“For bicycles are messengers. Picasso recognised that they carry meaning when he made a saddle and handlebars into a bull’s head, and Duchamp (in his case, non-meaning) when he put a bicycle wheel in an art gallery.”
“The subtitle to this post is a variation of William Gibson’s famous remark: “The future is already here — it’s just not very evenly distributed.” An obvious follow up question is: if the future is already here, where can I find it?”
Oh Japan, how I love your beautiful insanity. wink
If you’re a fan of virtual musicians with computer-generated bodies and voices, and you live in North America, then do I have news for you.
Hatsune Miku, Japan’s “virtual pop star,” is coming to the US and Canada next year for a seven-city, synth-filled tour—her first tour in this neck of the woods. Miku herself may be a digital illusion, but her unique impact on the music industry is very real.
Continue reading “Hologram Pop Star Hatsune Miku ‘Announces’ 2016 US and Canada Tour” »
“The Sundance Institute—the organization responsible for the annual film festival that has given rise to the likes of Quentin Tarantino and Ava DuVernay—is looking to nurture a whole new kind of talent: virtual reality filmmakers.”
To many people, the introduction of the first Macintosh computer and its graphical user interface in 1984 is viewed as the dawn of creative computing. But if you ask Dr. Nick Montfort, a poet, computer scientist, and assistant professor of Digital Media at MIT, he’ll offer a different direction and definition for creative computing and its origins.
Defining Creative
“Creative Computing was the name of a computer magazine that ran from 1974 through 1985. Even before micro-computing there was already this magazine extolling the capabilities of the computer to teach, to help people learn, help people explore and help them do different types of creative work, in literature, the arts, music and so on,” Montfort said.
“It was a time when people had a lot of hope that computing would enable people personally as artists and creators to do work. It was actually a different time than we’re in now. There are a few people working in those areas, but it’s not as widespread as hoped in the late 70’s or early 80s.”
Continue reading “Can Computers Be As Creative As A Human?” »
““I would be in school and that’s when I would socialize with kids, but it wasn’t a huge part of my life. I had a very rich imagination and a rich inner life. There are 100 acres of forest. So from a very young age, I just learned how to entertain myself.””
“Wolf went for a walk over the world from the Mir Space Station in the late 1990s and saw the Earth seemingly vanish. His recollection so moved New York-based artist Rachel Rose when she heard it on NPR that she went to considerable lengths to track him down for a personal retelling.”
Photographs taken by astronaut Scott Kelly from the International Space Station are beautiful – but could a robot do better?
https://youtube.com/watch?v=GbShbMRudUM
InVisage filmed in challenging, bright sunlight conditions to test the dynamic range, and shot fast moving subjects (RC race cars) to show off the global shutter. The resulting footage (below) is surprisingly cinematic, considering that the sensor is smartphone sized. (It’s also a bit soft, which the company chalked up to the sensor being an early prototype.) The tech looks intriguing, though the level of hype in the press release and making-of film is a bit over-the-top. Still, if it can be refined further — perhaps by a sensor company like Sony — it could result in strikingly better smartphone and camera images in the not-too-distant future.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O9dj1s3N4cE
Adam Alonzi has made another excellent film about the power of gene therapy.
Narrated and produced by Adam Alonzi. Music arranged by Leslee Frost. Sponsored by BioViva Sciences Inc.
Continue reading “BioViva Presents: Alzheimer’s Disease and Gene Therapy” »
