Thesis Completed

After a series of wonderfully meaty and complimentary reviews this past weekend and a document submittal this afternoon, my thesis is complete!  For those of you keeping up with this blog I will keep the content currently available here, however new posts regarding these topics will be folded in to my personal blog.  Look for an increased frequency of posts now that my life is mine again!  For this last post, I present a photostream documenting portions of my final presentation board.  Check it out!

Does Vision Have a Maximum FPS?

In the course of building the Frameless Movie Machine, I've been asked many times about the difference between a frame-based cinematic experience and human vision.  This article at 100fps provides a clear and succinct description of some of the peculiarities of trying to measure vision by this standard.

Castellum Umbrarum

This article from BLDGBLOG describes a 15th century cinematic design.  Venetian engineer Giovanni Fontana envisioned an immersive shadowbox, clad in translucent panels displaying the moving silhouettes of beasts and devils.

Movie Bar Code

Moviebarcode presents an interesting way of looking at film; the color of each moment compressed into a vertical spectrum providing a chromatic impression of each film. The above image is a compression of Terminator 2.

Frameless Movie Machine

I Finished the Frameless Movie Machine!  It turned out well and had a number of interesting and unforeseen effects.  Check out more pictures and a video of the machine in operation after the jump.

Midterm Review Video

Made it through the thesis studio midterm review! This is a compilation of the videos I presented. They were very well received, although apparently I took a bigger chance than I realized by using an unorthodox presentation technique. My continuing incomprehension with the prevailing styles of this school alternately helps me or bites me in the rear, with no way to tell which outcome is impending.

Augmented Gaming

This sort of DIY augmented reality is my favorite kind.  Technological progress has shot ahead of executed potential, and it's going to take a lot of creative leaps to understand the possibility and accessibility of these hybridized new technologies.

Facial Symmetry

I recall a study from a few years ago suggesting that Miss America pageant winners have above average symmetry in their faces.  Does that mean that this art piece by Julian Wolkenstein presents our most attractive possible selves?

2011

As I develop my thesis project more specifically in the coming year, watch this blog for design and experimental progress, in addition to continuing posts related to the subject of extra-dimensional architecture.

In the interests of cross-promotion, if you've found this blog you may also be interested in these two:

TSA Thesis Research  -  This is the online component of the Tulane Thesis Research Salon of which I've been a part throughout the last semester.

HatEric  -  This is my personal blog, which contains basically anything on the interwebs I find interesting enough to repost.

Six Flags New Orleans

In the interest of continuing the study of architectural decay as a temporal indicator (and because I wanted to check it out), I recently visited Six Flags New Orleans, closed since 2005.

Six Flags New Orleans Photographs

Augmented Reality Test

This video is a quick test of an augmented reality SketchUp plugin I've been working with.  It looks pretty cool, but unfortunately the plugin is prohibitively limited in its options.

50 Square Meters of the Public Space

Czech art group EPOS257 recently appropriated 50 square meters of a public square by erecting a fence around it.  The completely unauthorized installation stood unmolested for 54 days.

EPOS257 Official Page

Joy

The Joy Theater, opened in 1947 and closed in 2003, is the site (including the parking lot next door) that is going to be the subject of my thesis project.

Joy Theater Site Photographs

Thesis Summation

Click on image to view full size.  This comic pretty well sums up how I feel about the experimental portions of my thesis work.

Comic from Wondermark

Cinemas in New Orleans

I created this video using a combination of stop-motion techniques.  The visible surface is a sheet pinned to a wall.  The date is a transparency taped to the wall, manually changed using a dry-erase marker.  The dots are stickers added and removed at the appropriate dates.  The maps are transparencies, projected onto the sheet with an old overhead projector.  The sound effects I made with my mouth.

Discourse on the Method of Rightly Conducting the Reason, and Seeking Truth in the Sciences

If you're going to do research on the nature of consciousness and perception of reality, you've got to check in with the foundations.  This is the full text of Discourse on the Method of Rightly Conducting the Reason, and Seeking Truth in the Sciences by Rene Descartes.

Discourse on the Method of Rightly Conducting the Reason, and Seeking Truth in the Sciences by Rene Descartes from Project Gutenberg

Carnovsky's RGB Wallpaper

This wallpaper presents a different set of images depending on the color of light reflected off of it.

