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meta_creation lab: inter-actors, attractors and the aesthetics of complexity
marlon barrios solano
www.dance-tech.net/page/meta-creation
A collaborative workshop interfacing movement art practices, digital creativity, portable computation and networked systems.
This workshop is a collaborative lab to creatively explore the contemporary approaches, practices and aesthetics of self organization and of complex systems within the dynamic couplings of mind, body and information/data flows.
This workshop is an open space for experimentation and inquiry within a well defined theoretical/aesthetic frame and open space format: the participants self-organize in different node projects (collaborative and flexible groups) in order to investigate and deploy bottom-up architectures as compositional prototyping strategies and processes. It explores interactivity plus generativity.
An embodied/distributed cognition approach is used to generate physical activities and games, guided discussions/conversations about relevant artists works and concepts exploring the aesthetic of complex systems and emergence.
Open source technologies and methodologies will be explored in combination with composition in real-time.
Inter and trans-disciplinary explorations are encouraged and diversity is the main asset.
Several nodes of research projects are suggested:
Sampling, recombinations and mashups
New Internet technologies (web 2.0) and collaborative creation
Post-pc technologies apps, tablets and mobile technologies
Life logging and creative process
Media Capturing and Real time processing
Bottom-up architectures of generative systems
Hybrid realities and alternative sites
Portable cameras and video production
Online video and video straming
Cloud/social computing
Locative media/Mobile
Performance, rule systems and algorithms.
Computer aided choreography
Portable hardware as interfaces/interactive media control
Social media for distributed creativity and knowledge production
Networked documentaries/storytelling.
Photos from workshops in Beirut, Lebanon.
October 2011
This has to be seen on black.
Closed in 2006, the Kearny Generating Station sits dark along the shore of the Hackensack River. When the station opened in 1925 it was the largest electric generating station in New Jersey.
Although the old station sits abandoned, immediately behind it is a newer gas turbine generating station known as a "peaker". Peaking stations switch on and off as needed, only generating electricity and consuming resources when the demand requires it.
Unlike the old coal/steam fired plant, which once started and online, must run continually, even if the electricity it is generating isn't specifically needed at the moment.
This is a red/cyan anaglyph image of a Mandelbrot set fratal called "elephant pie." You will need red/cyan 3D glasses to view this image.
With a little imagination, the shapes around the outside of the circle look like elephants, facing to the right with their trunks in the air.
This image was generated with FractalWorks, a free high performance fractal renderer for Macintosh computers. If you have a recent copy of FractalWorks you can copy the link below and select "New Fractal from URL" in the FractalWorks menu to recreate the image on your computer.
Fractalworks plot 3D elephant pie
If you don't have anaglyph glasses, you can look at this non stereo version of the image:
Dragon was an experimental high temperature gas-cooled reactor at Winfrith in Dorset, England, operated by the United Kingdom Atomic Energy Authority.
Its purpose was to test fuel and materials for the European High Temperature Reactor programme, and it was built and managed as an Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development/Nuclear Energy Agency international project.
It operated from 1965 to 1976 and is still in the process of being decommissioned
The full title of this 360/720 panorama includes the above phrase, but is prefaced with: In the manner of Robbert Frick.
Robbert Frick is a Los Angeles-based artist. He attached a camera to his car and drove around, generating pictures that way. This method is both relevant to LA and elegantly minimal.
My friend, Paul Zelevansky suggested I do something similar with the equipment I use to generate 360/720 spherical panoramas. At first, I didn’t think this would work. Then, I became intrigued. It might generate really different kinds of images.
So…I got a tripod out, mounted theVRkit rotator on it, and put all this on the floor of the passenger side of my Subaru Forester Sport. I put my iPhone 11 with my Sandmarc fisheye lens in the Rotator clamp, and set off.
I didn’t have to go very far before I had my first pano. You have to know my neighborhood in West Des Moines to understand how really smashed up this picture is.
1. My house is sizable, but it doesn’t have 3 garages on the first floor. It doesn’t even have two garages.
2. I appear to be going east, to the right of my house, but the picture has moved everything that actually is west of my house to the east.
3. Not to mention my left arm has taken the place of my right arm in the first reflection and then moves back to its proper place in the next reflection.
There are many more instances in this image of fractured duplications and reflections. Enjoy!
This image is a 360/720 spherical panorama. It is best viewed in a VR headset such as the Oculus Quest 2, but can also be viewed happily just as it is.
