GLITCH MANIFEST by CTC student Juan Carlos

Summary/Intent
Glitch Manifest is a site-specific environmental piece that comprised of audio-visual components. At its core, it is an exploration of how glitch art, or visual glitches, can be manifested in other forms outside of a computer screen. Thus far this project is manifesting these glitches as shadows, sound, and strobing lights whose patterns have been affixed to the frequencies produced by said sound.

Its site-specificness is derived from the fact that the glitches used in the piece are derived from an image of a specific location. The purpose here is to also have the audience be immersed into what can be considered a real-world digital error of the space by bombarding and overwhelming their senses. By no means is it meant to be pleasant as glitches are, in essence, a mistake, and mistakes can be frustrating. At the same time, within Artistic Statement from Mr. Carlos: mistakes, one can find inspiration and aesthetic pleasure.

Inspiration/Research
The inspiration for this project came from exploring the process of creating glitch art, a genre of art I had previously only seen and heard of before. Thus, by exploring the various means in which glitch art can be generated, the different methods and programs associated with them helped inform me, not only how to make my own glitch artwork, but also inspire me to think about different avenues I could take the same data to produce other manifestations of glitches.

This said, many of the processes that I learned in order to create glitch art and produce this project were through informal, yet in-depth tutorials (links which can be found throughout this blog). This research was originally meant for another (yet very undefined) project utilizing textiles, which through experimentation, organically became what it is today: an immersive experience.

Software Resource Links
https://troikatronix.com/#setImmediate%240.06603053400562608%241
https://www.audacityteam.org/

Dream Orbit by CTC student Can Zhang

Artistic Statement from Ms. Zhang:

Summary: In this passion project, I made a dreamy solar system, including a black background and eight planets. I first made a cosmic background board. I put a piece of shiny black foam paper on a piece of wood to make a background board. Then I paste a circular piece of wood made by laser cutting on the lower left corner of the black foam paper as the "sun". I draw the orbits of the stars on the foam paper by a silver highlighter. Then I stick a laser-cut small piece of wood between the two orbits, making an "asteroid belt." After that, I paste a rainbow I made with craft sticks in the middle of the background board. Then the background board is finished.
Then I am going to make eight "planets." The prototype of my project is the solar system, so I plan to make the planets as the eight planets of the solar system. While keeping the color of the planet as the real ones, I want to make these planets a little more abstract to preserve a "dream" feeling instead of being too real. I mainly used laser-cut wood chips to form these planets, and then glued different colors of shiny sand to the surface of the chips to color the planets. This process took a long time because I needed to make some details to make the combination of small pieces look more like planets. But I really enjoy this process. After making the "eight planets", I tried to put them on the track I painted. I wanted to find a proper position and stick them on the background board, but during the time of finding the proper positions, I found this process of freely placing planets very interesting. If I keep this feature, it will allow each viewer to participate in my project to find the location they think fits to place the planet. So, in the end, I decided to put them on the side rather than fix them on the background board.
 
Inspiration: I used to make some small pieces by laser cutting. I also made some handicrafts with craft sticks, such as pencil case, candy box, xylophone, rainbow and so on. In the process of exploring in Thingspace, I found myself more and more like laser cutting. Once I did laser cut on black acrylic to make a star with star map pattern on it. This small object was my initial source of inspiration. I like the theme of the universe, night sky, and stars. So I decided to combine the small objects I made and create the universe in my mind.
 
Research: I searched for some astronomical knowledge and celestial images. When making planets, I try to restore the relative size and color of the stars.
 
Process: I have already completed the work of Dream Orbit. I also made a craft stick pen holder. In addition, a laser-cut wooden box decorated with small art pieces is being made. When I put the crafts I made on my desk, I feel better every time I see them, which encourages me to make more crafts.
In this course of this semester, my passion for artistic creation has been inspired. I have discovered a lot of interesting art manufacturing techniques and found that their combination with traditional art is very interesting and often brings me surprises. Next, I will use more laser cutting chips, craft sticks, and glitter sand to explore and make some handicrafts.
Visual Documentation (see photo album)

Here’s Where I am - Web + Fabrication project by ctc student Ms. Zoe Yuan

Artistic Statement from Ms. Yuan:

I’ve become more confident in believing my creative process as an epitome of my philosophical inquiries into life.

