The Great Wizard of Oz

The Wizard of Oz came to mind when thinking about magic, illusion and electricity in relation to ether. I am not quite sure how exactly the Wizard of Oz will play a part within my project but I have a feeling it will help me solidify my thoughts and the overall form of the project...

Road Block(s)

The past week has been spent trying to figure out what ether is to me, why it interests me, why is confuses me and what role it plays in my life. What I have come to realize through my research is that ether is still very much an unknown. Both in science and mythology it has and continues to represent a void of knowledge and it is this void of knowledge that creates this interest, and confusion within me. There have been many analogies that I have made to ether in order for me to understand what it is. So far the most successful analogy is that of ether to electricity. Electricity has the ability to do almost anything, it is found in nature, it is generated by humans, it can be captured, it can and cannot be seen, it is there without traces of its presence, it is ether. The idea of ether as electricity has helped me progress with my project however I am now faced with the task of manifesting the concept of ether into physical form. Because ether has been used to describe and be so many different things, I feel that there is no one way to represent it. A previous idea I had was to create an installation that would speak to our senses (sight, sound, smell, touch, taste) but again how?Magic was another theme that I used to understand ether (and also electricity). Magic is also about the unknown and the awe that revolves around it. This idea will help me develop the theatrical component of this project and will also allow me to play with the sense of illusion. The question that still remains is the form that my project will take.

For the our last presentation I created a very ornate wall system that would react with the users of the space. The problem that arose with my proposal is that the form was representational and there is no awe evoking aspect. Also, the fan would not be used in an interesting manner.





other points of interest:

ether and anesthesia

Precedence - of natural form

This plant from the Philippines is called Makahiya, in english it translates to "shy." I though of this plant early on during my research but too quickly dismissed it. Perhaps this is not an exact demonstration of ether but I think it is interesting to see such a reaction from a mere plant. This idea of unexpected phenomena is what I would like to capture in my project.

The form and delicacy of the exposed copper wire was derived from the leaves of the makahiya. My past ether experiments dealt with charges turning a light on or off, currently I am experimenting with ways of making the overall action more dramatic without overpowering the poetic qualities of ether.

Videos for Portfolio

Please view previous blog entry before viewing.

FET


FET dark


Parallel


Parallel dark

Portfolio Pages

see "Parallel" video

see "FET" video

Discovering ether

Because I have outlined my focus of ether to revolve around the mystical definition I have allowed the word to be open for interpretation, as almost anything can be argued to be ether. Currently my goal has been to define the word for myself. To do so I have researched existing notions of ether.

What is Ether?

From my understanding of ether, it is a gas that can be used as a means of anesthetic. However it has been brought to my attention that there are other meanings associated with ether.
In order to gain a better understanding of ether I will begin my research with the investigation of the meaning of the word.

Using the Oxford English Dictionary, the following are definitions that seemed the most interesting and appropriate for this studio.

ether also aether:
1a. the clear sky
2a. a medium of unusual qualities (as extreme tenuity, absolute continuity, and a high rigidity and elasticity) postulated in the undulatory theory of light as permeating all space and as transmitting transverse waves.

From these definitions I started to understand that the word ether exists in two different realms, the mystical and the scientific. I will not concern myself with the chemical aspect of the word ether, rather I will focus on the unattainable ether and it's unknown. To understand this aspect of ether I will need to further research it's epistemology as well as topics relating to it.

epistemology:

In Greek mythology (A)ether was a protogenos that personified the "upper air." He was the air the the god of heaven breathed.

related topics:

- ether drift:
a relative motion held to exist between a body and the medium of ether

- etheralize:
a. to refine, exalt, or spiritualize

- etherophone:
theremin

MIDI for dummies

Here's some information I found on MIDI... and I know to be sceptical of information found on Wikipedia but this site seemed to make the most sense to me.

Arduino for dummies

If you're anything like me, this information on Arduino maybe helpful.

Looking at WWII... yet again

Every year I find myself researching World War II and its aftermath. I think my interest lies in the concept that American culture was radically altered as a result of the war. Life as it was known was flipped upside down and great efforts were made to make things "normal" again.

Some interesting information that came about from my research was the jargon of the US military. Here are common acronyms that were used during WWII that exemplify the state of confusion of the time.