Etna Regional Park (59 000 ha) is the protected area that surrounds the highest active volcano in Europe. It was the first Sicilian protected area, established in 1987. The park is divided into four zones: zone A has maximum protection and allows nature to play its course with minimal human intervention; zone B is a general reserve and is made up of small agricultural plots and wonderful examples of rural architecture; zone C and D cover 14000 hectares and here some tourist facilities are allowed but the preservation of the landscape and nature should always be respected.Etna Regional Park is located in eastern Sicily. At the heart of the ecosystem of the park is Mount Etna, with its lithological boundary of 250 km, height of approximately 3350 m and an area of about 1260 km². The beauty of the park is not only the grandeur of eruptions and lava flows. Around the great volcano, lies a unique landscape, rich in sounds, scents and colors. The territory of the Etna Park stretches from the summit of the volcano until the upper belt of Etna villages. 20 municipalities and a population of over 250 000 inhabitants are found within the park territory.With its forests, trails, unique landscapes, typical products and its historic municipalities Etna Regional Park is an attractive place to visit all year round.
The vegetation of the park is extremely rich and varied. In the lowest regions there are vineyards, orchards, nut trees and woods of oak and chestnut trees. Gathering height you can find woods of oak, turkey oak and larch pines and higher still (above 2000 m) there are beech and birch trees.Characteristic plant species of the Etna landscape are: the symbolic Etna broom, one of the main plants that colonizes the lava; pulviniformi Holy Thorn (Astragalus), which offer shelter to other plants of the Etna mountain, such as groundsel, chickweed, and the Sicilian soap. The porcupine, fox, wild cat, marten, rabbit and hare live on the mountain along with smaller mammels. There are also many birds including the hawk, buzzards, kestrels, peregrine falcon and golden eagle and various types of owl.
La bellezza del Parco dell'Etna non sta soltanto nella grandiosità delle eruzioni e nelle colate di lava incandescente. Attorno al grande vulcano si estende un ambiente unico e impareggiabile, ricco di suoni, profumi e colori. Un comprensorio dal paesaggio incantevole, protetto da un parco naturale che chiunque si trovi in Sicilia non può mancare di visitare. Il territorio del Parco dell'Etna, che si estende dalla vetta del vulcano sino alla cintura superiore dei paesi etnei, è stato diviso in quattro zone a diverso grado di protezione: zone A, B, C e D.
Mount Etna (Aetna in Latin, also known as Muncibeddu in Sicilian and Mongibello in Italian, a combination of Latin mons and Arabic gibel, both meaning mountain) is an active stratovolcano on the east coast of Sicily, close to Messina and Catania. Its Arabic name was Jebel Utlamat (the Mountain of Fire).Volcanic activity at Etna began about half a million years ago, with eruptions occurring beneath the sea off the coastline of Sicily. 300,000 years ago, volcanism began occurring to the southwest of the present-day summit, before activity moved towards the present centre 170,000 years ago. Eruptions at this time built up the first major volcanic edifice, forming a strato-volcano in alternating explosive and effusive eruptions. The growth of the mountain was occasionally interrupted by major eruptions leading to the collapse of the summit to form calderas.From about 35,000 to 15,000 years ago, Etna experienced some highly explosive eruptions, generating large pyroclastic flows which left extensive ignimbrite deposits. Ash from these eruptions has been found as far away as Rome, 800 km to the north.Sicily's greatest natural attraction is also its highest mountain: Mount Etna, at 10,924 feet, is the most active volcano in Europe and the oldest recorded active volcano in the world.Mount Etna is an active volcano on the east coast of Sicily, close to Messina and Catania. It is the largest active volcano in Europe, currently standing about 3329.6 m (10,924 feet)high, though it should be noted that this varies with summit eruptions; the mountain is 21.6 m (71 ft) lower now than it was in 1865. It is the highest mountain in Italy south of the Alps. Etna covers an area of 1,190 km² (460 square miles) with a basal circumference of 140 km.The fertile volcanic soils support extensive agriculture, with vineyards and orchards spread across the lower slopes of the mountain and the broad Plain of Catania to the south. Due to its history of recent activity and nearby population, Mount Etna has been designated a Decade Volcano by the United Nations.Etna lava stone is a material with unique characteristics: durable, indestructible, resistant to changes in the temperature (it’s a heat conductor), it offers infinite possibilities of uses: flooring, urban furniture, interior design.After the glazing process the product doesn’t get stained, resists to acids and doesn’t require particular maintenance: that’s why lava stone is the ideal material even to make kitchens and bathrooms countertops. The natural stone tends to grey, with the glazing process we can obtain any desired colour. Shapes, sizes and decorations can be customized . The lava stone it is formed by the solidification of cooled magma on the surface of the Etna volcano, in Sicily
