Artweeks - showcasing the hackspace to the public
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Neil C Smith
Apr 6, 2014, 6:58:31 PM4/6/14
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Hi All,
As many of you already know, we're opening the hackspace as part of
Oxfordshire Artweeks in May. Artweeks is the UK's first and largest
open studios festival, with over 400 exhibitions of artists and
makers. It's a great chance to promote who we are and what we do to a
wider public.
As well as having some of our normal opening hours open to the public,
OVADA have offered us use of the main warehouse space for a period of
4-5 days during the Artweeks festival. So, this is kicking off a
thread to ask are we definitely up for this, when do we want to do it,
and what do we want to fill the space with?
The likely dates are covering the final bank holiday weekend in May,
22nd-26th. Alternatives available are 8th-11th and 15th-18th. We
need to confirm with OVADA ASAP. My inclination talking to a few
people is the bank holiday weekend, but if you have a burning desire
to show / work on something and can't make those dates, speak up now!
The other thing we need to get discussing is what we want to do. Some
people (not me) seem to have promised banana-controlled projections
and a singing staircase! :-) Others have mentioned creating a Rube
Goldberg machine (I'd prefer a Heath Robinson contraption!) More
generally we should have a range of things for people to see and for
people to get their hands dirty. We could also have talks, demos or
workshops - some things that only happen on one or two days is fine;
and at the last social night we talked about the possibility of a
performance night given a few of us have a liking for creating bleepy
noises. I will say no more at this stage - pitch your ideas below.
And if you would like to be part of a small group to make this happen
(who will in no uncertain terms not in any way be referred to as
another blasted commitee! :-) ) please speak up here too.
Artweeks website links - http://www.artweeks.org -
http://www.artweeks.org/festival/2014/oxford-hackspace
I look forward to hearing from you ... yes, YOU!
Best wishes,
Neil
--
Neil C Smith
Artist : Technologist : Adviser
http://neilcsmith.net
Praxis LIVE - open-source intermedia development - www.praxislive.org
Digital Prisoners - interactive spaces and projections -
www.digitalprisoners.co.uk
As many of you already know, we're opening the hackspace as part of
Oxfordshire Artweeks in May. Artweeks is the UK's first and largest
open studios festival, with over 400 exhibitions of artists and
makers. It's a great chance to promote who we are and what we do to a
wider public.
As well as having some of our normal opening hours open to the public,
OVADA have offered us use of the main warehouse space for a period of
4-5 days during the Artweeks festival. So, this is kicking off a
thread to ask are we definitely up for this, when do we want to do it,
and what do we want to fill the space with?
The likely dates are covering the final bank holiday weekend in May,
22nd-26th. Alternatives available are 8th-11th and 15th-18th. We
need to confirm with OVADA ASAP. My inclination talking to a few
people is the bank holiday weekend, but if you have a burning desire
to show / work on something and can't make those dates, speak up now!
The other thing we need to get discussing is what we want to do. Some
people (not me) seem to have promised banana-controlled projections
and a singing staircase! :-) Others have mentioned creating a Rube
Goldberg machine (I'd prefer a Heath Robinson contraption!) More
generally we should have a range of things for people to see and for
people to get their hands dirty. We could also have talks, demos or
workshops - some things that only happen on one or two days is fine;
and at the last social night we talked about the possibility of a
performance night given a few of us have a liking for creating bleepy
noises. I will say no more at this stage - pitch your ideas below.
And if you would like to be part of a small group to make this happen
(who will in no uncertain terms not in any way be referred to as
another blasted commitee! :-) ) please speak up here too.
Artweeks website links - http://www.artweeks.org -
http://www.artweeks.org/festival/2014/oxford-hackspace
I look forward to hearing from you ... yes, YOU!
Best wishes,
Neil
--
Neil C Smith
Artist : Technologist : Adviser
http://neilcsmith.net
Praxis LIVE - open-source intermedia development - www.praxislive.org
Digital Prisoners - interactive spaces and projections -
www.digitalprisoners.co.uk
Matt Ellen
Apr 17, 2014, 4:18:53 AM4/17/14
to oxford-h...@googlegroups.com
So, regarding a Rube Goldberg machine...
I was thinking about it and a friend of mine suggested that people could make bits and try to fit them together. This sounds like a plausible plan.
What if it was a mainly digital thing?
Each person would create a thing which would affect the audience in some way (visually, auditorily, etc.), but which would also give some signal out that one or more of the other things would pick up (could be anything, but mainly I'm thinking some digital artefact transmitted across the network) and the receivers would in some way react to that output to change how they are affecting the audience and what they are outputting to their receivers.
I think there would need to be at least five things to make it interesting, maybe fewer would work. I'm not sure.
