Sep 13 2011

Cory Arcangel’s Pro Tools

I went to see the exhibition just before the last day. So I want to shared some photos for some of you that miss to go there!



            

In my opinion, the most interesting part of these series of work. Is how the artist combine the scene of art and technology history together. Using dead-tech/low-tech objects/programs as a ‘readymade‘. And push the idea of exploring interaction between human and these objects further in unconventional ways.

The brochure of the exhibition is very well-informed, And you can download it online too! Here’s the link.

Sep 12 2011

Updated Map and Assignment One

To date the useful things I have gathered on various trash runs include an epson photo quality printer, an oil lamp, poster tubes, a router, and a laptop mouse. Located below is a link to a map of my neighborhood and the locations of good trash areas or areas that I found the above material. So far for assignment one we have taken apart the printer I found, and a computer monitor, along with a typewriter and plan to use those materials to create the Rube Goldberg machine. Today while walking through Williamsburg I also found the router and laptop mouse which I plan to bring in on Tuesday.

http://maps.google.com/maps/ms?msid=201482271488995173974.0004acb383f07bbd13545&msa=0&ll=40.706799,-73.943009&spn=0.0176,0.027595

Devon

Sep 11 2011

Assignment #1: Rube Goldberg Machine

Team:
Larry Baker
Parinot Kunakornwong
Marisela Riveros
Mark Schindel

DAY 1

We pulled apart most of the e-junk we had. One of the printers still worked and had movement so we decided to use it for our machine.

MATERIALS:
Guitar Hero
Digital Video Recorder
2 printers (new and old)
Internet router

After putting everything apart, this is what we have available and that is usable:

1 printer has slide/drop motion
Older printer not working, still not broken down.
1 motor from digi recorder hard drive
1 fan
1 touch sensor
1 lever
1 clicker

Here’s a video inspecting the newer printer prior to decide if we use it or not

Pictures:

Scrapyard Challenge Project 1 – Day 1

DAY 2

We watch the “This too shall pass” music video to draw inspiration and decided on what our part of the machine would do.
We finished pulling apart the devices we had, including the old printer.
The old printer doesn’t work, so from there we got the pieces to make the input for the machine. From the wireless router we got the antenna that holds the guitar hero leveler. We glued in part of the guitar hero’s neck to the printer’s cartridge holder so it can hit it once the printer is on.

Here’s a video of the motion and more pictures!

Scrapyard Challenge Project 1- Day 2

DAY 3
Our team grew!
Today we welcomed in our team Devon and Wen

We worked on a second switch and improved our current output.
The output built from the router antenna and guitar leveler was getting stuck in one of the guitar neck’s uneven shape so we taped it up to make it smooth. The new switch was built from the second metal hooked taken from the old printer and another router antenna. We attached a wire to the new switch hook and output antenna so it makes a connection after the first movement is completed.

DAY 4
We worked on building a second output. We tried using the daisy wheel but the shape and materials we had available were not the right fit to make it spin. Instead we connected the Digital Video Recorder fan to the second switch.
See the machine in action! Here’s a video of our complete Rube Goldberg Machine device!

Day 4
Our team change one more time! We continue working on our device and decided to add a car!

Day 5
We encounter some issues with the 9v battery and decided to use a PC power supply. We finished the car and added a ring of fire!
Here’s the video, watch very closely it goes by super fast!

Sep 09 2011

Rube Goldberg Recyclism Machine Example

This is an example of a rube goldberg project conneting multiple recycled objects together:

ReFunct Media v2.0 @ruared from recyclism on Vimeo.

Sep 08 2011

Augmented Reality Performance

This isn’t directly related to our class, but for the person who expressed an interest in Augmented Reality  (Was it Thor?) Here’s the link to the Manifest.AR projects taking place at the Dumbo Arts Festival Sept. 23-25. Check it out: http://bit.ly/ouUfbE

Sep 07 2011

scrapyard challenge #1 E-Junk

View No Scarpyard in 86th street in a larger map

 

I went along the 86th street for twice, where I am living in. First time, it was a Wednesday morning , no interesting, I saw a trash-man dealing with the junk stuff near by, and went to ask him where the nearest scrapyard was, he replied” half an hour to drive there”, then, I felt desperate till Monday night, I walked around after dinner, and surprised to find the big tv set on road, and I kept walking and found a blender then.

All I want to say that 86th street in Brooklyn is bad for scrapyard.

 

 

 

 

 

Sep 06 2011

Trash Map

I live in Park Slope. Land of the stroller.

I really love the vibe here, but our little neighborhood does more or less have a bedtime of 11pm. In my strolls around the block I didn’t find one bit of electronics to scavenge. Basically all of the side streets have very neatly arranged garbage cans behind the little fence on the stoop. The avenues have a fair amount of business and shops to explore so anything of note that I found was along those. I made a little Google map which shows all of my findings.