My passion project is my creative endeavor to explore my artistic voice in the realm of creative technologies. Coming from the field of contemporary craft, I have strong emotional response to the conflict between handicraft vs. technology as a means for self-expression and meaning-making. My training in visual studies and art criticism made me highly cautious of the philosophical implication of using technology to create artwork. I don’t think I’ve reconciled the conflicts yet, but I’ve had a great start in asking myself this important question — What does it mean to integrate technology into my art practice?

I used P5 javascript in my project. You are welcome to interact with the artwork itself. The movement of elements in this work are interdependent on each other. What you see in the abstract representation of this work is the story you co-create with the work.

Visual Documentation of My Final Work

https://codepen.io/zy2319/live/QzWrMb

Fashionable Tech project by CTC student Imani Whyte-Anigboro

Artistic statement from Ms. Whyte-Anigboro:

Project Title: Fashionable Tech

Summary: This project is ALMOST the perfect combination of my love for fashion and creative technology. I have always wanted to do light up clothing because it reminds me of my LA Gear light up sneakers as a child but better. So instead of getting too complicated and going into eveningwear, I decided to create a coat using LED lights as well as other machinery I really enjoy and am curious about. Like the laser cutter and the vinyl cutter. I am excited about the final product.

Inspiration: This project idea pretty much came from myself, but I do recall seeing LED fashions on YouTube and in articles over the past few years. For me my idea is practical and the next step in fashion. It also shows how technology can be used to help create fashion and not only used in conjunction with fashion.

Research: For this project, the only thing I really needed to research was what type of LED LIGHTS to use. My major is creative technology, so I had experience using the laser cutter for cutting and etching but not on leather only on wood and acrylic. In my original design I also wanted to etch on denim because I saw videos with the laser cutter doing this but ultimately this type of use wasn’t approved by the managers of Thing Space. At 1stI thought, I’d work with the mini LED’s we have in Thingspace but after talking to Erin and doing some internet research I learned about the rope LEDs that come with a battery pack. In the end, I came to the conclusion that these would be the easiest to use in sewing as well as when it comes to powering them because it has a standard battery pack.

Process: I have extensive sewing experience and did all the sewing at home. The process of making the stencils and etching was done in Adobe Illustrator. The details of how things progressed with my project can be seen in my blog postings.

Visual Documentation: See images of my final project below.

CTC student Nina Bellisio completed dataviz research on THE GENDER EQUITY OF COLLEGE MAJORS

CTC student Nina Bellisio recently completed a wonderful dataviz research project on THE GENDER EQUITY OF COLLEGE MAJORS as her final project for professor Erin Riley’s digital fabrication classes. Please see below for her process.

CTC professor Richard Jochum and students Catherine Lan, Monica Chan featured at FabLearn 2019

CTC professor Richard Jochum and students Catherine Lan, Monica Chan featured at FabLearn 2019

CTC professor Richard Jochum and students Catherine Lan, Monica Chan were recently invited to give a presentation at FabLearn 2019, regarding their involvement with Zankel Fellowship. This fellowship supports students who develop and teach creative technology-infused after school programs to underserved inner-city youth in New York City. For Academic Year 2018-2019, the Zankel Fellowship has funded a partnership between CTC and the Teachers College Community School.

Please visit their presentation slides below:

Of Imagination and Self-Expression: Fusing Creative Technologies with Project-Based Learning Monica Chan (monica.chan@tc.columbia.edu) Ed.D. Instructional Technology & Media Catherine Lan (ccl2164@tc.columbia.edu) Ed.D.C.T. Art & Art Education Special thanks to Teachers College Arthur Zankel Urba...

