ericStimmel

forwarding address

2007-10-10T09:40:00.000-04:00

i've closed this blog since it was really a record of my time at cranbrook. you can follow this link to my current contact page and CV. you can also reach me at the contact on this blog, but new post will probably not be coming. perhaps at some point this work will be continued...

a little local press

2006-06-11T15:38:00.000-04:00

from thedetroiter.com

Video Helmet #2

2006-06-02T11:24:00.000-04:00

so i finally posted some pictures of the degree show piece that Andy and i created.
i've been getting some links and inquiries and probably should have coordinated a more thorough description of it to post at the same time.
i will get on that, but in case you think that i've abandoned this blog i'll just give a brief description of the project. more will show up in the next couple of days.

we used a custom built Jitter patch, a piece of software built using Max/MSP + Jitter, to control two cameras, a couple of microphones, and some prerecorded video and audio. this was running on a Mac Mini [ PowerPC version ] with a video helmet [ with video goggles and speakers inside ] as the output. the input, aside from the cameras and mics, are a series of triggers inside the beam that manipulate the input combinations and order. we designed the software to mix the prerecorded audio/video with the live feeds based on where the participant was standing or walking.

some additional notes: my laptop was running Apple Remote Desktop administrator software and the Mac Mini was allowing me to connect to it and control it by connecting through a Belkin wireless router that was hidden in the museum's reception desk. this setup gave us the ability to modify the patch, change the prerecorded source material, record video and audio from the cameras and microphones, and generally touble shoot the entire setup without pulling out a ladder and attaching a keyboard/mouse/monitor to the headless brain concealed in the beam. power was turned off at night so an Automator Workflow was designed to start and stop the application and startup and shutdown the computer each day.

fun at the degree show!

2006-04-29T18:55:00.000-04:00

no new pictures of the work, but there were festivities!

check out more pictures of the show here:
all pieces - except mine i guess
opening
the opening from brice
setup

graduate degree show

2006-04-24T06:05:00.000-04:00

saturday was the opening for the degree show. it was amazing! i know it's pretty much a given that you get to be in the show, but not really coming from a background of showing work in galleries, this was a pretty big deal. andy and i collaborated on a piece that we'll just call 'video helmet #2' and although there was a lot of prep work before the installation began [ fabrication, computer programming, wiring, testing... ] there was also a lot of in-the-museum time too. that was a crazy thing... since so many people had big installations, there was a lot of construction noise and since our 'site' was fairly prominant there was a lot of foot traffic around the project which made it a little difficult to trouble shoot, but i think it was a good experience... at any rate here's a shot of the show, i promise to post more photos later...

a mark of intelligence....

2006-04-07T05:26:00.000-04:00

bruce mau lectured at cranbrook tonight to a packed house. i've never heard him speak before and was pleasantly surprised [ okay i wasn't surprised, but let's just say it was pleasant anyway... ] to find that he was a really intelligent and interesting and well-spoken man. the way he talked about his work, his office, his projects [ pronounced canadian style with a long 'o' ] and his passions really confirmed to me that optimism and passion and enthusiasm are very important characteristics of successful and intelligent people. somehow toronto has moved up a notch or two on my list of future places to live...

anyway, i have this book about pranks and in the back are some quotes that i was reading yesterday and the one that kind of stuck in my head, in fact i almost wrote it down because it kind of struck a chord with me, says "It is a mark of intelligence, no matter what you are doing, to have a good time doing it." i paused on it yesterday because i think it is one of the things i have learned here... not that i didn't really run into it before, just more so here... the people i really respect, that i think are super talented and very smart are also the people who love life. they seem to be having fun when they are working and it's very apparent. so i just wanted to draw that coincidence on digital paper as a reminder to myself.

thinking about...

2006-03-30T03:31:00.000-05:00

...the jig and the very sharp knife metaphor.

the other day we talked about jigs in seminar. it reminded me of the mantra [ i guess ] that i've heard while learning more about unix that it is an operating system made up of very specific programs that are very small and very efficient. this was kind of the way i was interpreting the idea of a jig... not exactly and in fact if i think about it too much i start to lose the analogy, but i guess i just need to write it down to figure it out... and how it relates to what i am doing... because i'm sure it does. i was thinking that as bill turned to me and said it...

this is going to be [ or already is ] rambling and more for me... so bear with me. a jig [ as i've seen them made ] is not a fetishized object while it is being made... it is only romanticized after the fact when it is hung on the wall or photographed or just 'hung onto' because it inspires wonder or curiosity or embodies mechanical beauty. in it's making it is purely and supremely functional. it makes some task easier or possible... it might be for repetitive use or for that one cut that can only be made with a customized setup. it is the 'very sharp knife' ... i think... i thought, as we sat and talked, that it was the thing that was useful for one project or a few projects, but not enough [ or for enough people ] that it could be marketed as a product. it is something that i need... that kind of goes against the VSN analogy... everyone needs a VSN or in unix, awk or sed or whatever... but maybe those are kind of exceptions... they start out as a jig and then get polished and everyone can use them... they can be customized to a certain degree, but really only do one thing.

