Reviews and Reflections

After Thursdays review of our projects. I managed to deeply reflect from the comments and absence of comments which I received from the individuals at my presentation. First and foremost, I believe that I greatly disappointed myself as well as others with the extent of my research and also the depth that I explained it to others. On a side note, I still believe that, although the comments which I received were rather hard, or personal, they helped me understand what and where I need to further analyze and proceed with my project if I want to come out with anything of substance.
Some of the more important questions and remarks which I got was to fully understand the relationship between time, movement and the relationship to the phenomenonical geometries which it creates in those particular instances of time. Other comments which were given to me were about re-introducing the importance of the shadows which are created throughout my project.
On the architectural sense, I'm not quite sure how or where I can apply this piece. Although time and movement are components in architecture, I haven't provided enough process, in the opinion of others to claim an answer, which I also must admit to.
So finally, the next few days will consist of exploring this phenomenon of my project through the rigors of photographing and documenting it movement through time.
What is to come out of this for the next semester, I have not concluded as such, but I feel determined to prove to myself more than others, that my project has merit and potential.

The to do list

So...After attempting to figure out my location the presentation room, I have decided that my more efficient approach should be to figure out my Arduino and circuit boards, I am still at ends about whether I should use the Arduino or simply go based on a battery pack for each individual motor. Although the Arduino does posses the luxury of making each motor run differently and with different characteristics, I think the aspect of time is pushing me towards battery packs, with different resistors.

Crunch Time

So I am a week and a bit away from needing to present and unfortunately...everything is taking up my time, My use of the laser cut machine has been more of a hassle than expected but I still hope that would be an issue with the presentation. Issues which I am trying to resolve include finding a space to place my presentation. Another issue is the fact that I'm trying to develop a frame for my project, with little success.
Hopefully tomorrow will work better with little or no interruptions and possibly with access to the laser cut machine.
Finally, here are some of my pieces which were cut on the laser machine, but more importantly, the pieces which need to be cut...this gives a clue of the quality that can be expected

Drawing of Phenomenon in Progress

So my attempts of illustrating my monster and its string geometry "phenomenon" is still in drawing form. I have managed to develop and map its movement, but I haven't been satisfied with capturing its phenomenon. So here is it in working progress

Recent developments

After coming back from Montreal and questioning the direction of my projects, I can conclude that I have undeniably come back to theatre and music on some sort of level. Although my research has been concentrated more on Etienne Jules Marey and also more contemporary works such as Manuel Baez and The Phenomenological Garden,
I have also stumbled across the geometries of music harmonics and the mathematical background to is as well. In many similar ways, there are aspects which relate with my earlier research on Oskar Schlemmer and with my more recent studio work developed in Montreal. Below is a link I found which also you to make geometries based on the loading and tension of a simple string.
http://www.falstad.com/loadedstring/

Further direction on my project

So after a week away from Montreal and seeing my flaws and personal disappointments with my project, I am a month away from review. in addition to this deadline, I need to further extrapolate the direction of my project and have a final development in regards to its purpose.
Based on our group studio, questions which need to be addressed by the end of the semester are:
-To build a structure for my monster and no...a leash just won't do
-To finally resolve the purpose and behavior of my monster
-Have an idea of its site and an idea how it will respond with and to the site
and finally to develop a direction based on the phenomenons it created and more accurately what I acquired by observations.

Montreal Review @ the Hexagram Black Box Studio

The beginning of the week at Concordia University consisted of setting up our project and introductions with the TML media group. We managed to get an understanding of everyone's specialities and each individual established a focus of who they were going to work with throughout the week.
Throughout the week, we placed trusses, which were going to be used for lighting by TML and we develop dialogue with them regarding our intention with lighting and sound.
My initial installation consisted of simply hanging from the post which were designated to each one of us, unfortunately, my obsession for perfection got the best of me and I worked on suiting my project, and adjusting it to the space we were provided. This of course consisted of designing and fabricating new pieces to fit the post, which they were to hang from.

As well, throughout the week, we were to present our project to various groups, which were scheduled to stop by and get an experience of our project.



