Studio In Creative Tech to be taught by CTC professor Erin Riley in Spring 2019

Spring 2019 Studio In Creative Tech

A&HA5128 | CRN 98770

Mondays 4:10-6:50PM

Bring digital to form through the use of high-tech tools for creation. This course encourages deep exploration and creativity with computational materials and fabrication tools that can be applied to interdisciplinary practice across the arts, design, and engineering. Even people new to technology can jump right into making through media that they are most familiar with, and find intersections with technology to enhance and drive their work. Facilitated by an instructor with extensive background in maker-education, this course provides the a rich support structure and the opportunity for peer learning. Workshops in 2D and 3D design and fabrication along with pop-up workshops in micro-controllers and electronics as needed. Weekly meetings and guest artists chats will allow students to share their processes and to receive feedback. Prerequisite: none.

Please contact instructor Erin Riley(er2883@tc.columbia.edu) for more information. 

CTC professor Marisa Jahn launches new design course allowing Columbia, TC, and New School students to collaborate in one class

Inquiry-Based Art and Design:

Design 4 This Century (D4TC)

Fall A&H 5125-001 | CRN 31746 | 2 pts

Faculty:

Marisa Morán Jahn (MIT, Teacher’s College, The New School)

Richard Jochum (Teacher’s College)

Melanie Crean (The New School)

A new seminar for graduate students at Columbia University, Teachers College, and The New School.

In addition to lectures and readings, course assignments include creating a manifesto and ‘recipe’ that re-envisions how we teach, learn, and make. Guest speakers include contemporary designers, artists, interactive media producers, emerging media practitioners, data nerds, activists, and urbanists addressing key questions about potential roles of art, design and technology today. Keywords: identity and representation; codesign and participatory media; the politics of data; environmental disruption; and global migration.

09/20 Alice Sheppard

09/27 Amelia Winger-Bearskin

10/04 Ram Devineni

10/18 Ariel Kennan

11/01 Stephanie Wakefield

11/08 Lina Srivastava

12/06 Paul Falzone

All Lectures Free & Open to the Public:

Thursday (12:10-1:30 pm) starting Aug 30th, 2018

Location: The New School (63 Fifth Ave at 13th St, L104)

Lectures also available online via Canvas

Saturday Seminars: 10 am - 12:30 pm

Sept 15, Oct 13, Nov 10th

Location: Teachers College, Macy 55 (Thingspace)

Questions? ArtEd@tc.columbia.edu or marisa@studiorev.org

CTC student Zhenzhen Qi to teach new Game Art class at Baruch College

Starting Fall 2018 semester, CTC student Zhenzhen Qi will be teaching a new Game Art class at Baruch College, as part of the New Media Art minor track for its Fine and Performing Arts department. 

CTC student Nicholas Sadnytzky completes high fidelity 3D model of Macy Gallery

CTC student Nicholas Sadnytzky recently finished a 6-month long project that measures the dimension of our student gallery space - Macy Gallery, and recreating high fidelity 3D renderings in details. Nicholas has extensive experience with 3D Modeling in both commercial and educational capacity, and is a certified 3D trainer by rhino3d, a used 3D modeling software widely adopted by industrial designers, fabricators and makers, and digital artists.

Artist Statement:

When I was asked to create a digital model of the Macy Gallery at Teachers College Columbia University, I was very excited to accept this endeavor. There was a condition to this project – I had to use a free CAD program. This restraint was to show that you could model a room (in this instance a gallery) precisely and this method was translatable to the classroom. So, the CAD modeler that I chose was SketchUp 2016. I also accompanied the modeler with another modeler – Rhinoceros 3D. Why I decided to take this path was because I am fluent in Rhinoceros 3D and I knew, no matter the complexity of the room, I would be able to do precise modeling with ease. After receiving the blueprints, my father and I measured a couple of walls to see if the blueprints were correct. Unfortunately, the blueprints were not correct (expect for one wall). During the 2016 winter break my father and I measured the entire gallery. Then I proceeded modeling the gallery twice, once in Rhinoceros 3D and again in SketchUp. You may be thinking, why didn’t I just simply export the model out of Rhinoceros 3D into a SketchUp format? Yes, that would have been the easiest method but I wanted to show that you could model anything precisely in a free CAD program like SketchUp. The final rendering was done in the default Rhinoceros 3D renderer and the animation was done in Bongo. Overall, it was a very fun project.