so, for my work... i sort of feel like patches in jitter are like jigs... and so are the shell scripts that work with my gps and webcam... they are quick and easy [ if you are skilled in the basics - which incidentally i am not, but nevertheless... ] and can be customized to a certain degree... maybe actually, the VSN is just a tool to make the jig... that sounds more reasonable... speaking of jigs and making things, i should be making something right now...

battery power

2006-03-09T00:33:00.000-05:00

so i picked up a battery and hooked it up to the stompbox and it worked... go figure. now there are housing issues to deal with... armatures to design and build... plenty of things to do from now until graduation.

the trailer project published...

2006-03-05T00:54:00.000-05:00

check out this article about shan and the trailer project...
pretty awesome.

more notes on method

2006-03-02T01:48:00.000-05:00

Exifer is a free app for PC that lets you add EXIF data to a JPEG that doesn't have pre-existing EXIF headers... this is good since i need to add a date stamp to that header...

would like to find a OSX/Linux app that does that preferably as a command line tool that is very very small...

so this is what i think has to happen with the webcam images:

take the picture on a schedule [ cron job ] -- check.
rename it to a unique filename [ the date ] -- check.
add EXIF datestamp [ ? ]
add geocode tags to EXIF header [ ? ]
move to remote webserver [ ncftp ] -- check.
display as a pin on a map [ maybe google maps, but i'm flexible ]

other things that need to happen:

draw path on map showing route taken from gps data [ save data to .GPX rather than .XML maybe? and try some other options of overlaying track data... ]

alright... that's enough for this update... time to get back to making this presentable.

SBDrive002 loaded

2006-03-01T01:50:00.000-05:00

okay...
figured out what was wrong [ not really why it was wrong, but what and where it happened ]
i was converting the trackfiles from CetusGPS created on my pda as PDB files to GPX files using GPSBabel on the GPSVisualizer site... unfortunately that changed the timestamps somehow... they showed a different day, i don't know maybe i did something screwy, but i went back to the GPSVisualizer site and used their conversion tool and all was well. files saved as GPX format with the correct date stamps... these photos are actually closer to the exact location than the first set. i logged the points every 2 seconds and the pics are just at random times. i still have a log file from the first drive with tracks logged every second... i should re encode those images and see how the map reads then because some of those images are far from correctly tagged.
still working on the webcam pics... need to figure out how to automatically add EXIF dates...

in the meantime check out the pics

see my previous email about adding the GMIF functionality to firefox in order to view the mapped locations of each photo in the set.

latest setup

2006-02-28T22:02:00.000-05:00

some shots of the last drive's setup... no geocoded pics yet. still having some issues... see the previous post.

SBDrive002

2006-02-28T06:37:00.000-05:00

notes to explain later...

drive used Palm Tungsten T3 with Holux GM-210 serial gps running CetusGPS software
downloaded track.pdb files from pda with HotSync Manager
tried converting *.pdb files to *.gpx files with TrackData but it wouldn't load in WWMX LS
converted *.pdb files to *.gpx files with GPSBabel thru the GPSVisualizer site [ web based converter ]
also downloaded google earth *.kml files from this site [ remember to upload them for public viewing ]
inserted *.gpx files into WWMX Location Stamper [ working on a pc since mac hdd failed ]
locations don't line up... ugh.
trying to figure out the issues... time differences? something off in the time stamps...
also... the pics from the dlink webcam don't have EXIF data... that means the geocoding isn't going to work straight away...
must be some way to take the date stamp in the filename and put it in the EXIF data... figure out how.

webcam is live!

2006-02-23T00:58:00.000-05:00

finally i got the webcam to do what i want. sort of... but pretty much, it's working. here's the link so you can check out my studio while things are active. don't complain too much though if it doens't update correctly because i'm still tinkering with the whole thing... oh, and it says the image updates every 30 seconds, but really it just refreshes every 30 seconds... the image is new every 2 minutes. i've got to learn a little more javascripting to fix that one...

but the real coup of the day was getting my shell script to rename and ftp the images so that i can build an archive of images rather than just view the current image and have that written over each time. i think it still needs work, but it seems to be going pretty solid... since about noon anyway. that's all for now.

