1f
Run the applet that generated this image
I began by scouring the internet for amateur digital photos. Preferably, ones that had pictures of family, lovers, or friends. I started with over eight thousand of these, and narrowed them down based on frivolous criteria like color, composition, what’s going on, and whether or not I was affected by the scene. Naturally, while going through all of them, I found myself thinking things like, “Are these people I would want to know?”, “That looks like a fun party”, or “She’s really cute!”.
The work is completely computer generated, from software that I wrote, using algorithms and techniques that I invented. The program is under four hundred lines of code, and generates a series of TIFF images that I then print out using archival quality ink and paper. The only input it receives (aside from certain hard-coded coefficients) is the information contained in the pixels of the source photo. For instance, in 54, the photo I used depicted a woman wearing a turquoise fleece jacket in a red room, and these ended up being very prominent in the final piece. Aside from very slight color and gamma balancing, nothing has been “touched by human hands”.
1f was algorithmically derived from this photo.
Regardless of whether or I liked or disliked what I saw in these photos, ultimately I would never be able to experience what was going on at that particular place and time, nor will I ever know the people in them. In all of the scenes, I could appreciate what was going on, and imagine why someone might be smiling lovingly at the person taking the picture, but they will will always be absolutely beyond reach. So I decided to take the distancing effect a step further: rather than trying (in vain) to bring them closer, I pushed them further away. I wanted to see if it was possible to strip away familiarity (like the human form, the face, etc.), and preserve the underlying energy, organic beauty, and texture of the physical world. These are the only things, after all, that we will ever be able to glean from other people’s family photos.
Before I wrote the software to perform this transformation, I did everything “by hand” in Photoshop. This piece has an accompanying LCD screen to the right which shows distroted images.
0×0400 Strangers
Watch unknown. (Unfortunately without sound, as it’s been sped up by 400%)
This is a 15 minute cycling animation made with MAX/MSP/Jitter, shown as an installation at the Domino Effect group show in 2004. The piece starts off with an image of a newly-wed couple standing in front of a mountain range. Every 45 seconds there is a very loud 60hz tone emitted. The computer is also set up to respond to sounds which are made in the room, from people or the computer itself. Over time, the image begins to deform and twitch, and the reverse side is a “cyber-grid” not unlike something from Tron. Every time the tone sounds, there is a sweeping motion across the landscape which generates mountains. The “real” vista in the photograph is superimposed by a 3-dimensional vista which consumes and yet is completely separate from the original.
Afterwards, I moved on to the final phase of the project, where I wrote software to generate images for me. I would let the software run for days at a time, creating thousands of variants. I would then select the ones I liked the best, and render those out at very high resolutions, which in some cases took over a week.
185
54
The software evolved somewhat from generating the above images to a more “painterly” style which ultimately produced 1f. Click the following image to launch the Java applet and make your own images.
(WARNING: Takes awhile to load as the applet is a few megabytes!)