L'Etna è un vulcano attivo che si trova sulla costa orientale della Sicilia (Italia), tra Catania e Messina. È il vulcano attivo più alto del continente europeo e uno dei maggiori al mondo. La sua altezza varia nel tempo a causa delle sue eruzioni, ma si aggira attualmente sui 3329.6 m (10,924 feet) s.l.m. Il suo diametro è di circa 45 chilometri.Un tempo era noto anche come Mongibello.In genere le eruzioni dell'Etna pur fortemente distruttive delle cose, non lo sono per le persone se si eccettuano i casi fortuiti o di palese imprudenza come quello dell'improvvisa esplosione di massi del 1979 che uccise nove turisti e ne ferì una decina di altri avventuratisi fino al cratere appena spento. L'Etna è un tipico strato-vulcano che iniziò la sua attività, tra 500 e 700 mila anni fa. La sua lava di tipo basaltico è povera in silice, è molto calda, densa e fluida. Per queste ragioni le eruzioni sono tranquille ed il percorso delle lave prevedibile. La velocità di scorrimento è superiore a quella delle lave acide, più ricche in silice e più viscose e leggere.La lavorazione della pietra lavica, derivante dall’industria estrattiva delle vicine cave dell'Etna, per scopi ornamentali o per materiali da costruzione, diede da vivere a molte famiglie siciliane.I "pirriaturi", anticamente, estraevano lungo i costoni dell'Etna solo strati superficiali di lava perché più porosi e più facilmente lavorabili con arnesi quali la subbia, lo scalpello, la mazzola e il martello. Sul materiale estratto interveniva lo spaccapietre che ricavava lastre di pietra, infine lo scalpellino rifiniva il materiale. Uno degli usi prevalenti cui era destinata la pietra lavica era la pavimentazione delle strade urbane
Many things have changed along the busy Colac shopping strip that runs the length of Murray Street. Shops have come and gone, and each time the shop front it inhabits is redecorated. Yet if you look above a shop's awning, you will often find the original building's upper floors and parapets, still very much intact.
This shop built of red brick with fine stonework has been built in Victorian Italianate style, an architectural movement that was very popular between the mid and late Nineteenth Century. the tall arched windows that give the appearance of a loggia is very typical of the movement, as is the use of brick against fine stonework to give the building an interesting appearance. The Victorian Italianate movement gained popularity in Britain and her dominions after architect Thomas Cubitt assisted Queen Victoria's husband, Prince Albert, to design Osborne, the Royal Family's residence on the Isle of White.
Located approximately 150 kilometres to the south-west of Melbourne, past Geelong is the small Western District city of Colac. The area was originally settled by Europeans in 1837 by pastoralist Hugh Murray. A small community sprung up on the southern shore of a large lake amid the volcanic plains. The community was proclaimed a town, Lake Colac, in 1848, named after the lake upon which it perches. The post office opened in 1848 as Lake Colac and was renamed Colac in 1854 when the city changed its name. The township grew over the years, its wealth generated by the booming grazing industries of the large estates of the Western District and the dairy industry that accompanied it. Colac has a long high street shopping precinct, several churches, botanic gardens, a Masonic hall and a smattering of large properties within its boundaries, showing the conspicuous wealth of the city. Today Colac is still a commercial centre for the agricultural district that surrounds it with a population of around 10,000 people. Although not strictly a tourist town, Colac has many beautiful surviving historical buildings or interest, tree lined streets. Colac is known as “the Gateway to the Otways” (a reference to the Otway Ranges and surrounding forest area that is located just to the south of the town).
blog.modernmechanix.com/1933-marvels-of-the-auto-speed-wo...
1933 Marvels of the Auto Speed World
Great things are stirring in the speed world! Streamlined race cars, modified stock car speed creations, incredibly fast custom-built racers for assaults against time, are all parts of the changing picture of the most heart-gripping, thrilling sport in the world today—auto racing!
by ROBERT M. ROOF and LEW HOLT
WITH a new automobile speed record of 273 miles an hour recently established by Malcolm Campbell, the internationally famous British speed king, and with several new speed creations along novel lines being groomed for entry in the forthcoming Memorial Day racing classic at Indianapolis, 1933 seems destined to be written down large in speedway history.
Just how extensive has been the influence of such ultra-speed cars as Campbell’s Blue Bird, Segrave’s Golden Arrow, and Kaye Don’s Silver Bullet, can be learned from a study of the pictures which accompany this article. On the opposite page is the latest creation of Harry Hartz, American speed pilot, which he calls “The Spirit of ’76.”