St. Aubin and Gratiot

2006-02-22T00:23:00.000-05:00

i've started to field test my mapping/photography project even though it isn't completely functional [ by that i mean there's some manual set up required on my part and on the part of you, the viewer ]...

briefly, this is what i've done... i've taken the stompbox out on the road with a gps attached to it... i connected to that box with my laptop [ mac powerbook 12" osx 10.4.4 ] wirelessly... i ran two scripts [ both perl, both running on my laptop ] to log gps points... one logged the points automatically each second to a file locally [ on my laptop ] and the other logged points remotely [ to a file on my web server ] each time i ran the script. this dual logging is a result of not being able to get either one to do both things i wanted simultaneously... nor was i able to get either to run on the stompbox itself. ideally, the script would run on the stompbox [ therefore not requiring my presense or a second computer. it would log location [ as well as time, altitude, velocity ] at even increments to a remote XML file on my web server... at any rate this is what i've got working so far...

so... here's what you have to do... view these images using firefox 1.5 or higher, install the greasemonkey extension [ you'll have to restart firefox ] and load the GMiF script [ right click on the link on that page and select install user script ] and then when you view this image in flickr you will get a new button above the image at the right side that says Gmap... click that and the images will load on a map right in flickr [ thus, GMiF or Google Maps in Flickr ].

some of the other steps i needed to work out to make this work were to add the longitude and latitude data to the photos... for this i used GPSPhotoLinker to write to the EXIF meta data of each photo... this is okay for the above solution because GMiF reads EXIF data, but other flickr/gmap hacks do not... they read IPTC meta data which is also converted into tags in flickr, so there may be a more elegant solution to this that doesn't require the viewer to install anything... i'll be looking into this.

i'm also not convinced that all the locations are in the correct places, but i have some solutions in the works for refining that information as well... in the meantime, this is as good as it gets... enjoy.

YMCA Creative Seating

2006-02-03T19:57:00.000-05:00

here's a brief update on the YMCA bench project that andy and i installed right before the christmas break. check it out at this page and check out all the benches for the Y here.

new blogs

2006-02-02T02:16:00.000-05:00

so you might notice that i've added two blog links to the 'architecture studio links' since marty and dharmesh have joined us this semester. check out what they are doing [ well, maybe give them a few days to get some actual work posted... assuming they actually do post something which has been a major hurdle for many of the students here... but to each his or her own ]

as for me, i had a major breakthrough yesterday [ or was it the day before ] when i actually got my script to do it's job and append a line of data to a remote file. you might be saying 'what the heck does that mean?' and you'll have to just trust me that it's important and wait to see it actually working. i've had to take a short break from that in order to complete a few other projects that are hanging over my head... not the least of which is an artist statement and some images of my work for the grad book... i'm a little behind on that one and it's past due. time for a snack and a coffee and another long night. actually i've been on the night schedule lately... it screws around with your head a little, but i can't seem to get back on a normal schedule.

slightly more promising update

2006-01-26T06:45:00.000-05:00

alright, so here's a picture for you... something close to what's supposed to happen. this is actual data [ looks like one point, but actually there are four, i'm just not moving... ] logged to an xml file from a perl script and displayed overlayed onto google maps....

okay, it's not all working... i had to run the script and log the data on my laptop then upload that file to my server and then it loads on my webpage... but basically all i need to do now is get that script to run on the stompbox [ connecting to the gps locally ] then write that to a local xml file which is accessed by the server [ not ideal ] or write that data to an xml file on my server which the webpage loads locally... this seems better because it will still be there when the gps is not reporting. otherwise no location data will load when the gps is down.

anyway, i should have this thing working in the next couple days... for real this time.

mediocre update

2006-01-25T21:39:00.000-05:00

so, i just realized [ actually i've just come to terms with this... i've know for some time - perhaps since christmas vacation was over ] that i haven't posted anything here at all for nearly a month and i haven't posted anything describing my work for much longer.

unfortunately i don't have much to show today either, but i will make a few notes that will remind me where i am and how far i have to go.

with regard to the gps tracking project i have been struggling with, i've learned some things... a little perl programming, a little php programming, more linux commands, vi editing, pico editing and file system understanding, and that i am going to have to set up my own server if i ever want to make a socket connection over the internet. i worked with the people at fatcow [ my own web host, with whom i generally have very few complaints ] to get this going and finally got the email saying that they do not allow socket programming for security reasons... it is disabled in the php installation on the server [ even though it says it's not ].... strike one. then i tried dreamhost [ one of my friends has some server space he gave me access to ] but they don't have sockets enabled either [ at least they make it more clear ] strike two. the next day i am pointed to some instructions on how to set up my own install of php on a dreamhost account [ wow, now i can enable sockets! ] so i install it [ this wasn't too hard, but it was a long process ] voila! ... wrong, it still doesn't work.... spend the next day discovering that the extensions library called by my installation is shared and thus disabled for security reasons... strike three.

next step, take the old computer in the lab and build a linux server... set it up at dharmesh's house and run from there. shouldn't be a problem... just do it.

actually that isn't the next step... the next step is to try running a perl gps logger [ which i have ] on the gps box and logging the data either remotely or locally, then pulling that data into the php google maps page on my fatcow server.... no socket connection, just multiple, accessible served files... maybe? i'll keep you posted.

meanwhile here are a couple pictures from our recent trip to las vegas and the hoover dam for the world of concrete convention. enjoy!

update on recent successes....

