.. the Ludic Interfaces program from the ISEA2008 has a nice way of saying some things about games and technology.. And it explains why they invited us of course..so I just had to place it here..
***
Ludic Interfaces
The infantilization of play, that is, the historical association of playing with children and non-serious activities, has led to the systematic exclusion of play and fun from ’serious’ creative, scientific and technological investigations. While the ludic (i.e., play-related) dimensions of artistic creativity have been variously explored recently in both art works and in scholarly research, the interactions between technological developments and the pleasures described as ‘fun’, are few and far between.
In fact, the history of technological development has more instances of people enjoying technologies than of those willing to acknowledge or systematically deliberate on such pleasures. It has been argued recently that the phenomenal development of the game and entertainment industries, primarily driven by various technologies that engender the expanded exploration of embodied pleasures, has highlighted the potential of technologically-driven experiences of fun.
However, there are those who assert that there is still much more need to investigate the complicities between technology and pleasure in these experiences and to develop alternative modalities of exploring the technological possibilities of pleasure and vice versa. In this theme, we seek to address the ways in which fun and enjoyment interact with and complicate new media technologies both in its design, creative development, everyday uses and discursive articulations. We especially encourage works that critically explore the entertainment industries and their use of recent technologies.
***
12 April 2008 @ 09:21
Current projects
We have been busy in the past week. Working at the Bluetooth Zone project for the Kattenbak @ Kunstvlaai, and doing some artwork for that as well. We’re planning to actually make traffic signs with this image and putting those in the exhibition.
The AirCable Host-XR has finally arrived from San José CA with a short inbetween stop in Brooklyn NY.. We are gonna test it this afternoon. Supposedly it has a range of 1 kilometer, so we should be able to do some fun stuff with it
Another fun project which I (Arjan) am currently working on is the Frontera project of the Mexican artist Lilia Pérez. She’s artist-in-residence at NIMK and she’s made an interactive portrait; the portrait moves when you touch it with your hands. Finally an artwork which you’re supposed to touch! I’m extending that concept to include a recording booth as well, and in the progress rewriting the propetiary touch-screen software into an opensource, OpenCV based variant. I’m doing this together with Robin from Mediamatic, a soon-to-be colleguae
10 April 2008 @ 06:45
baer about gamez…
An interesting article aboutgames/game consoles.. that they don’t need to be that high performance machines.. it’s all about the game play 
http://www.gamesindustry.biz/articles/current-console-tech-unnecessary-says-baer
9 April 2008 @ 09:04
Random links
Although quite old, this article explains the difference / similarities between hackers and painters in a nice way.
The RFID passport chip was “hacked” today. It turned out to be just another media hype. I’ve read the actual academic paper about it, and okay, they actually can fingerprint which country you’re from, if they are very close to you (e.g. within 10 centimeters)… big deal?
2 April 2008 @ 21:15
Laser tracking
Tonight I thought of using laser pointers on a projection to create a sort of interaction, much like the Graffiti Research Lab has done. Of course, this has been done before, I know it. But, is it also done for purposes other than just visual enhancement and entertainment? For instance, using the laser pointers to create sounds; having multiple laser pointers on screen to create multiple sounds; using the interaction between the pointers to do, well, cool stuff. Here a collection of links:
- Laser trail tracking, visuals / graphics, clubbing
- The GRL project, originating in street art; youtube, wikipedia
- All GRL’s stuff is open source, so here’s the laser tagging 2.0 howto
- A paper about multiple-point tracking (2003)
- An interactive data wall, military purposes…