• SNAFU - Situation Normal: All Fucked Up.
• SUSFU - Situation Unchanged: Still Fucked Up
• FUMTU - Fucked Up More Than Usual.
• FUBB - Fucked Up Beyond Belief.
• FUBIO - Fuck You Buddy, I'm Out; or Forget You, Bub, It's Over (polite form)
• TARFU - Things Are Really Fucked Up.
• TOFU - Things Ordinary: Fucked Up.
• GFU - General Fuck Up.
• SAMFU - Self Adjusting Military Fuck Up.
• BOHICA - Bend over, here it comes again.
• TUIFU - The Ultimate In Fuck Ups.
• FUBAR- Fucked Up Beyond All Recognition/Repair/Reason/Redemption.
• FUGAZI - Fucked Up, Got Ambushed, Zipped In; Refers to out-of-control situation such as a chaotic jungle warfare combat environment
• JANFU - Joint Army/Navy Fuck-Up; used by British troops in WWII.
• JAAFU or JAAFFU - Joint Army-Air Force Fuck-Up; the use of JANFU combined with a radical increase in joint-forces operations since 1989, has led to the rare but increasing use of JAAFU/JAAFFU.
• DILLIGAF/DILLIGAS - Do I Look Like I Give A Fuck/Shit? Interogative form of, "(It) don't mean nothing." Both often heard in Vietnam.
• TINS - This Is No Shit! Often seen in veterans' forums.
• MUBAR - Mash up beyond all recognition. Refers to being proper mash up.
• SMUBAR - Semi mash up beyond all recognition. Not quite MUBAR but well on the way.
• BOYC - Bitches, obey your commander! (Or "Balls on your chin")
• YUCATAN - You're Under Certain Annihilation Throw A Nuke!
• MMFD - Miles and Miles of Fucking Desert! British expression

Brain storming:

1. acronyms - saying without saying
2. state of urgency - again, based on survival

Thinking ahead

Currently I'm researching the work of Richard Neutra. His work, which is a direct reaction to the post war era, has brought upon questions of how the ongoing war has affected or will affect architecture in contemporary times. How I can relate this idea to my current research is still vague however I think it has promise.

Brain storming:
1. Responsive architecture
- how to build for protection
- protection = survival... survival architecture
- armageddon, a world without technology (?anti-electronics)

2. Warning systems
- remote detection - but of what?

3. Spawning a new culture (1950s today)
- "electro-burbia"

Installation Ideas

Here are a few ideas we had for the project in Montreal.

Proposed articulation by RPI students (Emily, Laura, Cory and Karen)

Darcy, Przemek and I wanted to work with this serpant like structure and add an interative aspect to it. To do so we propose that a series of capacitive contacts be attached to the floor as well as the extension pockets of the pneumatic wall system. The series of contacts on the floor will be activated when viewers walk over them, this will then trigger a relay that activates air pumps attached to the extension pockets. The result would be a system that reacts to the viewers within the space.

Darcy, Przemek and I also want to incorporate sound into the pneumatic system. To do so we propose that the microphone part of a "spy ear" (a tiny microphone that attach to headphones) be attached to the wall. The headphones will then be attached to the users and as the users pass through the space a certain amount of feed back noise will be created if they come too close to the wall.

Electronics for Artists - Chapter 9 (sensors)

This is a break down about sensors:

A sensor is a type of switch that can activate something.

Sensor types:
1. Heat
2. Light
3. Sound
4. Position
5. Movement
6. Direction of movement
7. Speed of movement

Terms:
1. WIRED OR: sensors (with switch outputs) connect with a signal giving sensor that operates a switch.

2. Open switch: there is no connection to the ciruit until something is detected.

3. Closed switch: there is no connection until something is detected (the connection is interupted).

PIRs (passive infrared):

- they have a typical range of 6m
- they can sense a large area
- sensor can be altered to sense a smaller area if lens is painted (test with paper before painting because it is irreversable)

- type 1: used for turning on lights and can have timers. They can increase power outputs.
- type 2: used for burglar alarms and are versitile because they can be hooked up to anything.

Temperature:

- variable resistance types:

- non-precision thermistors (temperature sensitive resistors)
- positive temperature coefficient: resistance increases with temperature.
- negative temperature coeffient: resistance decreases with temperature.

Light:

1. Light dependant resistors: changes resistance with amount of light falling on it.
2. Photovoltaic cell: produces voltage according to light seen.

Infrared light beam:

have a range of approximately 10m

types:
1. pulse (turns of and off quickly).
2. light sensor that detects a break in the beam.