2005-12-23T15:05:00.000-05:00

fixed one of the big problems i was having with the computer configuration.... changed the /etc/resolv.conf to reflect my wireless nic ip address... the default was set to something else. anyway, this fixed the dynamic dns auto-update [ hooray! ] and it also made gpsd start on boot, which was on my list to fix, but i didn't really think this would solve that problem [ bonus ].

i really need to take some pictures of this... maybe later today.

semester break

2005-12-19T21:58:00.000-05:00

semester break is here... that means the thesis is looming. i'll give this some thought in the next couple weeks and post here...

frustration

2005-12-15T03:23:00.000-05:00

so i spent the last 6 hours trying to get the computer to auto-update it's ip address... with no luck. what now.

testing some video

2005-12-14T19:39:00.000-05:00

okay, i've made some headway on the stompbox. i'll go into that soon enough... actually i'd like to get a few other things figured out here tonight before i spend time writing about it.

however, i've been talking to shan [ one of the metals students taking an elective in architecture this semester ] about projecting a time delayed video on the underside of the trailer.... the idea is to mount a small webcam to the back of the trailer that will record to some [ possibly remote ] location and then when it stops, that video will be played back and projected onto the modified underside of the trailer... so, things to figure out:

--how to record video to a local or preferably offsite location at a managable size [ test resolution and frame rate as well as different codecs... ]
--how to access that video when the vehicle stops...
--probably some other things too...

in the meantime, here's a test video [ via YouTube because i've heard that it's better to vlog ]

struggling

2005-12-03T23:42:00.000-05:00

well... there's a bit of a steep road ahead here. with regard to the part of our group project that i am focusing on, that little part that i proposed which seemed so attainable now is becoming more difficult with each passing day...

since my last post which was [ ouch ] november 16th. almost three weeks ago... anyway, since then i have changed my plan. i'm using a soekris net4521 [ basically a linux router ] which was a project i first heard about from a colleague and then found in issue 03 of make magazine... anyway, i am working to build it as described in that project [ see stompboxnetworks ] before making a few small modifications to it. you can see a picture of the box below

it runs on a customized distribution of pebble linux, a small version of debian [ very small actually... it runs on a 128MB compact flash card ] so here's what i've done so far and a couple notes about what i still need to do:

-bought almost everything [ still waiting on the wifi card, but this isn't critical for my application ]
-set up the verizon wireless card and checked connection on a PC laptop
-installed the USB card and verizon wireless card
-installed and configured [ via hyperteminal on a pc ] the OS on a 128MB CF card [ i'd like to figure out how to do this with a mac... been trying using Zterm, but i have to go from USB to a null modem cable and i'm not really sure that works to begin with... anyway, i can't get into the machine via my mac yet ]
-partitioned a 1GB CF card with the OS on the first partition. i'd like to get this configured so that i have some storage on the card for pictures.
-set up a webpage with the php script i found in the forums but still need to set up mysql and get the thing tuned to my particular devices, file locations, addresses....
-i'd like to try to get some video out of this box to show a slide show on the vehicle... nothing too demanding, but this would require some tricky maneuvering and some luck.

thats about all i have right now... off to try to see if i can get the gps unit to show a location.

trailer mods...

2005-11-16T05:04:00.000-05:00

so, severe trailer modifications have happened while i was away in california for the weekend... i'd love to show you some pictures of it, but i believe we have agreed to a period of 'image silence' that will extend for a month or so... finally i got to do some actual work on this project today... some grinding, a little welding [ very little ] and some discussions and mock-ups of a skin...

over the weekend [ aside from seeing my friend in his first play 'marat sade' ] i spent some 30-40 hours trying desperately to get gpsdrive to run on my mac laptop... apparently it can be done, but i was unsuccessful. i've gotten gpsd running [ actually i think i had it running sometime last year ] but now it is not being recognized by some other software that i was playing around with... so i am back to square one on this one... i think i will try again to install this stuff on a linux machine... i've got pclinuxos installed currently, but i'm thinking a debian distro might work better... maybe knoppix... but i'll try pclinux first... i've been stalled on that for a little while because i don't have a network card in the x86 laptop i am working with... but a pcmcia ethernet card can't be too expensive right?

now to get some sleep... crits tomorrow morning... laser cutter demo tomorrow afternoon... work and perhaps a lecture tomorrow night.

gpsd

2005-11-10T16:31:00.000-05:00

okay... i'm struggling to get some gps tracking capabilities up and running... i've decided that i need to get it running on my mac before i focus on the linux system that i hope to get into the trailer. for the simple reason that i don't really know what i am doing with linux and the laptop i am working with is slightly dismantled right now... if i can get it running on a stable, solid OSX platform, i'm sure i can make the next step. besides i am learning a lot about the command line... and getting to drink coffee at java hut. more to come once i get things going...

right now i am trying to install gpsd and all the support infrastructure that that needs... then to gpsdrive and getting the gpslogger working. should be completely functional by this weekend.

NEW FROM NOW ON

2005-11-09T22:29:00.000-05:00

ahh.... just finished re-posting all my old posts [ finally! ]... now i can focus on getting something new on this blog.

the dawning of a new era [orig. posted 2005.09.29 at 08:17 PM]

2005-11-09T22:27:00.000-05:00

alright... i've started encouraging others in the studio to start posting to the blogs again so i guess i should take my own advise.

since my studio work has been overshadowed a bit by some summer work lingering a little bit longer that perhaps it should, i'll just make a note here that this year marks the beginning of a new era for Cranbrook. Bill Massie is now the architect-in-residence and with that comes some, hopefully, welcome shifts in the way the department will operate and direct it's attention. along with the oft mentioned new equipment that has come to our department [ laser cutter(s), cnc router, plasma cutter... ] there is a new energy and a focus on ways of making that speak more directly to the technologies of design.

i am excited to get working on our group project [ which i will post more about later ] and also excited to dive into the seminar for which we just received our readings [ the journal Log vol.5 spr/sum 2005 ]

CAID Holy Sit! Opening [orig. posted 2005.04.10 at 06:44 PM]

2005-11-09T22:12:00.000-05:00

below are a few images of the chair show opening at the CAID from last night... my camera takes pretty poor images, but i'm sure someone else will post some others that are a little better quality... i thought it was a pretty good turnout and a good show... hopefully some people will sell their work.

assisted speaking devices review [orig. posted 2005.04.10 at 06:35 PM]

2005-11-09T22:06:00.000-05:00

i sort of forgot i was going to post this... but then again, i just got the text version of it the other day. jessica and i had our assisted speaking devices project critiqued in the 2D Design department a couple of days before it was critiqued in the Architecture dept. the attached pdf is the review of this project that was prepared by andrew mackie. just as a background, the crit process in 2D [and some other departments] is slightly different than ours. in 2D the artist [in this case jessica and me] install their work the day before the review and another student [in this case andrew mackie] views it and writes a review. the following day, during the critique, that student distributes copies of the review to all the other students and presents that review... the artist remains silent and the critique proceeds on the merit of the work with the starting point being the individual review... this goes on for some time and only then does the artist present his/her [our] statement and open up a shorter dialogue to cover things that were not discussed or questions that were not addressed...

anyways, below is andrew's review and a link to our statement which was posted previously.

Download Andrew Mackie's Review.pdf
Download Eric and Jessica's Statement.pdf

post review [orig. posted 2005.04.07 at 12:09 AM]

2005-11-09T21:58:00.000-05:00

well... second semester reviews are over... i still have to gather my thoughts on them and i'll try to post the important ones here. i was a little surprised at how non-crit like they were, but then i was reminded that they are reviews and not critiques... still i was expecting something a little different than what i got. at the same time i got some good comments and suggestions for my ever expanding reading list... more to come, but here are a couple shots of the studio... much of the work is still digital... so i will try to post some things later.

2nd semester reviews... [orig. posted 2005.04.02 at 04:07 PM]

2005-11-09T21:29:00.000-05:00

second semester reviews are monday [for our department]... i have some serious studio cleaning to do today...

writing desk photo shoot [orig. posted 2005.03.31 at 07:18 AM]

2005-11-09T21:19:00.000-05:00

a couple of the students set up a photo shoot of all the chairs in the show... these are a couple shots of my chair. these show the attached book rack on the side as well as some more uncluttered views of the entire piece... once i clean up some of the welds and the sloppy finish work i might get around to posting some detail shots. maybe...

some titles and topics to follow up on... [orig. posted 2005.03.29 at 04:28 AM]

2005-11-09T21:15:00.000-05:00

i'm thinking about methods of representation and ways of communicating information... sort of along the lines of architectural drawings, but also instruction manuals, 'how-to' guides, instructional diagrams... that kind of thing. with that in mind, i've been looking at a few things and asking a few people for sources. here are some of those things for future research, reading, and perusing...

Chris Ware [cartoons and diagrams of cut-out, fold and assemble 'things']
Architectural Synaesthesia by Marco Frascari [a 'good intro to thinking about how we draw']
Architectural Representation and the Perspective Hinge by Alberto Perez-Gomez [studio reading list last year...]
“The Space of Architecture: Meaning as Presence and Representation.” from Questions of Perception: Phenomenology of Architecture. Architecture and Urbanism. Stephen Holl, Juhani Pallasmaa Alberto Pérez-Gómez. July 1994, Special issue. by Alberto Perez-Gomez
Make Magazine published by O'Reilly [exciting new 'mook' about making things]
ReadyMade Magazine [oddly enough, i have never read this mag, but it sounds like i should look into it...]
How to Make a Contact Mic [a site i learned something from recently... might as well give credit]
Digital Ground by Malcolm McCullough [not necessarily related, but sounds good and relevant to my current interests...]

thick steel... [orig. posted 2005.03.27 at 07:37 PM]

2005-11-09T21:11:00.000-05:00

here are a couple other shots of me working the steel writing surface for my writing desk... the table i am working on is 1/2" plate steel [about 5' square] with a pretty heavy steel frame. i moved it several feet hammering the 'wrinkle' into my piece of steel...

left-handed writing desk [orig. posted 2005.03.27 at 06:15 PM]

2005-11-09T20:50:00.000-05:00

as you may know the architecture department hosts a chair show each year... this year it will be taking place at the CAID in Detroit on April 9 from 6-11pm. you can find out more information on this at the CAID website [specifically for our show entitled Holy Sit!]

as a preview of this show, we hosted a Forum Gallery show on campus with it's reception last friday night to a large turnout and rave reviews [as they say]... but it was certainly a good show. anyways, back to my work... here are a couple process shots of my writing desk. i intend this to be one of a series of three chairs. they are found chairs that don't provide a level of functionality needed to warrant keeping them. i intend to add that functionality. the first is a left-handed writing desk. i'll get some more finished photos up here when i can, but here are some shots of the chair without the book rack on the side and of the rack being bent. both the writing surface and the book rack are approx. 1/4" thick mild steel. the frame is 3/4" angle iron and the clips are 3/4" x 1/8" flat bar. i cut, bent, welded, and otherwise fabricated all the pieces from stock material. the finish is Jax Black, but i am not quite satisfied with it and may be revisiting that this week.

NEW

2005-10-26T21:46:00.000-04:00

okay... so i've gotten bored with the 'migrating posts from my old typepad blog' tedium... i'll try to get it done at some point, but i want to start posting about what i am working on right now... of course i don't think i can get into it any detail at the moment [ at least not with any images ] due to lack of sleep and subsequent lack of focus.

i will, however, give a brief description of the trajectory of my work. so here goes...

i finished out the year last spring working with gps mapping. i made a quick test using a holux gm-210 usb gps puck and a piece of open source software called kismac. this is a mac application developed, i believe, from a linux application called kismet; the program is designed primarily as a wifi stumbler, but it has a secondary feature used to map paths and mark wifi APs using data from an attached gps receiver. since i knew very little about gps mapping at that point i just used this to record my path as i walked and drove around campus. i was able to save the paths as vectors and tried to underlay a map of the area... it didn't line up very well [ probably my fault ] so i adjusted things in illustrator a bit... [ maybe i can find the direct import image and post it to flickr sometime ] so this really is kind of faked... here's a detail. there are a couple others on my flickr site [ just click the image ]

so, back to this year... we are working on a project that will travel the country later this year... it's unofficially [ and rather uninspired-ly ] called 'the trailer project' and is probably explained in more detail on some of the other students' blogs [ check out doug's for example ]. but quickly it's a 45 foot long, retired flatbed trailer that we will 'chop' and have towed to a number of schools and institutions across the country. my contribution to this will be an adaptation of an un-realized project i was working on last year [ the where's eric project ]. i will place a computer on the bed of the trailer, hook up an internet connection via a cel phone, connect a gps, add a number of cameras and track the thing along it's journey... auto posting this information to a website and recording in onboard.

whew... that's kind of intimidating me now... it seems like a lot of work, but i think i have my head around most of it... each component will have to be hacked or chopped to some degree in order to bend them to my will. i've succeeded on several accounts so far all of which i will dedicate some space to explaining at a later date. stay tuned...

assisted speaking devices [orig. posted 2005.03.22 at 12:21 AM]

2005-10-24T00:00:00.000-04:00

so i know that i have been slow to post images of this, my most recent collaboration... and i don't see much of a chance of formatting images and posting in the next couple of days, so i will just start out with a teaser [well, i think it pretty much covers the final, working view] and will get into the technical details a little later. there are many details and working shots i would like to show and some links to where i learned about some of the things i used as well as a sort of 'how-to' manual that will show how it all came together... that will probably be a little later though since i am planning to modify some of the inner workings. at any rate, here are a couple shots... [apologies to those who have already and only seen these shots... patience is a virtue]

view my statement here: Download speaking_devsmall.pdf

**small, but important note... i worked on this project with jessica frelinghuysen who is pictured in the second image above..

preliminary bench design [orig. posted 2005.02.27 at 06:50 PM]

2005-10-23T23:45:00.000-04:00

as an upcoming project, Andy and i will be developing a design and a system for constructing a thin-walled concrete bench with a wood back support. here are a few images of our brainstorming session last night.

