MoMA Artists

Find three artists whose work with physical computing from the MOMA exhibition and whose work you find interesting and post links and reflection about their work on the blog. Be prepared to talk about one of them in class on Wednesday.


Michael Longford

Tentacles 1.0
http://www.moma.org/interactives/exhibitions/2011/talktome/objects/145512/
The work titled Tentacles 1.0 is interactive. It is a game in large scale on the side of a building which allows viewers to interact with one another on the building in the public space.

Katrin Baumgarten
The Disgusted Object
http://www.moma.org/interactives/exhibitions/2011/talktome/objects/146246/
It seems that her work involves a lot of surprise. I used this work when describing her work, and then as I was reading her description, I noticed that she used it as well. Surprise disgust is what she is focusing on with this object. The object comes to life when someone interacts with it. It gets goosebumps and squirms and tries to get out of the person's hand. 
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GJ-RIbBFQAk&oref=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.youtube.com%2Fwatch%3Fv%3DGJ-RIbBFQAk&has_verified=1
http://katrinbaumgarten.de/
This work was a collaboration with Red Stripe. Unsuspecting customers at a corner store went to grab grocery items and then the items came to life, making music by rhythmic movement. To me, this is really cool because of the involvement of surprise. It is nice to have art in unexpected places. It reminds me of the kind of thing you see in movies, but don't expect to happen in real life. Having inanimate objects suddenly come to life is really amazing. I am interested in the timing of all of these different parts and I'm curious how the work was set to recognize the presence of a viewer (was it by voice, touch, or some visual cue?). 

Jeevan Kalanithi
Sifteo Cubes
http://www.moma.org/interactives/exhibitions/2011/talktome/objects/146375/
http://vimeo.com/11059056
Jeevan Kalanithi worked on a project involving the making of electronic cubes which, when placed next to each other, respond and work together to do a task. In the link above, the user can rearrange a sentence based on the three cues provided. The fourth cube shows a picture of that image. He, along with Dave Merrill, wanted to make something that challenged the usual ideas of interaction with technology. This is something that can be used by kids. These are toy cubes that interact with one another. 
http://web.media.mit.edu/~jeevan/pages/furcubes.html
This work is one of Kalanithi's personal projects. These cubes are covered in fur and respond to the interaction of the viewer. If the viewer touches the cube, then they respond with sound, words of sentiment. The user is meant to feel comfortable with this technology.