n4t3nate

The Language of Praise;

2008-06-13T14:29:00.000-07:00

Final documentation here http://www.flickr.com/photos/n4t3nate

This project was epic; through the months of capturing voxel information, slicing the models, creating vector images, generating gcode, cnc cutting and assembly I think I found a deeper meaning for what it means to become cyborg working in tandem with machine processes.

This project was wildly successfully in my eyes with room for further development, investigation and fabrication/data processes refinement. The lighting system was a step in the right direction as heightened interface to ideas of persistent human spacial distortion, and should be developed further.

I will continue to investigate serialism, futurism, and the cyborg as core conceptual material for my artistic motivation, style and identity.

Have a wicked summer!

Presentation Serarios;

2008-05-28T14:21:00.000-07:00

Domination of light/spacial interaction is critical for effective execution of this work.

Ideally the piece will be exhibited in the center of a dark space, surrounded by a battery of florescent tubes; the tube will project slices of light onto the sculpture's surface in relation to user position or preset chains that heighten the sense of movement and distortion.

The tubes and sculpture will be positioned at head height furthering natural engagement and facial recognition on our terms.

Presentation Serarios;

2008-05-28T14:18:00.001-07:00

Fabrication Issues

2008-05-06T14:45:00.000-07:00

Core issues to work-flow ;

_Long processing times for MRI 3D data manipulation and repeated software crash/file corruption (in part due to out-of-memory errors and poor virtual memory handling within XP when exceeding a 4GB stack).

_Lack of practical automation for slice profiling, need for tedious vector correction and support structures.

Core Issues to Fabrication;

_Lack of proper/standard technique for clear sealing MDF

_Glue spots/seepage during lamination

2008-04-22T10:53:00.000-07:00

State Diagram;

Research Methodology;
This project aims to underline biological human systemics as stacks of accumulating data and view the possibilities tangential to our open systemic interaction with particle reality. As physical systems each part has state, vector, position, and a battery of related data that is relentlessly streamed but remains fleeting; beyond perception of human comprehension, but augmented through the magnetically resonate lens of machine driven energetic medical imaging we can begin to tap this well. The problem is data leakage, I aim to capture a small portion and extrapolate it into a vast physical volume of introspective visualization.

The best way to solve this problem from the approach of research driven art is to appropriate suitable bleeding edge data and techniques from the medical sector and create a meaningful membrane that interfaces with my own goals for persistent engagement and user experience. I wish to paint the individual as a cyborg; a natural hybrid of physiology, technology and pure data. MRI/CT visualizations take a high resolution data volume of fluidic densities within a human body, essentially augmenting the individual and converting physical to digital. Viewing sub-systems of our own bodies (muscular, vascular, skeletal etc) evokes the “1000 year psyche”, kicking out a built in, mild fight/flight response. Couple this with methodical experience design, re-instantiation of MRI imaging back into the physical at life size scale and persistent engagement with the user can be guaranteed.

Technical details of software to hardware work flow for acquisition, processing and sculpting; OsiriXVP for DICOM MRI/CT data visualization, Mesh Lab for 3D model decimation, MAYA Rhino and 3DMax for 3D model manipulation, BobCad for G-Code profiling and scaling, along with Mach3 in concert with a 3-axis CNC gantry rougher to machine cut lithography slices. General information about medical data standards, radiology and compatibility were found primarily within the public domain of Wikipedia.

2008-04-18T09:21:00.001-07:00

Historical Background;

Serial Cyborg draws upon two core concepts; Movement through space as visualizable data and re- instantiation of these streams from abstract back into physical space.

There are a battery of human spacial distortion based projects, but all threads point back to two classic examples; Umberto Boccionil's “Unique Forms of Continuity in Space” (1913) and Marcel Duchamp's “Nude Descending Stairs no.2”. Both men self identify as a Synthetic Cubist (conceptual and aesthetic focus on the processes of breaking apart and reassembling form) but Futurism was also coming into full swing and working with similar conceptual strategies (“a love of speed, technology, and violence”; general articulation of technology's dominance of man and nature).