Dive Into Repetition [ends...] [orig. posted 2005.01.31 at 01:01 AM]

2005-10-23T23:39:00.000-04:00

well... a week ago last friday was the official closing of the week long Dive Into Repetition forum gallery show. you can see the poster here and i've added a photo album on the sidebar [or click here] that shows a couple shots from my piece [a collaboration with ben teague from ceramics and andy weitnauer from architecture]... there may be more photos of the show on some of the other blogs... [the other architecture students participating in the show were dharmesh patel, jeff sturges, marty mcelveen, paul puzzello, and mikolaj szoska]

you can also see some of the progress photos in the previous posts and in this photo album [Ceramics Collaboration]

i also had a crit on this project last friday and some pictures of the installation in the architecture studio are shown in the photo album with gallery show. as always there is the possibility of this project being resurrected again at a later date, but for now it is completed. we produced 60 bricks [30 each of the two shapes] using the cardboard forms and two glazes [it's kind of amazing the variation we got from the red glaze].

the question of tolerance and precision came up before, during, and after my crit and i think it is central to my work... stay tuned for further developments and formulations of this idea and how it will be explored.

further updates... [orig. posted 2005.01.20 at 07:01 PM]

2005-10-17T00:29:00.000-04:00

i will give a further breakdown of the process, quantity, loss ratio, etc soon. but in the meantime, here are some photos of the bricks in the molds, out of the molds [wet], out of the molds [dry] and in the kiln... unfortunately this kiln didn't fire the first night so we had to move to a larger kiln the next day which did fire. i don't have pictures of the fired bricks yet, but they look similar, just more red. ben is glazing the first batch tonight and firing them again in time to get them into the show [about 20-30] and putting another batch of about 12-15 in to be fired for the first time. these will also go in the show, but unglazed.

progress pictures [orig. posted 2005.01.16 at 12:12 AM]

2005-10-16T23:46:00.000-04:00

the Brick Project [orig. posted 2005.01.15 at 10:05 PM]

2005-10-16T23:32:00.000-04:00

last thursday it was suggested to me that i attack my current project singularly rather than split time with other projects... this is difficult but, i think, good advice and i will try to heed it.

with that in mind i have been trying to finish the groundwork for the brick project in time to have some work for the upcoming forum gallery show this coming friday. i've taken the laser cut cardboard forms that i made at bill massie's studio last semester and have been coating them with a two-part resin epoxy (by West System) so that ben and i can use them as molds for hand packing clay and producing our bricks.

this process seems to work on the 1/8" cardboard molds where the corrugation runs perpendicular to the base, but the edges have proven a bit more difficult allowing the epoxy to flow thru the corrugations... i am currently experimenting with filling those openings with wood filler before applying the epoxy resin. this same problem might crop up in the 1/16" cardboard molds as well because the corrugations run vertically on those pieces... although they are smaller which might hold the epoxy long enough for it to cure.

when i find a camera around here i will post some progress shots... until then, back to work!

semester recap [orig. posted 2005.01.09 at 04:40 AM]

2005-10-16T23:29:00.000-04:00

documentation of the previous semester's projects will be coming to this blog soon enough [well, that's the plan anyways] but in the meantime here is a brief recap of what i did and what i plan to do...

Forum Gallery Group Show - Platform

the team consisted of me, ed liang, maryam kaykavoosi, and robert brooks. we built a relatively modular plywood platform in and outside the forum gallery that addressed the nature of site specificity.

Dive Into Repetition - Hanging Bricks

the team for this project is me, andy weitnauer, and ben teague. this project is still in progress and it's completion [in time for an upcoming gallery show] will be my first task.

Fanfare Video/Audio Manipulation

the team for this project was me, andy weitnauer, and ed liang. in preparation for the event our studio held a 3-day charette with two former graduates and gustavo crembil [the AIR at the time]. we positioned a wireless camera outside the building along with a microphone. both were aimed at the street. we projected the live video feed onto the wall in the fanfare dining area [aka the woodshop] in the hope that the headlights on the passing cars would illuminate the candlelit room. we took the ambient traffic noise and processed it through ableton live and broadcast it into the space as well in the hope that it would provide a coreographed soundtrack to the lighting change. although this project was fairly unsuccessful, i believe it was due to technical difficulties attributable to the short time frame and would like to revisit it at a later date.