LEDs are the best because they increase intensity and they have a narrow angle (which is easier to control).

note: incandescent lamp and sunlight produce infrared light that can interfere

Sound:

types of frequency:
1. audible (range of 20Hz to 16KHz)
2. infrasound (lower frequency)
3. ultrasound (higher frequency)

- sound can travel through both air and materials

mic types:

1. air vibration mics (regular mics)
2. piezoelectric sensors (contact mics)

vibration :

- found in car alarm systems
- operate on a pulse system and turn on and off depending on frequency of vibration
- contact mics can be used as a vibration sensor

Proximity and touch:

types:
1. PIRs
2. Ultrasonic radar
3. Infrared
4. Capacitive

-Capacitive sensor:
- can detect a small or large area
- a cheap and easy to use
- can be made from metal material (as long as grounded)
-operate through a reed switch

better late than never

I've been struggling to come up with a potential design concept with my devices for the past week. Because my knowledge with ciruits and electronics is so limited my biggest hurdle was figuring out what feasible connections could be made between the hair dryer, keyboard and camera. Last week however, I read up on sensors in Electronics for Artists and it allowed me to come up with possible designs.

This design incorporates the misting device and fan from the hair dryer as well as the circuit boards and speakers from the keyboard. I chose to eliminate the camera because it was fully manual and would prove difficult to integrate to the other objects.

Object of my Affection

Lady Schick Consolette - Beauty Salon

A portable hair dryer manufactured between 1940s and 1950s with a mist funtion and four heat settings, cool, warm, medium and hot.

What attracted me to the Consolette was not the object itself, it was that it was prime example of the mass manufacturing of consumer products during the post WWII era. However because my inital interest with the object was non-mechanical, I needed to research its history and perform a "vivisection" on the hair dryer in order to underdstand it as a machine. What I found was hair dryers are rather basic machines that consist of a motorized fan, heating coils and a point for air in/out take. During the vivisection of my hair dryer I learned mare about the construction of old hair dryers. In particular I learned first hand that old hair dryers used to be lined with asbestos to prevent the heating coils from melting the plastic casing. The vivisection of my machine also allowed to realized the potential this object has with reverse engineering. Although the technology is simple and dated, the air in/out take maybe effective as the motor for a pnuematic structure. I was also thinking the mist and multi-ranged heating setting of my machine may be able to trigger a humidity or temperature sensor.

Other obects of my affection:

Point and shoot camera

The vivsection of the point and shoot camera proved less interesting than the hair dryer. I noticed the camera, outside of the gears needed to wind the film or the button mechanism needed to take the picture, was just a lens and a compartment. The simplicity of this object was disappointing however the idea of such a simple object being able to capture images is interesting enough for me to pursue using it. I have yet to consider the potential for this machine however I can assume it would involve photographs.

Point and Shoot Vivisection

Keyboard

My last object is a childrens keyboard. Initially I did not want to work sound or music however after watching other students work on painos I began to grow an interst towards the contacts within those machines. My vivisection allowed me to see the abilities of contacts. Again, I'm not sure where I would like to take this preliminary research however I think it would be interesting to explore the potential with the contacts.

Keyboard Vivisection

Long time coming...

Monster...

Machine or...

Ninja

After nearly two weeks of working on my drawing machine, I've finally managed to create something that seems to satisfy a portion of the firgure 8. Patrick's emphasis on drawing prompted me to sit down and really look at what I was trying to build. Shortly after I began drawing potentional parts and mechanisms of the machine, taking into account the simple geometries that were produced movement. Consequently, playing with the geometry of the machine and its parts helped me figure out important factors like length of rods and placement of stationary points. However, although the drawings proved more effective than my intitial trial and error method it did not completely solve of the machine. It wasn't until I paired the information I gathered from my first experiments and the drawings that I began to gain headway.

Recap: Models, Past to Present

Experimenting with layering:


Incorporating a track system to keep rods at a 90˚


Relying solely on sliding mechanisms


Considering replacing one central pivoting system with a gear


Combine intial ideas of track and sliding systems to maintain 90˚

The final bass wood kit of parts. Using dowels as pivoting points and soap to minimize friction

Plain Curves - Figuring things out part 3.

Model No. 3: A re-evaluation of the materials being used was again needed. The push pin heads were too bulky and interfered with rotating pieces and each other. Instead small bent pieces of wire were used to fasten parts together. This new method works better in comparison to the push pins however does not make for a very secure connection. The varying depths of parts have also increased mobility however forms of the same problems recur. To remedy this I will play with "forks" and "U's" on the next model.

" Image of whole "machine":


Depth and securing mechanism:


Depth: