First Day Questions

I remember seeing quite a few pieces of artwork that utilize sensors and electronics as the gist of their presentation in the past. However, a couple of them really stood out to me. I remember reading about an artist who utilized motion detecting sensors in his artwork while I was in WARP. I can't recall the name of the artist, but he made mechanical arms and apparatus that, whenever someone would approach, would make a threatening jab or gesture at the viewer. It was an interactive piece that commented on peoples' inclination to view artwork close-up. The other piece I distinctly remember was being shown in the Palm Springs art museum in California last year. It was a screen made up of a multitude of LED lights, and the lights were programmed to turn off and on in tandem with the movements of birds presented to it in video format. So, it looked like there were silhouettes of birds flying through the lights.

I do not have much experience tinkering with electronics and sensors myself. I have just pulled apart and added a couple parts to my desktop computer a couple times. However, we do encounter sensors in our everyday lives. Stop lights, pedestrian crossing lights, automatic doors, etc. keep things in order without constant supervision, and make things easier for everybody.

From this class, I expect to learn how different electronic sensors and devices can applied and work with one another to make something happen. A sort of small introduction to robotics. I hope to also get a little more experience and variety with coding and how programs work. None of the projects I have done have really had much interactivity with the viewer. I think it would be interesting to get some ideas for how I could implement this in future projects, and for the projects we will be making in the class.