Carnovsky's RGB Wallpaper at Creative Review

Daniele Del Nero

For his series After Effects, artist Daniele Del Nero creates architectural scale models and causes mold to grow upon them.  It's an interesting method of appreciating decay.

Daniele Del Nero Official Website

City of Holes

This article presents new images and video from the laser scanning project in the caves of Nottingham.

City of Holes at BLDGBLOG

I have to wonder what their response is to the new Xbox system Kinect, which retails for approximately $150 and has already been cracked for open source programmers.  Watch the video below for an explanation - the fun visuals start at 0:40.

Subjective Time

This article from io9 presents a clear and scientific explanation of some aspects of the subjectivity of the perception of time.

'How do you really know what time it is?' from Io9

Thesis Intro

As an exercise in procrastination I made an old film style title screen for the presentation of thesis site and program.

Marathon Timelapse

The New York MTA created this video of the 2010 marathon, compressed to under two minutes.

Robonaut

This robot, or robonaut, is scheduled to fly to the International Space Station on the next Shuttle mission.  Maybe not strictly related to the core issues explored in this blog, but seriously cool anyway.



NASA Robonaut Official Site

Charlie Chaplin's Time Traveller

Could it be?  In a (cut) segment from Chaplin's film The Circus a woman appears to be talking on a cell phone.  Realistically there must be a simple explanation, however Chaplin was an enigmatic character that experimented with the mutability of time, both visually and conceptually, in his films.

The work of François Delarozière is an incredible mix of architecture, machine and magic.

Article on François Delarozière at The Telegraph

I Want to See What You See

While searching for information to support my theories on the idea of a 'loved machine' I found this curious article on the anthropomorphization of robots.

'I want to see what you see: Babies treat "social robots" as sentient beings' from The University of Washington News

Pumpkin Seed Oil

Apparently, pumpkin seed oil is one of the most dichromatic substances in the world.

Pumpkin Seed Oil at Io9

Diminished Reality

This video provides a new and mildly disturbing take on augmented reality; software that can visually remove items from existence.

Google's Time Test

In 2007, Google tested a theory by slowing some of their search responses between 100 and 400 milliseconds (a tenth of a second and slightly less than half a second).  During the experiment, use of the search engine dropped by 0.2 to 0.6 percent on average, worsening as the experiment went on.  The percentage 0.6 translates to approximately $900 million in advertising revenue.

'Google's Speed Need' at SFGate

Duchamp's Readymades?

Rhonda Shearer's text on the work of Marcel Duchamp is a great read, and introduces the (well researched) hypothesis that his Readymades were in fact unique creations, creating a previously undiscovered layer to the meaning of the artworks, equal in whimsy to their initial artistic statement.

Rhonda Shearer Article Part I

Rhonda Shearer Article Part II

Our Old Home

Midway through Our Old Home: A Series of English Sketches, a curious little memoir by Nathaniel Hawthorne, is an account of 'déjà visité'.  Déjà visité is the feeling of having visited a place before.

Our Old Home: A Series of English Sketches by Nathaniel Hawthorne

Read the passage after the break.

Availability Heuristic

The 'availability heuristic', is the use of memory as a predictor of events, and may in part explain the disproportionate attention paid to unusual events by (for example) the media.

Availability Heuristic at Wikipedia

The Vision Machine

Below is a link to the full text of The Vision Machine by Paul Virilio, a philosophical exploration of perception and the photograph.

The Vision Machine by Paul Virilio

[Note:  Links to PDF file.]

3D Projection with Coordinated Light on a 3D Surface

This is one of the most enchanting examples of augmented reality as a projected surface that has yet been created.

Noemie Goudal

In the series Island, artist and photographer Noemie Goudal mixes theatricality with lonely dissociation to create arresting images.

Noemie Goudal Official Website

Finlandia

This blog post from Dan Hill on the Finlandia concert hall designed by Aalvar Aalto is an insightful look into the beauty of architectural aging.

'Finlandia' on City of Sound

Synchronicity

Synchronicity is defined as the experience of two or more events that are apparently causally unrelated occurring together in a meaningful manner.