I was really hoping to find some little kids toys with some speakers to rip out, or maybe some creepy old moving dolls, but unfortunately nothing came up. I’m sure stuff like that will be thrown out, it’s just a matter of being able to see it without just jumping on people’s stoops and digging through all their trash cans. (The main trash days are Monday and Thursday and recycling on Monday)

 

Sep 06 2011

Reading Response

Lessons from the Scrapyard

If I had known 15 years ago I would be reading an article in grad school that referenced both Legos and the movie Sneakers I think my head would have exploded. Both very near and dear to my childhood heart. I was too busy wasting my allowance on Star Wars action figures to buy any of the Mindstorm sets Lego had, but I always remember being fascinated by anything buildable and electronic like that. And Sneakers was a large part of why I started getting into the geekier side of computers.

It’s really inspiring to see some of the projects listed in the reading, especially knowing they didn’t have any background in how circuits work. I’ve done a fair amount of soldering and ripping apart little toy keyboards, but I regretfully know very little about capacitors and all that. There’s something fascinating about just being able to make something with basically no knowledge, but I’m stuck feeling that these projects will always feel half done to me. There’s a level of satisfaction of having built something like what the reading showed, but I think I’ll leave class wanting to make it more functional, a more complete “product”. I think that impulse goes somewhat against what the class is really about though, so it will be interesting to try and just come up with as many ideas as quickly as possible, rather than slaving over one thing.

7 Overrated Technologies and Their Underrated Low-Tech Alternatives

I’ve never really considered myself as someone particularly concerned about the environment. I don’t lose sleep over having thrown away one plastic bottle, but naturally if there’s a way for me to recycle it I will look for it. I understand the importance of it, and that its a global mindset that we have to have to make changes, but I must confess I can get annoyed at people that make it their life’s goal to convince everyone they are more ‘green’ than anyone else. Reading the article was encouraging because it tore away that veil of pretense and gave some really simple ways to be honestly conscious of the environment. It takes more than just reading some posters and doing what they say, it takes some digging to see what actually saves resources, and sometimes those ways are older and simpler than we think. One of the points I was particularly interested in was the idea of actually going to libraries. New York has so many options it would be a huge shame to not take advantage of that mine of resource.

Sep 06 2011

Reading Response

A couple of the high-tech solutions with low-tech alternatives sort of gave me a slap in the face. The library is a wealth of knowledge and answers but most of us take it for granted. When it comes to general readings we tend to turn to bookshops and grabbing new books off the shelves.  Why pay for something when it’s available for free? For answers we turn to the Internet. The reason I think that people don’t go to libraries for answers anymore is because they love instant access/solutions. The Internet is also free and you are able to find an answer close to what you will get from a book in the library minus the travelling/searching/reading/picking. You are however less likely to find answers with proper credentials with the existence of sources like Wiki. The search is also a nightmare if you don’t have the exact keywords.

Another low-tech alternative to an overrated technology that I personally relate to is the E-Cigarette.  It functions as an alternative to real cigarettes that diffuses smoke and gives you an illusion of smoking but doesn’t actually contain any nicotine. The ultimate solution is to never start smoking or simply quit. The majority of its users use it as a tool to slowly ease into their long hauled battle against nicotine addiction but what will ultimately stop the addiction is their willpower. I have used E-Cigarettes but I somehow find chewing gum and adhering to the already-strict-smoke-ban better solutions.

Sep 06 2011

Scavenging Adventures Epi 1

So I had the opportunity to explore two areas of Manhattan, the Upper West and K-Town, as I had to move twice within a week (urgh). I went scavenging alone (in daytime) the first round and my housemate wanted to join the second time (at night).

1) Upper West
Prior to moving into my permanent long-term apartment I lived in a hotel apartment. I sat out for a stroll rather than a serious scavenge to bring something home, as I will be moving again very shortly. So I went for a nice long morning walk at 8am around my hotel just to see what people might throw out. It turned out that residents in the area were very giving and threw out perfectly functional & near perfect (big pieces of) furniture. Not much electronics though. I was tempted to take several pieces only if I had a trolley.

Garbage Truck Collection: Tues, Thurs & Sat
Exploration Hours: Wed 8 – 10 pm
Exploration Field: See Map
Mostly Dumped: Furniture & general garbage
Game: Nada

 

 

 

 

 

2) K-Town
I was finally moved into my permanent pad on Thursday and went for a serious run on Friday. I was hoping to find something to bring to class as well as for our new apartment. I was a little disappointed at the variety of waste on the streets but I assume it had a lot to do with the time we went & it wasn’t much of a residential area.  We were actually “racing” against a couple of garbage trucks at the time. I did however manage to score a fully intact PC outside of a hotel.

Garbage Truck Collection: Mon, Wed & Fri
Exploration Hours: Friday night
Exploration Field: See Map
Mostly Dumped: Cardboard boxes & general garbage
Game: Old PC (HP Pavilion 750n) & huge whiteboard

 

 

 

 

 

 

3) Surprise Find – The Basement
Whilst disposing my Ikea boxes I found this little slice of heaven right down the basement of my apartment. The basement was a wealth of recyclables. There were all sorts of goodies and they were sorted and had a designated area. It’s definitely going on my list of mandatory visits on trash runs.

There was an old HP printer but we had to get permission from the management to take that so didn’t bother.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

   
Our arch rivals                  First attemp in taking a computer apart