Last Thursday in class we made our first circuit. We lit up tiny led light bulbs and were all very excited about it. We learned how to use the breadboard and resistors as well as the multimeter. We also all learned a valuable lesson about balancing the 5 volt input with the proper resistance so as to avoid blowing things up. As a person prone to accidental destruction, I am keeping my fingers crossed that I stay patient and careful and can come out of this class without breaking too many things.

Continuing the train of thought about mechanical sculptures from my last post. I found some very interesting things about kinetic art on the interwebs.


I learned that Marcel Duchamp created the first known kinetic sculpture by placing a bicycle tire on top of a stool. This type of kinetic art which is fueled by touch or wind seems very popular and I found several mesmerizing pieces. My favorites are these wind driven works of Anothony Howe:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8QiOAg_Caig

I then stumbled across these digitally controlled moving art pieces. This is not exactly what I had in mind previously when thinking of mechanical art, but these are exceedingly beautiful and mesmerizing.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5tCxMLjOCgc

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jhP9n6WvVfQ

Yesterday was the first day that class met. We went over all the parts and tools that we get to play with this semester and ran our first test on the Arduino boards. We got some new parts that we have to solder the pins on ourselves. I have never soldered before, and I am really excited to learn this new skill. I am a little nervous that I will be bad at it at first or mess up a lot, but I suppose that is how you learn.

Seeing all of the new toys was very exciting and definitely got me thinking about all of the cool things I could potentially create this semester.When we were going over the motors that we will be using throughout the class, Phil mentioned that the DC motor could be used, for example, to power a ballerina turning in a music box. As I have mentioned, I love dancing, and I have always liked music boxes too (probably because so many of them have ballerinas in them). So this simple statement resonated in me and especially jolted my creative mind. For some reason this train of thought led me to the vague idea of mechanical sculptures. I have never sculpted before so that part could be interesting, but I really like this idea. I will have to do some research and think about this concept some more.

In exploring what has been done in physical computing and art with Arduino components, I found many interesting and inspiring works. Here are my favorites:

 I really like this because I like the idea of homemade arcade or casino games excites me. I like the idea of    being able to create something that is usually sought out in a very specific and somewhat exclusive environment and being able to infuse that creation with your own personal creativity. This is right up my alley
http://vimeo.com/groups/arduinoart/videos/29833767

I love dance, and with this piece I love the idea of making your own music as you dance. Normally, dancing is molded to fit and express the music, but in this scenario the dancer can control and inspire the music. Great concept!

http://vimeo.com/groups/arduinoart/videos/28651568

Daniel Rozin's Mechanical Mirror series is probably the strongest piece that I have come across in terms of artistic expression. He uses a camera and many different everyday materials such as wood or even trash as pixels to reflect viewers' images back at themselves creating a psuedo mirror. These pieces make me very thoughtful about the role of pixels and computers in modern society and a loss of physicality in favor of virtuality. The message of the pieces comes across very clearly.
http://www.smoothware.com/danny/

In these two, the creativity and whimsy is superb. I think that they are really fun and definitely get me to start thinking outside of the box. I mostly like the idea of creating an object that defies social norms since I tend to be pretty defiant of these myself on a daily basis. It makes me think about making an actual gadget that serves a purpose with maybe a somewhat futuristic flare. 

http://vimeo.com/groups/arduinoart/videos/8023595

Similarly whimsical, there is something that just feel very lifelike and organic about this one that I think really just makes people fall in love with it. It is not a living creature, but the way it reacts to the user makes one feel as if it has a personality and seems to draw people to it.

http://vimeo.com/groups/arduinoart/videos/28981808

Also I have to add this as a bonus because as I said I love dance. I think this is just insanely creative and I am kind of obsessed with it though I do not actually know how these suits were made or controlled. I think this concept could even be explored further :

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LDME9gbHF10

My name is Kourtney Kebodeaux.  I received my B.S. in Computer Science from Texas A&M University in 2011 and am currently pursuing my M.S. in Visualization. I am a very curious person which means that my interests generally include anything that I am given the opportunity to explore and learn about. Of course, there are a few exceptions such as statistics just as there are areas that I find exceptionally intriguing like all things computers and animation. My main goal currently is to graduate and get a job in the animation industry as a technical director. Artistically I am generally interested in somewhat surreal art. I like the idea of pushing creativity past the human experience transcending things that actually exist in the world to things that are more an amalgamation of thoughts or an expression of emotion or ideas.

My undergraduate degree in computer science gave me a lot of exposure to computer software and practice in programming, but I have been itching for some time to try my hand at hardware.I love figuring out how things work and the feeling of accomplishment that accompanies transforming an idea into an actual physical, tangible object. I'm looking forward to making some cool stuff in this physical computing class!