Omnipotent Vision - Quadrastatic

the team for this project was me and andy weitnauer. this project involved the construction of a video helmet equiped with a video monitor and wireless receiver. the gallery show was a immersive experience that led an individual along a path through the gallery with only stationary camera angles to guide them. at the end of the path they were asked to write their name on the wall which triggered a prerecorded, bluescreen video to be overlayed onto the live video feed in the helmet. this was accomplished by the use of a patch i wrote with Max/MSP + Jitter. This project endured some technical difficulties as well and should probably be renamed Duostatic, but again, i plan to revisit some of the ideas at a later date.

Massie Architecture Charette - Laser Cut Cardboard

i was part of a group of four students [including marty mcelveen, dharmesh patel, jeff sturges, and myself] who travelled to bill massie's studio in troy, ny for a weeklong experiment in 3D modeling and physical modeling with laser cut cardboard.

Studio/Personal Surveillance - The 'Where's Eric?' Project

this project is something that i will work on primarily myself. i have only begun to set this up with a wireless camera mounted to the truss above my studio. i plan to explore the possibilities and consequences of video tracking and monitoring and instantaneous global/local positioning. however, at present i have drifted a little onto a tangent involving the distortions of the video cameras i am working with.

New Studios Building Courtyard Intervention

jessica frelinghuysen and i are planning to complete an audio intervention in the new studios building courtyard in response to a project proposed by martin schwartz and bill massie. there isn't much resolved about this project yet. stay tuned.

so that's a brief recap and some prospects for the coming semester. i hope to get a more detailed description of some of these projects up in the coming days as well as some images and diagrams.

update... [orig. posted 2004.12.11 at 09:04 PM]

2005-10-16T23:15:00.000-04:00

some long overdue images (not such great quality, but that's all i have at the moment) of some of what we are working on here (these are not all my projects)... and we did find a little time to do some sightseeing in albany at empire plaza...

lasers and cardboard [orig. posted 2004.12.09 at 05:32 PM]

2005-10-16T22:24:00.000-04:00

on tuesday morning of this week dharmesh, marty, jeff and i drove from detroit to troy, new york for a sort of workshop at bill massie's office. we have been able to work at his office for the past two days (and nights) and will be here until sometime on sunday. we've been learning rhino and how to operate the laser cutter. i just uploaded a couple shots of bill's studio (it is very big - it's the entire building in the second shot) and the first floor is dedicated to a large CNC router, a 4'x8' laser cutter, and various other tools and materials not usually found in an architecture office). i will try to post some photos of what we are working on in the next day or so, but i've got a lot of work to do right now...

day of reckoning [orig. posted 2004.11.23 at 08:33 PM]

2005-10-16T11:33:00.000-04:00

the unveiling of Omnipotent Vision: Quadrastatic is tomorrow... it will be located in the architecture studio (not the forum gallery as previously indicated) and will be from 6-8pm... be there. i will post images and a full description of the project after the show... in the meantime here is the flyer.

**REVISED LOCATION - FORUM GALLERY

Ceramics Collaboration [orig. posted 2004.11.21 at 04:03 PM]

2005-10-16T11:28:00.000-04:00

andy and ben (ceramics) and i are working on a collaborative project to make a flexible linking brick that can both stack and hang. we developed the concept and the design several weeks ago. our initial fabrication method was to extrude the section and then lay them on a wood block to shape them into the hooked final form. then they would dry, be fired, then glazed and fired again. i have put up a photo album of the extruder plates and our first attempt.

to make a long story short... we exploded our two plates (they were made mostly of plywood) and will be abandoning the extrusion method for a packed form method.

video helmet prototype [ orig. posted 2004.11.15 at 06:36 PM ]

2005-10-16T11:17:00.000-04:00

andy and i are working on a project called omnipotent vision. it involves a video helmet (which you can see here in it's first rendition) with a video screen attached to the front. a wireless receiver is attached to the top and a wireless camera is mounted to the wall surveillance camera style. the helmet restricts your vision to the fixed viewpoint of the surveillance camera effectively limiting your (visually) accessible world to a very small area. it also affects depth perception and orientation and forces the viewer to rely on the apparent truth of the 'live' video he/she is watching. this is the area we have chosen to exploit. with the use of Jitter (a software environment for working with live video processing) and a lot of modified electronics we hope to be able to create an immersive (though unnatural) experience that challenges the truth of live surveillance and is entertaining as well.

re-posts

2005-10-16T09:41:00.000-04:00

okay... i looked back at my beginning posts and there is some junk there so i won't repost everything... just those related to my work.

new blogs...

2005-10-16T08:44:00.000-04:00

so this is the first post on the new studio blog...
i'll be transferring my previous posts over virtually unedited.
only then will i begin to post regularly.
hopefully it will be regularly.
here's a picture to kick things off...

that's thomas
and the trailer [ more on that later ]