By Thursday afternoon, I was finally at a point where I was about to begin my installation. I managed to figure out my circuit with individuals from TML and was in the process to having a final functional piece ready for Friday. The idea was to have multiple motors running continuously for a period of time, to create geometry and space through the movement of the mechanical devices. due to the disk and the size of the disk and also there location on a fixed length of string. Based on different location on the string and different amount of disk on the string...the outcome of the geometry is different each time. The intent was to create multiple formation based on the devices with string.
The final outcome which developed was unexpected but still, it managed to convey the basic idea of my project. Therefore, I leave you with a couple images which may help individuals understand my project a little more clearly.

Schematic of my monster

During my long, yet interesting bus ride from Montreal, I came to the conclusion that my monster has more opportunities, than I had initially given it credit for. Although I am not fully resolved in the method in which this may occur, I believe that it has the capability of being activated by light sensors, which would be connected to the Arduino and perhaps, have different characteristic encoded into them. the result of my schematic is to provide individuals from TML an understanding of my concept and ideas which I would like to implement. To achieve these goal, I believe this week will consist on researching and exploration of video projection and possibly sound, through activation by arduino or other devices which my classmates will be providing.
Here are the following sketches and schematics.

Other influetial works

My research with Oskar Schlemmer has also led me to look at the of Etienne Jules Marey and his use of chronophotography and objects. His works seems to have qualities which I believe can create interesting development to my studio project. As a side note, I think I have found a simple and effiecent method of using string and other materials plus this new device, which elimanates the problem of my previous dilemma which was that it constantly was winding up and stopping the motor. Although there are still many questions regarding final production of these motors and string, I believe this discovery will quickly advance my porject.

Breadboard Advancements and Quirks

After failing to acquire decent materials for my motors, I focused on accomplishing the electronic aspects of my activating my motor to ligth sensors. After many unsuccessful and frustrating attempts at making the light sensor work in correspondance with a LED light. I found a site which show a method of using "Darlington Transistors" which is simply a combination of two transistors to amplify the amplification. The intent now is to incorporate my motor into it as well.
The Obstacle:
My findings have led me to come to the understanding that the integration of the motor to the light sensor is going to include a Relay and possibly a 555 timer, if my initial interntions of having each motor run with a different characteristic is included.
On the side note, during my process of building a circuit which includes the relay and 555 timer, I fell across a strange circuit some may find useful for there circuitry. It seems that I managed to create a touch sensor with the use of a LED, two transistors in a Darlington fashion and connection to the negative wire. So by simply touching a wire or the breadboard, with a metal piece, it finishes the circuit. If I recall, this may be suitable for some of my fellow collegues in studio who have been attempting to do this.

The update for the week

Abstrac + Studio Review:
The initial focus of my project consisted of looking at the relationship between that of man, machines and theatre performances between both. The progressive work of individuals such as Oskar Schlemmer from the Bauhaus more specifically regarding his “agent-space-event” theory drew quick attention to me and instigated further desire to explore methods of intertwining machines and humans in a fashion which causes various spatial configurations, within an environment and within the participants and reciprocated back to participants.

After a group review and critique, the extent of my project is falling towards more exploration of what my machine can develop with movement and materials. My initial approach aims at understanding the geometrical and functional spaces which can be created by the machines in relationship with human interactivity. The preliminary step to my project has been to recover machines and to deconstruct them to there primary and most fundamental component, the motor. The intent has been to develop a mechanism or circuitry which allows the motor to respond to the participant, by photovoltaic sensors and hence, reciprocate a response back to the participant. After further studies and investigation the idea is to project a more theatrical approach to my devices. At this moment, I am attempting to resolve my issue of find a suitable material which can hang and move freely due to the motors circular action and create geometries and spaces due to these circular movements, which will be determined by various factors such as weight, speed and length of string and alternative material. Questions regarding if the machines can interact with other machines, rather than humans come to the forefront and the possibility of placing the humans completely out of the equation is another idea I’d like to explore. Secondly the depiction and study of these movements produces other influential precedence’s which could possibly prove beneficial to the project. The work of Etienne Jules Marey and future chronophotography develops another aspect which may relate with my initial project of man and machine and the capture of movement.

