It appears that I haven't written for quite a long while. I have gotten sucked into several projects with heavy NDA, then I thought that this blog seriously needed a redesign, and wanted to start with a bang. But alas this makes the situation even worse because it means that I could not just post something casual which is happening.
No more. Screw it. Instead of finishing up with a redesign, let me start with something light. Recently I bought an iPad and started writing music with it. I am now back at my game of composing and playing live with my new controller. Lots of fun. Here is one such instance which is somewhat remixed in Ableton Live. Hope you like it!
About this piece
This piece draws concept from Steve Reich's idea of writing something which sounds repetitive but in fact wear never repeated throughout the entire composition. The piece were literally pieced together in Ableton Live, but the notes - the bits - wear input from the iPad, using various MIDI controller apps I have downloaded from the App Store.
Because of its relatively repetitive sounding nature, I do not intend the audience to be sitting still - you are encouraged to use it as background while multi-tasking. In fact, if you do indeed feel that it is repetitive, I would have accomplished what I set out to do.
This is a pre-mastering rough and is part of the Bits + Pieces album.
Eyebeam (http://eyebeam.org) is the leading not-for-profit art and technology center in the United States. Founded in 1996 and incorporated in 1997, Eyebeam was conceived as a non-profit art and technology center dedicated to exposing broad and diverse audiences to new technologies and media arts, while simultaneously establishing and demonstrating new media as a significant genre of cultural production. Since its founding, Eyebeam has supported more than 130 fellowships and residencies for artists and creative technologists.
Eyebeam organizes open studios twice a year, and I had the pleasure to visit one of them by invitation of Matthew Borgatti, a designer + technologist I met on Flickr a few weeks before the opening. Here are some highlights from my collection of photographs and video interviews conducted during the show.
The spokesperson of littleBits, a friend of the artist, talks to See-ming Lee about the sculpture / mixed media painting: a birds eye view of a little over 3 years of violence, strife, and very bright lights rocking Lebanon, remembered and replayed in 45 minutes of proportionally timed light display.
Ayah Bdeir Les Années Lumière 22 x 30 inches Electronics on Canvas produced June 2008 in collaboration with Rouba Khalil
3. Fairytale Fashion
Fairytale Fashion (http://fairytalefashion) is a project created by Diana Eng (LinkedIn / Twitter / dianaeng.com), a fashion designer who works with science and technology. She is the co-founder of the NYC Resistor hacker group, and is popularly known as one of the designers in the Bravo TV series hit Project Runway.
Fairytale Fashion uses technology to create a collection of magical clothing in real life, and share their work in weekly research and development web videos. Here are some video interviews shot during the event:
3.1 Fairytale Fashion: Part 1: Overview (Diana Eng)
Nora Ligorano and Marshall Reese, two artists who have been collaborating on work together for over a decade in New York, chat with me regarding their new collectible sculptures limited-edition series Deadly Sins. The set of snowglobes are available individually, each of which contain one word from the seven deadly sins: Lust, Gluttony, Greed, Sloth, Wrath, Envy, and Pride - and represented by a unique color.
Window Farms (Flickr / windowfarms.org) are vertical, hydroponic, modular, low-energy, high-yield edible window gardens built using low-impact or recycled local materials.
In February 2009, through a residency at Eyebeam, Britta Riley and Rebecca Bray began to build and test the first Window Farms prototype. Growing food inside NY apartments is a challenge, but within reach. The foundational knowledge base is emerging through working with agricultural, architectural and other specialists, collecting sensor data, and reinterpreting hydroponics research conducted by NASA scientists and marijuana farmers. They have been researching and developing hydroponic designs that are inexpensive and made from relatively inexpensive materials. The working prototype is a drip system made from recycled water bottles, holding 25 plants. Beans, tomatoes, cucumbers, arugula, basil, lettuce and kale are thriving.
I had to pleasure of talking to Maya Nayak, who explained to me how it works:
