EPROM by Alberto Tadiello consists of ten music boxes driven by little electrical engines and a transformer. Not very network like as a work of art in function but the reason I’m posting this is because I’m fascinated by this style of visual presentation which employs the cabling and mechanics of the work as part of the art itself. This attitude of ‘hide nothing’ seems to currently be a very popular way of showing contemporary and new media art. Other examples I’ve posted here include Taiwa-Hensokuki, Relay Works, Line, Vacuum Filaments, Earphones, Distant Views and Crash and Bloom.

I’ve mixed feelings about whether this technique is useful. I like the visual network aesthetic but does revealing all, well reveal too much? Does allowing the user / viewer to understand the works workings in this almost scientific diagram style add to their understanding of the works themes / ideas? Or does it simply take away the magic that should remain hidden in this type of work?

Originally seen at VVork.

The Portrait in a Mirror was a work I spotted yesterday when I posted about Taiwa-Hensokuki by Yuko Mohri. Both formed part of an exhibited entitled Extended Senses at ICC in Tokyo last year. Created by Kim Dongho, Yim Sungyul and Kang Kyung-Kyu, the installation changes the appearance of the approaching user.

Through analysis by a video camera and image sensor, the image of the visitor is displayed on a mirror-type LCD monitor. The style of the image that appears is determined by the distance between the work and the visitor. As the visitor approaches, his image changes from an ordinary mirror image to something like a painting. This work explores a new approach to portraiture in the digital age.

Not overly awed with this particular work I do have an interest in how mirrors and new media can be used to distort connections / relationships between the ‘real’ and ‘virtual’ - essentially blur distinctions between representations and simulations. Some similar work includes M_M_, Miroir Aux Silhouettes, a_mirror, MirrorSpace, Reface [Portrait Sequencer] and MotionMirror.

A few months ago I posted about the art work of Gordon Pask and then about Levelhead, Reactable and the kids toy by Bandai, Cube World. The form of a cube, it’s tactile qualities, the use of sides as navigable elements but most particularly the idea of connecting the sides seemed to be a shared theme. Levelhead and Cube World in particular use this aspect of connecting sides as a means of extending and navigating the ‘virtual’ space of the games involved.

Bandai have released another almost cube like game, Tuttuki Bako (image above and videos below), which while this time has nothing to do with connecting cubes to extend the ‘virtual’ space has the possibility instead for the user to physically intervene within the space of the game. There’s something very obscene about this augmented reality game, knowledge of the Japanese language is not required to understand that in the first of the two videos below however it is an interesting attempt to make a low end haptic game.

Originally seen on Pixelsumo.

The ‘Is our machines learning?’ machine (image above) is a networked installation networking a user and a machine based on how the user answers questions in a test.

composed of real U.S. standardized test questions. The physical installation consists of a machine that is mechanically capable of making marks on a Scantron brand standardized test form with a pencil. In a separate online space, visitors coming to a website determine which multiple-choice answers the machine in the installation selects to fill in. The website consists of a testing interface which delivers standardized test questions written by a government agency called the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP). When visiting users answer each question, their response is sent to the remote machine. After each answer a user provides, she can watch the machine respond to her input in real-time via a streaming video feed from the installation. To provide incentive for interaction, the user can also explore dynamic statistics about fellow users’ answers as well as generate a student profile based upon how her answers align with actual NAEP statistics.

The test itself (image below) is no longer functioning however details of the project and a video (also below) are available on the site.

Above is a screenshot of the performance Surveiller Punir “Double Contraintes Foucault” (for documentation) which I posted about a few days ago and has just finished on the Panoplie website.