Rendered Images

CTC student Mengyu Li will produce interactive exhibition in Beijing in summer 201

CTC student Mengyu Li completed an interactive installation in CTC course -  New Media New Form. Partly inspired by this artwork, she has won a business competition at Columbia University to produce an interactive pop-up museum exhibition in Beijing in summer 2018. Please see below for documentation about her artistic project: 

From the artist: 

The installation defaults to a still image of a calm face, but as viewers walk toward it, the Kinect detects their movement and flashes a “hidden” face showing different emotions that change depending on the position of the viewers. In this work, I turn my attention into creating a connection with the public. The interactivity of this installation engages public with my art to create an art experience that viewer can feel their own contribution to the art. In addition, this work reveals the suppressed emotions. People in western culture tend to see sensitivity as a negative thing and sometimes link it to vulnerability. As a result, many people try to suppress their emotions, especially in public. This social convention is so deeply routed one can even find it in the language routine. For example, when people greet “how are you”, it seems like the only legitimate response is “I’m fine/ I’m good/ I’m doing great.” It seems like we live in a culture where everything needs to be just fine. But are we always fine? This installation, through showing different hidden emotions in a public space, questions this social phenomenon.

Documentation of her multimedia exhibition in Beijing, China

images copyright: http://fashion.sina.com.cn/

CTC student Catherine Lan curates art exhibition at Metropolitan Pavilion NYC

CTC student Catherine Lan recently acted as the assistant curator for a series of art exhibitions at Metropolitan Pavilion NYC and other locations featuring contemporary Chinese artists and their works. Catherine is an MFA fine art student from Yale University. Her recently experience as a student of CTC inspired her to fuse recently available technology with her artistic practice. This has influenced her own art making, teaching, as well as her understanding about the contemporary art practice at large. This curatorial project reflects her recent interest in inquiring about the boundaries between art and technology, tradition and newness, physical and digital cultures. 

Curatorial Statement: 

New Youth:
China-America Young Artists

We live in a brand-new age which provides unparalleled opportunities for young people and unprecedented challenge to their self-awareness. Young artists are the future, and the speaker for the present. The reason is that they possess more information and a broader horizon, which requires them to make choices in this diverse and variable world.

“New Youth: China-America Young Artists Exhibition” demonstrates works by young artists cutting a figure in the contemporary art field recently. They are from various colleges and universities, and their works are quite different in terms of style and pattern. But such variation stands for the choices they have made in this brand-new and variable age. “New Youth” serves as a platform to present such choices in the art works to the whole world.

For more information, please visit: 

http://www.nyclunarnewyear.org/arts-exhibition.html

CTC student Dylan Ryder to present at Scratch Conference at MIT

CTC student Dylan Ryder is scheduled to present at Scratch Conference at MIT in summer 2018. 

See link below for more information regarding the conference: 

https://scratch.mit.edu/conference/

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Dylan Ryder joined The School at Columbia in 2012 with more than 10 years of educational technology experience in the K-12 and higher education environments. His goal is to help students and faculty use technology safely, responsibly and creatively - with particular attention to hands-on problem solving, engineering, computer science and robotics. Prior to joining The School, Dylan taught technology skills with the US Peace Corps in the Pacific island nation of Samoa, and was later the Technology Coordinator at Stevens Cooperative School. Always pursuing innovative pedagogy, Dylan has published articles on teaching computer programming to young students and has delivered workshops on integrating computer science and engineering into K-12 education for ISTE, ASEE, and at schools and universities around the country.