Synchronicity at Wikipedia

The Romantic Moment

I came across this great interview with John Searle while looking for support of my hypothesis of the 'romantic moment', that time when a decision (including the lack of a decision) is yet to be made and all possibilities are open.  The name 'romantic moment' comes from the idea that a romantic gesture is most effective when executed simultaneously with its formulation.  The 'romantic moment' is the quantum grace in which that choice is made.

This hypothesis seems to hold some similarity to the bereitspotential, or 'readiness potential' mentioned in the article.

[Note:  The website containing the transcript has since disappeared.  Click the break for the referenced question and answer.]

Vilayanur S. Ramachandran

Vilayanur S. Ramachandran is a notable neurologist whose work on behavior and perception has been groundbreaking, with directly applicable medical benefits.  Below is a link to a number of his articles in PDF form, including (my favorite) 'A Simple Method to Stand Outside Oneself', 'Size reduction using Mirror Visual Feedback (MVF) reduces phantom pain', and 'Occurrence of phantom genitalia after gender reassignment surgery'.

V.S. Ramachandran's Publications

Keith Peters

The work of Keith Peters is a perfect example of contemporary outsider art.  A computer programmer by trade, Peters creates beautiful algorithmically generated drawings in his spare time.

Art From Code

Unabomber

The entire cabin of Ted Kaczynski, the Unabomber, was shipped across the country to be used as evidence in his trial.  The photography of Richard Barnes uniquely captures this surreality.

Richard Barnes Official Website

Normal Distribution

The normal (or Gaussian) distribution is a continuous probability distribution that acts as a predictor for an astonishing variety of probabilistic phenomenon.  The fact that the equation for the distribution,

contains both π (pi) and e (base of the natural log) makes it particularly interesting to mathematicians.  Both of these constants are highly mysterious and are found frequently in the natural world.

Normal Distribution at Wikipedia

[Note:  In the image above, I placed lines at two standard deviations to either side of the mean.  Don't let them confuse you.]

Matthew Sullivan

Much of the work of artist Matthew Sullivan demands a heightened level of attention, creating a lyrical and storied alternative to the work of minimalist artists attempting to achieve the same extra-sensory effect.

Matthew Sullivan on Flickr

Roadside Picnic

The novelette Roadside Picnic by Arkady and Boris Strugatsky, linked here in its entirety, was the basis for the film Stalker, directed by Andrei Tarkovsky.  The film provides an incredibly clear cinematic example of extra-dimensional architecture.

Roadside Picnic

[Note:  Links to PDF file.]

Surreal Staircase Sculpture

Check out this wonderful article on mind-bending staircase sculptures.  Tulanians keep your eyes open!

Surreal Staircase Sculpture from WebUrbanist

Buried with Buried

In what I'm considering an extreme form of augmented reality, organizers of the Fantastic Fest in Austin 'kidnapped' four people and buried them alive while they watched a movie about being buried alive.  It's a little confusing as to which reality is the augmented one.

Echo Park Time Travel Mart

Trinkets from the past and future.  Check the link for many more photographs.

Echo Park Time Travel Mart from Laughing Squid

Special Effects of a Timestretched Present

Making Future Magic: iPad light painting from Dentsu London on Vimeo.

This article describes a BERG/Dentsu project that combines iPads with long exposure photography for an incredible effect of apparent sculpture.

Special Effects of a Timestretched Present at BLDGBLOG

Il Parachute

Il Parachute by G. Usellini, 1936

Despacio

In Spanish, the word despacio means 'slowly' (an essential request when trying to converse with native Spanish speakers).  The roots of this word are the Latin de meaning 'away, down' and spatium meaning 'interval, time, extent; race course, lap, circuit; space; area, expanse'.  I just thought that was cool.

Despacio Etymology

Dan Graham

A form of apparent teleportation called Pepper's Ghost was developed in the 1860s, for use as an act of prestidigitation.  More recently, the artist Dan Graham has repeatedly and effectively used the technique to call the viewer's attention to the act of perception itself.

Dan Graham at the Marion Goodman Gallery

Robert Irwin

Part of my research has involved the study of various manifestations of the Ganzfeld state.  The work of Robert Irwin, like many minimalist artist that play with an obscurity of depth of perception, clearly falls into this category.

Robert Irwin at the Pace Gallery

This Will Kill That

Chapter II in the Fifth Book of The Hunchback of Notre Dame by Victor Hugo is a complete aside, basically unrelated to the plot of the fiction.  In this chapter, Hugo details how the printed word is the death of architecture.  With the online word also tipping the scales, Hugo seems right in many ways.

'This Will Kill That' from The Literature Network

Tom o' Bedlam

Tom o' Bedlam is a poem written circa 1600, author unknown.  As an example of the (tenuous) connection between insanity and teleportation, the poem ends:

With a host of furious fancies
Whereof I am commander,
With a burning spear and a horse of air,
To the wilderness I wander.
By a knight of ghostes and shadowes
I summon'd am to tourney
Ten leagues beyond the wild world's end.
Methinks it is no journey.

Tom o' Bedlam at Wikipedia

Shadows Must Dance

I had the pleasure of seeing this Bernardi Roig exhibition in Valencia.  While much of the artist's work I considered sensationalist, the unassuming piece Nostalghia produced such an awesome wave of disorientation in me that it forced me to entirely reevaluate my opinion of the artist.

'Shadows Must Dance' at the IVAM

[Note: Show catalog in PDF form on the left of the IVAM site contains many large images of the work.]

Nam June Paik

The work of Nam June Paik, considered to be the first video artist, is frequently a thought-provoking analysis of perception and consciousness as it pertains to the limit of the body.

Nam June Paik Official Website

Magical Sword

On a lighter note, Sir Terry Pratchett, noted sci-fi and fantasy author, forged himself a sword from the fragments of meteorites.  As he rightly stated, "you've got to chuck that stuff in whether you believe in it or not."

'Terry Pratchett Forges Magical Sword from Meteorites' from Geekologie

How a Watch Works

A fantastic little 1949 video from the (invaluable) Prelinger Archives on, you guessed it, how a watch works.



'How a Watch Works' from the Prelinger Archive

Of Networked Buildings and Architectural Neurology

This article is a quick survey of a couple of items pertinent to augmented reality, generally focusing on connecting neurological processes to machine movement.

'Of Networked Buildings and Architectural Neurology' on BLDGBLOG

Thaumaturgical Teleportation

Although I'm trying to keep the Wikipedia articles to a minimum, there is definitely plenty of material that can't be ignored.  Here's a couple of worthwhile articles.

Remote Viewing on Wikipedia, psychically seeing from a distance.

Kefitzat Haderech on Wikipedia, an ancient Hebrew method of teleportation.

Tay al-Ard on Wikipedia, an ancient Islamic method of teleportation.

Augmented Reality Windshield from GM

This article outlines General Motors' progress and intention in developing augmented reality in their automobiles.

'For the Driver Who Has Everything' from Discover Magazine

Talking Tree

In an interesting twist on augmented reality, this hundred year-old Belgian tree has been outfitted with cameras and various sensors, given a language, and hooked up to various feeds (such as Twitter and Facebook).

Talking Tree Website

Quantum Mind

The fundamental uncertainty that defines quantum mechanics seems to hold such potential for the exploration of the nature of consciousness itself that I figured somebody must be working on it.  As it turns out, lots of people are working on it.

Quantum Mind on Wikipedia

The Large Glass

The Large Glass by Marcel Duchamp (also known as The Bride Stripped Bare by Her Bachelors, Even) is a work that I've returned to again and again as a reference for a culmination of temporal study.

The Large Glass on Wikipedia

Hit the break for a couple more images.

Propworx Stargate Artifact Auction

This amusing website is an auction house for props and costumes from the Stargate movie and television franchise.

Propworx Stargate Artifacts

Teleportation Physics Study

From January of 2001 to July of 2003, the US Air Force undertook an intensive study of, as they put it, 'teleportation of material objects' through any conceivable means.  In August of 2004 the document was released to the public and is readily available.

Teleportation Physics Study

[Note: Links to PDF file.]

Radiolab On Time

The radio show Radiolab has two great podcasts regarding the mutability of time.  Check them out:

Time, May 2007

Beyond Time, July 2007

Three Doors to Other Worlds

This short essay is a clear description of an interesting architectural near-paradox.

Three Doors to Other Worlds

[Note: Links to PDF file.]