“Unique Forms of Continuity in Space” is hailed as a masterpiece of modern sculpture. The Museum of Modern Art cites Boccionil as proclaiming “Let us fling open the figure and let it incorporate within itself whatever may surround it."; the gestural work stems from two years of painting, sculpting and drawing perceptions of the human from in motion. The bronze cast is constructed to convey contortion of physical power, speed and domination. Throughout Boccinonil's career as a cubist he pushed for works that actually encapsulate time and space within itself, owning every detail of displacement and movement. This idea was also articulated through Boccinonil's “The Manifesto of Futurist Sculpture” and “Development of a Bottle in Space”, a less known but equally prolific trial in cubist sculpture.
Marcel Duchamp's “Nude Descending Stairs no.2” is an axiom of experimental media theory and implementation; research data is misappropriated as base conceptual material for extrapolation of abstract ideas that tell us something about ourselves, our environment and hidden systems. Nude Descending explores a portion of 1890's photographic motion research conducted by Eadweard Muybridge, the originator of the science of bio-mechanics and inventor of experimental Victorian era analog motion picture devices such as the Zoopraxiscope. The “Woman Descending” set follows a model with sequential photos from a fixed position as she walks down stairs over time, with the goal of revealing hidden workings of the skeletal/muscular system stabilization while in motion.
"Nude descending a Staircases no.2" currently resides in the Philadelphia Museum of Art, and was exhibited with scandalous response within the New York Armory Show in 1913. The painting was hailed as "an explosion in a shingle factory” by critics, much of this fire thought to be drawn simply by the piece's title.

Resources;

Wikipedia The Free Encyclopedia, Nude Descending a Staircases no2.
April 14, 2008

Andrew Stafford, Making Sence of Marcel Duchamp, April 14, 2008

Wikipedia The Free Encyclopedia, Eadweard Muybridge
April 14, 2008

Encyclopedia Britannica Online, Umberto Boccioni.
April 14, 2008 <>

Museam of Modern Art, Publication Excerpt
April 14, 2008

2008-04-02T16:59:00.000-07:00

Conceptual Overview;
This artwork aims to misappropriate advanced medical reverse engineering technologies to elaborate on our default physical instantiation and passage through space as malleable data structures that can reveal hidden systems of emergence, informing us of subsystem and complex spacial interaction; the mundane motion serialized as memory, freezing systemic status' of physical reality at micro-second resolution and creating an over saturation of data, revealing complex emergent forms latent in an infinitely complex matrix of possible position and status present in every waking second of particle reality.
The piece realizes the human form, through machine vision in virtual space over a small amount of time . This volumetric form is extrapolated into a massive linear form, and re-interpolated through a CNC machine carved sculpture at full scale and resolution, creating a tangible representation of the data that we can engage more effectively as users on our own physical terms and scale. This closed system also aims to create persistent engagement with he user after physical interaction has ceased, re-catalyzing an awareness for our endless and fleeting stream of position and vector, imbuing even the most mundane with an infinite potential for choice, status, and realizable data.

Development Schedule;
[01.01.08] Begin RP and CNC technique, limitations, and industry standards research.
[03.20.08] Begin DICOM CT/MRI standards and volumetric software research.
[04.01.08] Begin DICOM file acquisition, .obj voxel volume acquisition and mesh decimation.
[04.15.08] Begin Small scale model design, Mach-3 3 axis CNC roughter G-code generation and initial prototype creation.
[04.23.08] State Diagram and Research Methodology finalization. Begin large scale model refinement and tooling/material adjustments as dictated by prototype resolution
[04.30.08] Historical Background and Bibliography finalization. Begin Further CNC prototyping, modeling and material adjustments as necessary.
[05.07.08] Fabrication and mechanical design issue resolve deadline. Begin final iteration, large scale fabrication and audio production
[05.14.08] Electronics, circuit diagram and equipment list finalization.
[05.21.08] Code/programming issues resolve deadline.
[05.28.08] Revision/presentation scenario deadline.
[06.04.08] "Language of praise", project summation deadline.
[06.09.08] Exhibition deadline.

2008-02-01T10:29:00.001-08:00

activation post;