For publications and workshop engagement of Dylan, please visit https://dylanmryder.wordpress.com/

CTC faculty Jaymes Dec lead Nerdy Derby at STEAM day

CTC faculty Jaymes Dec recently lead his long-term maker project Nerdy Derby at Scarsdale Public School's STEAM day.

For more information, please visit: https://nerdyderby.com/

CTC faculty Erin Riley's writing featured by Stanford Fablearn

CTC faculty Erin Riley's article, Where Art and Design Education Meets MakerEd was recently featured by Stanford Fablearn. The FabLearn Fellows program is part of a larger project sponsored by the National Science Foundation entitled “Infusing Learning Sciences Research into Digital Fabrication in Education and the Makers’ Movement.” 

For More information, please go to: 

http://fablearn.stanford.edu/fellows/blog/where-art-and-design-education-meets-makered

CTC faculty Richard Jochum exhibiting at Elizabeth Foundation of the Arts

CTC faculty Richard Jochum recently exhibited his work Protest Club at the Elizabeth Foundation of the Arts.

Protest Club

Group Exhibition International Partnerships

Elizabeth Foundation for the Arts

March 6 - June, 2018. Opening: April 25, 6-8 PM

Curated by Natalia Nakazawa

More info about EFA

CTC student Zhenzhen Qi exhibiting at Asia Art Archive

CTC student Zhenzhen Qi recently exhibited her computational collaboration project at Asia Art Archive America.

Artist Statement:

Making an art game is like daydreaming - one that we can go back to over and over again. Game Objects are external manifestations of creators’ spirits. When their creators are tied up with the reality of life, these tiny things awake in the wondrous space of “grandeur” (Gustave Bachelard, 1948) created through the imagination of their creators. They twist, turn, wiggle, roll around. On a sunny day, they wonder into the deep land, make a friend, sing a song(more like make a sound to their creators) by the river. Gently, they bring together heaven and earth, and opens us the future of reality.

ThingThingThing is an experimental collaboration between Asia Art Archive and artist duo ZZYW, formed by Yang Wang and Zhenzhen Qi. A group of participants and the organizers will spend two fun and action packed days in AAA’s lovely Brooklyn Heights office, learning fundamentals of video game development, and make a collective art game along the way. At the end of the two days, the result is a film that generates it own plots in real time, composed by all participants using Unity, a video game development platform and C# as the programming language.

 

Collaborators

Zhenzhen PrinceZ
Yang Elo & Dummy
Jingling JZ & JZPig
Evian Cloud Cloud & Sheep_Mushy
Sara Margarita & Tomas
JHMun Chicken

For more information, please visit http://zhenzhenqi.com/thingthingthing

CTC student Avery Forbes exhibiting at EdLab

CTC student Avery Forbes recently exhibited her interactive installation potusvirus at EdLab.

Artist Statement: 

I built this device to be patient zero for a virus. I am working on a simpler analog design that may be easier to spread. The machine is simply a means for generating the real work: the tweets. Tap the button as many times as you want to generate a series of words. Write them down. Post them. Spread the virus. Defeat ignorance with nonsense.

For more information, please visit  http://www.averyforbes.com/#/potusvirus/

CTC student Trisha Barton presenting at DiRP Conference

CTC student Trisha Barton presented her interactive art installation, Eye Scream and facilitated discussions at the 2018 DiRP Conference. 

Artist Statement: 

This project focuses on raising mental health awareness in the Black community, delivered through an Afrofuturistic lens using the concept of phototherapy. Eye Scream is an art piece, and device, that takes the concept of light therapy and applies it to neopixels that react based on amplitude.  When you sing or talk to it, it lights up.  The lighting up follows the concept of displaying light to increase serotonin production, similar to how the Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD) lamps work.  But unlike the SAD lamp, Eye Scream tiesinto black culture through its light responding to sound.  Since movement and discussion are some of the ways people in the black community cope with their ailments, Eye Scream encourages community discussion, talking and singing.

For more information, please visit: 

https://www.trishabarton.org/affirmation-mirror