This name derives out of the fact that Hartz is going after Malcolm Campbell’s speed record with the intention of restoring the record to American hands. Several well known automotive engineers are behind Hartz in his effort. Trials will be conducted at Muroc Dry Lake in California.
Particular features of “The Spirit of ’76” are the streamlined body, the small radiator opening, the use of a vertical fin to stabilize steering control, and the top enclosure of half the cockpit opposite the driver to offer as slight air resistance as possible.
Much smaller in all dimensions than the Blue Bird, Hartz believes that his creation has an excellent chance to better Campbell’s record because the car is built to do just that one thing. It is much better streamlined than the Blue Bird, and has considerably less weight to push.
Because of its wide departure from A.A.A. specifications for speedway racers, it is unlikely that the Hartz machine will take part in the 500-mile Indianapolis race. But unquestionably it foreshadows the trend of race car development.
Three Types of Racing
Auto racing as it now stands falls into three general classes—races of custom-built superspeed cars against time (such as Campbell’s Blue Bird, which develops such terrific speeds that it would be suicidal to race a companion car simultaneously on the same track); races such as the Memorial Day classic, on speedways whose car specifications are rigidly specified by racing associations; and dirt track racing—likewise
controlled, to a certain degree, by associations, but allowing much more latitude to the individual driver.
In this latter field modified stock car racing is at present enjoying much popularity. Usually the races are run on a percentage basis, 40% of the gate receipts being appropriated as prizes. Stock car racing gives the amateur driver a chance to demonstrate his ability, and it is from these races that owners of high-priced racing cars pick the drivers to pilot their machines on the big-time speedways.
Modified Stock Car Races
Are modified stock cars fast? They most decidedly are. At Funk’s Motor Speedway, Winchester, Indiana, the fastest half-mile dirt track in the country, a Model A 1929 Ford turned one lap just under 26 seconds. Plenty of big time race cars can’t turn in as flashy a performance on the same track.
Certain well known machines are specially suited for modified stock car racing: Fords (Models A, T, and V8), four and six-cylinder Chevrolets, Plymouths, DeSotos, and Studebakers. Pontiacs also are adaptable.
Since this type of race gives the amateur his best chance, requiring nothing very expensive in the way of equipment, a few details will be given. On the morning of the race day stock cars must qualify for their positions in the race. Usually the ten fastest cars are allowed in the main event, the slower ones in a consolation race which gives them a chance to win some money to defray traveling expenses.
Two 10-mile sprints and a 20 or 30-mile feature race usually comprise the program, with a stunt such as a blindfold race occasionally added. In the latter the driver has a black hood completely covering his head, and he steers his race car entirely by sense of feel—that is, he is so familiar with the race track layout, and can sense position so accurately from the banked turns, that vision is unnecessary. When two blindfold drivers start tearing around the track at the same time, the roaring crowd realizes that it’s looking on a real thrill treat.
A white flag is used to start the regular race. The green flag means the driver is starting the last lap, and the checkered flag is the one the boys all hope for, signifying a winner.
Conduct of Dirt Track Races
When starting a race the drivers are lined up in the order they qualified for. The fastest qualifying car is the pole car, which leads the pack around the track until they are lined up for a flying start. The first lap is the most dangerous, as each driver strives to get into the turn first. After this lap they scatter out and the nerve tension of the drivers is somewhat relaxed.
In modifying stock cars for racing, all fenders, headlights, windshields, tops, and other parts that would cause resistance are removed. Beyond this, procedure varies with each model car. Valve ports of the engine are usually bored out, special valves and aluminum racing pistons installed, high compression obtained through use of special heads, and downdraft carburetor and oversize manifold added.
Ignition systems usually require some changes. Every driver knows that the magneto system is faster than the usual battery type. A special racing coil, which has a double winding with 30,000 turns, is usually used in conjunction with the double-breaker Mallory distributor. This combination generates a very hot and fast spark which requires a special metric racing spark plug to withstand it.
Special fuels are, of course, required to get the most out of the cars. High test gasoline would burn up the valves, so a special dope is added to regular gas.
Modified stock car racing has penetrated to all parts of the world. The Grand Prix Race at Stockholm, Sweden, traveling over mountains, frozen lakes, and dangerous passages, is run with stock cars. Even in far away Madagascar, an island off the coast of Africa in the Indian Ocean, modified stock car races are held.
Editor’s note: Mr. Roof is chief engineer of the R & R Manufacturing Company, Anderson, Indiana, manufacturers of parts for dirt track racers.