While creators wouldn't need to collaborate on the implementation of their things, they would need to publish the formats of their messages, so that the other creators can listen out for them. This would need to be done first, before anything else.
I am up for making part of this, hence why I suggested it.
I was thinking about it and a friend of mine suggested that people could make bits and try to fit them together. This sounds like a plausible plan.
What if it was a mainly digital thing?
Each person would create a thing which would affect the audience in some way (visually, auditorily, etc.), but which would also give some signal out that one or more of the other things would pick up (could be anything, but mainly I'm thinking some digital artefact transmitted across the network) and the receivers would in some way react to that output to change how they are affecting the audience and what they are outputting to their receivers.
I think there would need to be at least five things to make it interesting, maybe fewer would work. I'm not sure.
While creators wouldn't need to collaborate on the implementation of their things, they would need to publish the formats of their messages, so that the other creators can listen out for them. This would need to be done first, before anything else.
I am up for making part of this, hence why I suggested it.
iamthespaceinvader .
Apr 17, 2014, 4:40:13 AM4/17/14
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I'd be happy to attempt putting together some small physical object(s), noisemaker or the like - but it's beyond my current skills to make things network-controlled and -controlling, I'm afraid - if someone else were able to attach the requisite motors, receivers and switches etc I think I could contribute.
I do like the idea of a remotely connected rube goldberg machine distributed around the warehouse, though - something where you could use any one part of the machine and it would send remote signals out to the whole rest of the parts across the warehouse and make a sequence of sounds and lights. Maybe a set of harmonising noisemakers controlled randomly, so that you'd get a different sequence of actions each time which wouldn't be discordant?Phil
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Tim Stephens
Apr 17, 2014, 4:42:24 AM4/17/14
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On Thu, Apr 17, 2014 at 01:18:53AM -0700, Matt Ellen wrote:
> So, regarding a Rube Goldberg machine...
>
> I was thinking about it and a friend of mine suggested that people could
> make bits and try to fit them together. This sounds like a plausible plan.
>
> What if it was a mainly digital thing?
Interesting. I wonder if we could combine real, physical things with a digital signal. Perhaps some sort of spinning mechanism to produce a signal or something like that.
> So, regarding a Rube Goldberg machine...
>
> I was thinking about it and a friend of mine suggested that people could
> make bits and try to fit them together. This sounds like a plausible plan.
>
> What if it was a mainly digital thing?
I'm actually messing around with using a pair of Arduinos to capture sound, transmit it digitally and then reproduce it. Hopefully I can spend some time on it over the weekend to actually get it behaving (it's very early stage at the moment). Would that be a useful building block for one of the bits (if it works?)
I'd also quite like to have a go at making a (small) trebuchet to launch things across the room -- perhaps it could launch a squash ball or something similarly small and light at a target to trigger another step?
> --
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Jane Charlesworth
Apr 17, 2014, 4:47:12 AM4/17/14
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this sounds like a neat idea. I am not sure how capable I am of helping, but I would like to if possible.
will you be along tonight, Matt? Perhaps we can all chat?
will you be along tonight, Matt? Perhaps we can all chat?
iamthespaceinvader .
Apr 17, 2014, 5:01:26 AM4/17/14
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How small is small? Because that trebuchet concept sounds like great fun.
I've an appointment at 7 tonight but I'll try to pop by the space beforehand.Phil
Lauren Hutchinson
Apr 17, 2014, 5:17:01 AM4/17/14
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Sounds like fun. There would need to be mild trolling-like abilities for this to be the most fun I think... the way it's implemented would depend on the system we choose.
So for example a multi-orchestral beatboxing machine is going in the main room, adding everyone's personal sounds from all over the warehouse, and it's beautiful and hypnotizing, and the more "parts" (individual voices/instruments) that join, the crazier the projected fractal on the wall grows until it starts pulsing and dancing its tendrils itself. Except that there's also a passing-wind sound device somewhere in the building and sometimes people find it and then you hear "noooo!" from the main room. But still, the really talented can manage to integrate that too into beautiful music.
So for example a multi-orchestral beatboxing machine is going in the main room, adding everyone's personal sounds from all over the warehouse, and it's beautiful and hypnotizing, and the more "parts" (individual voices/instruments) that join, the crazier the projected fractal on the wall grows until it starts pulsing and dancing its tendrils itself. Except that there's also a passing-wind sound device somewhere in the building and sometimes people find it and then you hear "noooo!" from the main room. But still, the really talented can manage to integrate that too into beautiful music.
Perhaps there are bonuses for working together with others to record a part--singing, or all clapping together, or drumming at the same time. The more people cooperate, the happier the fractal gets and their contribution takes some kind of primary role in the music.