Machines Are Providing me aTheatrical Performance

After last week's conversation with my professor, my exploration of combining the natural and artificial senses of both human and machines. I have been swayed in the direction of looking at the theatrical and architectural work of Oskar Schlemmer. Although I wasn't completely sure how this topic was going to relate with my original thought, I was intrigued by Oskar Schlemmer's theories of the"mechanized body", movement and relationship to its environment.


The obstacles which are now present with my project is how I can interpret Oskar Schlemmer's work and apply the electronic and mechanical devices which I have encountered with my objects.
The question, among many are...How do my electronic objects transform, to replicate the movements of human, based on senses? are they based on either natural or artificial ones? Do my objects move due to senses...or provide a response which is collected by our senses?

Time of Death...?

So...unfortunately, after attempting to discover the reason of my malfunctioning radio-controlled gizmo, I have officially given it a time of death of 5:00 on Oct. 08/07. Although I did lose my device as a whole component...I do believe that I can salvage many of the components which were attached to the whole. Also...along the way,I managed to capture a deeper understanding of the object and the switches which were included.
If I had more time I would have continued to find the real problem to my situation...it is difficult to truly pinpoint the origin of the problem, on the sole purpose that it was composed of two sections:, the base,which shot the circular devices out and also the glove, which transmitted the command to initiate the shooting of the devices.

So...until further notice...I will have to face defeat and claim that I have lost my first victim

2nd Vivisection

My secoond object which I attempted to disassemble was this radio-controlled gizmo called Naruto. The basis of this toy was to make hand signals in a sequence which would shoot out small circular devices.
After the dismantling of the primary object, I encountered an antenna which recieved signals from the glove. Unfortunately, by the end of the reverse engineering, I wasn't able to transmit and recieve the radiowaves from each other.

New Findings

So...I stumbled across this information about my dog which is now nothing but mangled wires scattered across my desk. First of all, I found out that my dog is in fact called Poo-chi and it was made by Tiger Electronics. It was released in Japan in 2000 and later on in United States and Canada.
Here is alittle more info if you're interested:http://www.geocities.com/ResearchTriangle/6608/Bots/Toy/poochi.htm

Vivisection # 1 : My homework ate my dog

The first object which I have decided to dissect and pry my nose into was the tiger LED dog. I chose the dog because I was interested in grasping the component of the motion sensor and the gear which allowed the dog to sit and bark.

By first removing the back part of the head and sliding the body down, I was able to see and identify an understating of the moving components...But how do they link with the head.
Through further dissection. I managed to dissect the dog to more basic electronic pieces which essentially run the toy.
Here are some of the dissection processes which I encountered and documented. Also, due to some of the internal wires being compact, I had to modify the toy by elongating the wires by sodering new wires to them.












I'm proud to say that through many trials and errors, I managed to disassemble my dog and wire him back in a fashion that allows it to still work. Although the object is in separate pieces, the lights, speaker, and gears all function properly. The only downfall I would say I encountered was the limited knowledge I acquired from the motion sensor, but despite that, I found this dissection to be rewarding.

Studio Project- 5 Objects

The Objective of the assignment was to search and collect 5 objects which were responsive to the user and also showed signs of behaviour and/or interface. The selections which I made were influenced primarily in relation with the qualities of sound.
Object 1: A children's keyboard with all sorts of Fancy gizmo's and such.
I was interested in this object because it has qualities which relate with sound which I am interested in exploring.



Object 2: A hand-held radio with speakers.
The interesting thing about this object is related to the antenna and the qualities of radio waves.




Object 3: LED lit dog.
One of my favorites, this object has some exciting components which I would like to play with. Aside from the obvious LED lights, the dog has mechanical parts which allow the dog to lay down and bark. I also think this object has motion sensor in it as well...

Object 4: Radio wave operated gizmo
I managed to bump into this toy by chance. I'm still trying to figure out the purpose of this toy, but based on the instructions, the gloves transmit a radio wave to the object, which in turn fire out circular objects.


Object 5: a 1980ish Canon Camera
I selected the camera for the optical lens and other technological devices which could potentially be beneficial



I also had a "Tickle me Elmo" which I picked up in case the Camera doesn't work out.
Finally I'd like to say that I can't wait to tear these objects apart and get to the core of there functions.