http://www.digitalcoleman.com digitalcoleman.com Thu, 19 Jan 2012 05:43:28 +0000 http://www.digitalcoleman.com en http://digitalcoleman.com/Links http://digitalcoleman.com/following/digitalcoleman.com/Links Thu, 19 Jan 2012 05:43:28 +0000 digitalcoleman.com 1689473 Personal Projects http://digitalcoleman.blogspot.com/ - Collection of my open source files and notes http://www.maxuino.org/ - OpenSource project for connecting Max/MSP/Jitter to Firmata/Arduinos http://co-lab.info/ - CO-LAB is an initiative bringing together interdisciplinary makers and thinkers to create conversational bridges. http://thew3fi.com/ - The W3FI is a social movement, a philosophy, a path to responsible connectivity between our online/offline lives and to each other. http://mysite.du.edu/~ccolem22/ - Teaching website for University of Denver Friends and Collaborators http://lalehmehran.com/ - Laleh Mehran http://michaelasalter.com/ - Michael Salter http://www.justinnovak.com/ - Justin Novak http://alimomeni.net/ - Ali Momeni http://digitalcoleman.com/CV http://digitalcoleman.com/following/digitalcoleman.com/CV Thu, 19 Jan 2012 05:43:27 +0000 digitalcoleman.com 678169 Bio Christopher Coleman received his BFA in his native state from West Virginia University in 2001 and his MFA from New York State University at Buffalo in 2003. A number of his undergraduate years were devoted to studying Mechanical Engineering, knowledge that he brings to bear in his installations. His work includes sculptures, performances and videos as well as interactive installations. Coleman was twice a participant in the VIPER Basel Festival in Switzerland and has had his work in exhibitions in Singapore, Finland, Sweden, Italy, Germany, France, China, the UK, Latvia and 14 other countries. Domestically his work has been shown at more than 40 events and festivals, Spaces Gallery in Cleveland, the Albright Knox in Buffalo NY, and the Boulder Museum of Contemporary Art to name a few. In 2009 he received the Metropolis Art Prize Grand Prize and had his work featured in Times Square NYC. His software project (in collaboration with Ali Momeni) called Maxuino has been downloaded by 20,000 by people in 110 countries and is used in classrooms and artworks across the globe. He currently resides in Denver, CO and is an Associate Professor at the University of Denver. CV 2012 Download a PDF http://digitalcoleman.com/Writing http://digitalcoleman.com/following/digitalcoleman.com/Writing Thu, 19 Jan 2012 05:43:25 +0000 digitalcoleman.com 1689428 Writing Digital to Analog Piracy Revolution aka Plastic Piracy I became a new kind of Pirate today. While combing my daily blogs, I saw a great idea. It was a small, simple but clever iphone stand for supporting the iphone in vertical or horizontal position. It costs 7£ and shipped from the UK (for an additional cost). The cost is quite reasonable, but I hate the thought of the fuel and time it takes for this item to be shipped to me, not to mention the cost already spent making the lump of plastic in China and shipping it to the UK. So I printed my own and was using it less than 2 hours later. No Iʼm not on the deck of the Enterprise, nor at MITʼs advanced fabrication lab; I am sitting in my basement in Denver Colorado. For Valentineʼs Day my wife and I bought and built a Makerbot Cupcake 3D Printer. Twenty hours of assembly left us with the ability to print nearly anything we want out of plastic for around $800. The open source community has provided a simple platform and software to allow anyone interested to design in the digital world and have it become reality minutes later. This has changed my understanding of the information revolution and the transfer of tangible goods. Already we have moved to pure digital transfer and ownership in the realms of software, games, and music. Money too has become less tangible. Amazon and other book sellers have shifted to printing on demand, the book being a collection of information that need not be printed by the thousands, only to have a large percentage sent back from book stores to be recycled. Of course our ebook readers might change even this economy. But we still move vast amounts of plastic and steel for all of our other consumer goods around the world, burning fuel because it costs less than labor. This requires mass production to work, leaving the consumer with fewer choices because millions need to be made and sold to make a profit. I have little doubt that the inventor of the iPhone stand had to order up at least ten thousand of these stands just to get someone to manufacture it. The material costs are less than 20 cents but the machine setup is 100,000 times that. Having a 3D printer changes the economy entirely. My iPhone is in a case, and so I need a different slot size. Five minutes of adjustment and I have customized the design to work for me. I don't need to wait and hope someone makes 10,000 copies of a stand the will work for me, nor do I need to give up my preferred case; nearly instant consumer gratification. I have just what I need, still less than a dollarʼs worth of plastic, with no wasted material and no transport costs. The future lies in selling files of objects; I would have gladly paid the creator $3 for his file and idea if that was an option. Instead I spent half an hour taking measurements and studying the images on his website to decipher the essence of his idea and “steal it.” Even though the cost of this printer is less than a fourth of mass produced printers, at this rate it will still take quite a bit of production for it to pay for itself. It is small and portable so that I can take it with me to a friends house for a printing party, in trade the print limited in size to 4 inches by 4 inches by 6 inches. I also needed some level of comfort with electronics and mechanical things, along with basic knowledge of manipulating things in 3D space (I use the opensource 3D software Blander for all of my creations). However the tools associated with the printer are becoming easier to use every day; everyone in the community is working together to make upgrades for the printer, to make the software more user friendly, and trading files (thingaverse.com) of great and useful things ready to print. In the meantime I can create what I need and have it ready in just a couple hours, all without leaving the house. Things like a plastic eyepatch, and a parrot....with three