Perhaps individual sounds are linked to actions of other networked devices around as well. Hit a D and all the RC cars start driving in loops until someone finds an A to make them go to sleep again, or do something really special and the 3D printer (or tesla coil) starts to sing your chorus because it likes you. That would make me smile too ;) You'd get children and adults standing in front of the printer singing/drumming to it, trying to get it to take up their melody.
*snort* Ok so I realize this is a flight of fancy and perhaps I am too easily amused, but we should insist on great whimsy like this. ;)
L
Nathan Bentall
Apr 17, 2014, 5:23:57 AM4/17/14
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Some random ideas, standing very much on Matt's shoulders, and not
necessarily with any implied commitment to execute on my part...!:
What about making the viewers have to do something to make the next thing happen and making that the focus? so the viewer was always an integral part of each piece of the machine where each 'station' would, once activated, indicate that attention was needed at that station? Each 'station' could have a red light on it which indicates 'attention required'. 'Attention' might be to make some kind of input, as simple as pressing a button, or as complex as whistling a tune from a musical score, or typing in a message or command heard/seen/felt by some means? The 'messages' between the 'stations' could be very simple to reduce the system complexity.
radom ideas:
1) a 'whisper' station - using a parabolic dish/amplifier, a message could be heard from a distant, quiet loudspeaker (that could not be heard without the dish) and typed in to activate the next item/send the next message.
2) a 'whistle a tune' station, where a musical score is presented, a microphone, and the viewer has to whistle a simple tune ( maybe with a 'cheat sheet' on the back for those who are strangers to the musical stave - migh need a guide pitch too!) - or perhaps more simply, a tuning fork or even a piano keyboard?
3) rhythm station where you have to tap a rhything out?
4) some kind of two-person thing, maybe with the
Not sure about the messages themselves, but that could be a logic/voltage signal down some wire. So the interfaces would be quite simple (a wire) but the actions required would be the complex part - woiuld help keep the inter-station system/message/interaction part simple (and could even have a 'cheat' button on each thing if it didn't work!)
just ideas...
What about making the viewers have to do something to make the next thing happen and making that the focus? so the viewer was always an integral part of each piece of the machine where each 'station' would, once activated, indicate that attention was needed at that station? Each 'station' could have a red light on it which indicates 'attention required'. 'Attention' might be to make some kind of input, as simple as pressing a button, or as complex as whistling a tune from a musical score, or typing in a message or command heard/seen/felt by some means? The 'messages' between the 'stations' could be very simple to reduce the system complexity.
radom ideas:
1) a 'whisper' station - using a parabolic dish/amplifier, a message could be heard from a distant, quiet loudspeaker (that could not be heard without the dish) and typed in to activate the next item/send the next message.
2) a 'whistle a tune' station, where a musical score is presented, a microphone, and the viewer has to whistle a simple tune ( maybe with a 'cheat sheet' on the back for those who are strangers to the musical stave - migh need a guide pitch too!) - or perhaps more simply, a tuning fork or even a piano keyboard?
3) rhythm station where you have to tap a rhything out?
4) some kind of two-person thing, maybe with the
Not sure about the messages themselves, but that could be a logic/voltage signal down some wire. So the interfaces would be quite simple (a wire) but the actions required would be the complex part - woiuld help keep the inter-station system/message/interaction part simple (and could even have a 'cheat' button on each thing if it didn't work!)
just ideas...
--
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-- Nathan Bentall +44 (0)7976 619756 •-• •- -•• •• -••- ••--- R A D I X 2 •-• •- -•• •• -••- ••---
Nathan Bentall
Apr 17, 2014, 5:49:54 AM4/17/14
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On the interactive vocal type tip below, I have some vocal
pitch/intensity tracking software I wrote once - it works real-time
from a mic input and sends estimates of pitch and intesity over IP
packets (UDP, IIRC). Windows only, though - so would need a windows
PC somewhere with an asio sound card - can probably provide
something, though might need a fairly quick PC. Could be used to
control things - a sung-pitch controlled robot or something?
On 17/04/2014 10:17, Lauren Hutchinson
wrote:
Sounds like fun. There would need to be mild trolling-like abilities for this to be the most fun I think... the way it's implemented would depend on the system we choose.
So for example a multi-orchestral beatboxing machine is going in the main room, adding everyone's personal sounds from all over the warehouse, and it's beautiful and hypnotizing, and the more "parts" (individual voices/instruments) that join, the crazier the projected fractal on the wall grows until it starts pulsing and dancing its tendrils itself. Except that there's also a passing-wind sound device somewhere in the building and sometimes people find it and then you hear "noooo!" from the main room. But still, the really talented can manage to integrate that too into beautiful music.
Is this conjecture or a plan?
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Matt Ellen
Apr 17, 2014, 6:20:07 AM4/17/14
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Excellent. These all sound great. The more ideas the better!
If the thing someone wants to make for this doesn't produce network traffic, that's OK. So long as its output interacts with someone else's thing (e.g. noise to mic, light to camera) which eventually enters the digital side of things, then it's all good.
I will be along tonight. I look forward to coming up with collaborations.
If the thing someone wants to make for this doesn't produce network traffic, that's OK. So long as its output interacts with someone else's thing (e.g. noise to mic, light to camera) which eventually enters the digital side of things, then it's all good.
I will be along tonight. I look forward to coming up with collaborations.
Matt Ellen
Apr 17, 2014, 6:23:04 AM4/17/14
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Of course if someone who is making something not related to the RGM makes output, we could sneakily pipe that in too :D
iamthespaceinvader .
Apr 17, 2014, 6:39:04 AM4/17/14
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I wonder what the chances are of getting hold of a gong or cymbal. Playing one of those with a trebuchet launching a squash ball controlled by an actuator across the room triggered by someone whilstling seems pretty appropriate.
--
Glyn Kennington
Apr 17, 2014, 8:45:28 AM4/17/14
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Nathan Bentall wrote:
> On the interactive vocal type tip below, I have some vocal
> pitch/intensity tracking software I wrote once - it works real-time
> from a mic input and sends estimates of pitch and intesity over IP
> packets (UDP, IIRC). Windows only, though - so would need a windows
> PC somewhere with an asio sound card - can probably provide
> something, though might need a fairly quick PC. Could be used to
> control things - a sung-pitch controlled robot or something?
I like combining this with your whistle-the-tune-to-proceed idea :-)
> On the interactive vocal type tip below, I have some vocal
> pitch/intensity tracking software I wrote once - it works real-time
> from a mic input and sends estimates of pitch and intesity over IP
> packets (UDP, IIRC). Windows only, though - so would need a windows
> PC somewhere with an asio sound card - can probably provide
> something, though might need a fairly quick PC. Could be used to
> control things - a sung-pitch controlled robot or something?
I've had real-time pitch-recognition working on linux with minimal
fiddling, using the Vamps system[1]. I only got as far as it sending
the frequencies to stdout while I tuned up, but from that stage it's
just a matter of pipes to feed it into network packets, screensavers or
some custom I/O library.
Glyn
[1] http://www.vamp-plugins.org/
Neil C Smith
Apr 17, 2014, 10:10:03 AM4/17/14
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Hi,
Great to see some discussion finally kicking off!
On 17 April 2014 09:18, Matt Ellen <matthe...@googlemail.com> wrote:
> So, regarding a Rube Goldberg machine...
I'm still pushing for Heath Robinson contraption - let's show some
mild patriotism! :-)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/W._Heath_Robinson
Incidentally, I hadn't realised it was used as the (nick)name for one
of the early machines at Bletchley Park.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heath_Robinson_%28codebreaking_machine%29
Makes me wonder about linking simple code breaking puzzles into this
in terms of triggering things???
> While creators wouldn't need to collaborate on the implementation of their
> things, they would need to publish the formats of their messages, so that
> the other creators can listen out for them. This would need to be done
> first, before anything else.
I'd suggest something around OSC - officially Open Sound Control,
though sometimes referred to as Open System Control -
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Open_Sound_Control
Lots of libraries for pretty much anything, including Arduinos, etc.
Hopefully continue some discussion tonight.
Great to see some discussion finally kicking off!
On 17 April 2014 09:18, Matt Ellen <matthe...@googlemail.com> wrote:
> So, regarding a Rube Goldberg machine...
mild patriotism! :-)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/W._Heath_Robinson
Incidentally, I hadn't realised it was used as the (nick)name for one
of the early machines at Bletchley Park.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heath_Robinson_%28codebreaking_machine%29
Makes me wonder about linking simple code breaking puzzles into this
in terms of triggering things???
> While creators wouldn't need to collaborate on the implementation of their
> things, they would need to publish the formats of their messages, so that
> the other creators can listen out for them. This would need to be done
> first, before anything else.
though sometimes referred to as Open System Control -
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Open_Sound_Control
Lots of libraries for pretty much anything, including Arduinos, etc.
Hopefully continue some discussion tonight.
David Owen
Apr 17, 2014, 1:21:58 PM4/17/14
to oxford-h...@googlegroups.com
One of my housemates has got a smallish gong that we could probably
borrow. Let me know if it proves necessary!
borrow. Let me know if it proves necessary!
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