legs. http://digitalcoleman.com/Reborn http://digitalcoleman.com/following/digitalcoleman.com/Reborn Thu, 19 Jan 2012 05:43:23 +0000 digitalcoleman.com 377343 Reborn Excerpt from 3 channel A/V performance. Collaboration with George Cicci, 1998 A early work originally performed with a live audio track and projected onto three separate screens. Exploring ideas of life conflicting with technology and control. http://digitalcoleman.com/Language http://digitalcoleman.com/following/digitalcoleman.com/Language Thu, 19 Jan 2012 05:43:22 +0000 digitalcoleman.com 377340 Language Video, 2001 An early video piece exploring editing and language. Thanks to Takamitsu Kawai for his footage and inspiration. http://digitalcoleman.com/Breaths-of-Baudrillard http://digitalcoleman.com/following/digitalcoleman.com/Breaths-of-Baudrillard Thu, 19 Jan 2012 05:43:21 +0000 digitalcoleman.com 377336 Breaths of Baudrillard Video, 2004 A reaction piece to "Collusion," this short video uses an hour long lecture on Baudrillard as the source. Many thanks to Gary Nickard for the performance. http://digitalcoleman.com/Shear http://digitalcoleman.com/following/digitalcoleman.com/Shear Thu, 19 Jan 2012 05:43:20 +0000 digitalcoleman.com 377330 Shear Collaboration with George Cicci, 2000. In a cell of an old Mental Institution located in West Virginia lay a puzzle. The unfinished puzzle depicted a perfect yard in front of a perfect house... http://digitalcoleman.com/Scape http://digitalcoleman.com/following/digitalcoleman.com/Scape Thu, 19 Jan 2012 05:43:19 +0000 digitalcoleman.com 377292 Scape Collaboration with George Cicci, 2001. Scape. Here the balance between predator and prey is essential. We are drawn to the light in the distance, but one cannot avoid the dangers of the never-ending exploration and expansion. Hand drawn animation, video, and computer-generated imagery are combined in this experimental work dealing with progress, existence and confrontation. Collaboration with George Cicci made in 2001. This is the first time landscapes begin to appear in my work, but there are no actual landscapes, only false, generated spaces that can go on forever without repeating. At several points in the video the viewer can see underneath the paper thin shell of the landscape, further breaking the illusion. Scape was a true collaboration between Cicci and I, as his audio inspired my video and in turn the images I made would further inspire his audio. The work went through numerous revisions and re-envisioning in an attempt to reach a full and equal relationship between the audio and video. George Cicci and I worked closely together for nearly 6 years creating numerous videos and even touring as an audio/visual performance group across New York, Connecticut, Pennsylvania and West Virginia. http://digitalcoleman.com/Collusion http://digitalcoleman.com/following/digitalcoleman.com/Collusion Thu, 19 Jan 2012 05:43:18 +0000 digitalcoleman.com 377269 Collusion excerpt from 20min. looping video installation with sound design by George Cicci, 2002. In Collusion, large amounts of smoke are drawn from the sky followed by a pause and small release before another inhalation begins. The sounds of machinery quickly take on a natural cadence that compels the viewer to breath with the factory. Just when all the smoke seems to have been withdrawn, more materializes from the blue sky in a never-ending deluge. Collusion was filmed in Buffalo New York from the top of the City Hall in 2003. The remains of a once bustling american shipping and manufacturing hub radiate outward from the abandoned port nearby. It was easy to locate survivors as they continued to vent into the sky. Collusion consists of a full wall projection of industrial expulsions that have been time-manipulated so that the vents seem to be sucking in the smoke in rhythmic breaths. As an enveloping installation, a connection is quickly made between the breathing of the viewer and the piece. It speaks not only of hope and hopelessness but control and our own complicity in what is happening to the world around us. Every smokestack evokes disdain from the spectator, but we must understand that that smoke is the result of producing the things we use every day, from our clothes to our food. Sound Design by George Cicci. http://digitalcoleman.com/Spatiodynamic http://digitalcoleman.com/following/digitalcoleman.com/Spatiodynamic Thu, 19 Jan 2012 05:43:17 +0000 digitalcoleman.com 657883 Spatiodynamic 2003 Spatiodynamic is a kinetic installation where a myriad of perspectives bring new understanding about the illusory landscapes presented to us. They are no longer of indeterminable size, no longer extend into infinity where new resources and discoveries lie waiting to be claimed. It is limited space, controlled and manipulated. It is a Cartesian grid where digital binary information uses the chaotic nature of air to transfer the information into an organically/naturally shaped surface. In Spatiodynamic, the viewer is first confronted with a small screen inset into the gallery wall. On the screen there is a land/seascape of indeterminable size that either seems to be approaching the viewer or the viewer is flying forward over it. Then proceeding around a corner, the machinations of the image are revealed. A large grid-work platform twenty-one feet long and ten feet wide is suspended four feet above the floor. The surface of the platform has been covered loosely with a sheet of thin plastic. Formations in the plastic are rising, falling and moving from one end of the platform to the other where a camera sits gathering the real-time video for the small screen. The formations are caused by a grid-work of two hundred and twenty 4-inch computer fans blowing upwards from under the plastic. Upon further investigation the viewer can see a second screen with another live feed from a second hidden camera looking at people moving through the original space with the small inset screen and how their position and motion determines the formations of the land/seascapes through on and off operation of the fans. It is important that there be a separation between the space where the machine makes the image, and the space where the viewer affects the machine. Unlike the usual mode of experience, the viewer is allowed to see how the illusion is made and how they participate in that illusion. If there is no one to watch the illusion, then the machine goes still.