Mark your calendars! Kenilworth Open Studios is happening Saturday, April 9th, 2016 at UWM’s Kenilworth Square East facility at 1915 East Kenilworth Place in Milwaukee.
Besides being able to check out some of the awesome work done by students and faculty, you can see the Digital Craft Research Lab and you can check out what I call the “Physical Computing Lab”, which is also known as “KSE 516” or “Room 516 on the 5th floor” which is where I teach Electronics and Sculpture.
I’m hoping some of my students can share projects during the event, and I might even have some things to show. If you’re at all interested in physical computing stuff (Arduino, Raspberry Pi, things that move and light up and make noise) visit 516 and I’ll tell you what I know.
I’m pleased to announce that for the second year I’ve had a piece selected for Body and Machine 2016: Kinetic and Interactive Art. This year my piece Click Whir Squee will be on display. (The show runs from April 2nd, 2016 to Aoril 23rd, 2016 at the Northrup King Building 3rd Floor Gallery in Minneapolis, Minnesota.)
Since Click Whir Squee involves abusing a piece of hardware that is close to 20 years old, I can’t guarantee it will keep doing what it’s supposed to be doing for the entire run of the show. That’s part of the excitement of kinetic art… and it’s actually integral to the statement this piece makes.
I may try to dig up a few more of these TR-1 Minicartridges to swap in when the one in the machine gets destroyed. That might be enough to keep it running, but would rely on someone involved with the show doing maintenance. (Which I’m fine with.)
If you’ve already seen the video, you can just enjoy the photo of a cat that has been provided above. (It is called Body and Machine, after all.) Otherwise, here’s a video.
It’s been nearly a year since I introduced The Ice Hammer to the world, and yes, I’ve been accused of having an obsession with hammers, but I swear this time it’s (mostly) a coincidence.
So how could I not use the vacuum formed hammer mold I made at a previous MakeShift event to create a concrete hammer?
I’ve been traveling a lot for work, and I knew that concrete takes some time to set and harden, so I was in a rush to mix it up and get it into the mold before I left town. I frantically mixed and scooped the concrete into the mold at about 10pm before rushing off to bed for an early morning flight.
Air bubbles and lumps? I’m sure there’s a few… But the important part was that I got it ready to sit around and dry for a week.
When I got back I took a look at the surface and it looked pretty solid, but I still didn’t trust it was fully set, so I let it sit for another day. Getting it out of the mold proved a bit tricky. I had taped up the cracks in the mold that occurred the last time I made an ice hammer, and that made it a bit more stiff. I did manage to get it out, but I ended up destroying the mold. No more ice (or concrete) hammers!
Even though it’s concrete, I’m pretty sure one good swing would destroy it. For now I’m just going to consider it an art object, and not a fully functional hammering device.
If you’re available Thursday, February 4th, 2016 and want to learn more about working with concrete, plan on attending MakeShift. Tickets are $10 and you can get them online. (I hear there will also be “spiked milkshakes” and other refreshments.)
The Artist has died. The Artist created Art, and gave it to the world, and we still have that Art, but the Artist is gone.
I don’t find jokes about how Artists are worth more dead than alive amusing. Artists contribute to our world in many ways, and while it’s easy to ridicule those who pursue degrees in the Arts, I ask you instead to consider the impact Art has had on your own life.
Artists are performers, actors, musicians, singers, writers, educators, photographers, chefs, directors, designers, filmmakers, inventors, entrepreneurs, and above all, people.
If you’ve enjoyed a movie, or an album, or a book, or a delicious meal, or learning, you may need to thank an Artist.
If you haven’t died because of poorly communicated warnings, or signage that prevented you from danger, you may need to thank an Artist.
Artists create work that makes us happy, and sad, and makes us feel something. Artists create work that people enjoy, that changes lives, that saves lives.
We all contribute to this world in our own way. Nearly all of the Artists I know try to contribute to this world in a positive way. Most of them art not motivated by greed or power, but by the desire to create and share with others.
Occasionally I show up at Milwaukee Makerspace with no clear idea of what might happen when I’m there. This piece, titled “Click Whir Squee” is the result of one such visit. Another member brought in a box of old computer hardware, including a Hewlett Packard Colorado T100E Tape Backup Drive. Being a fan of old technology (1997 is old, right?) I opened up the drive to take a look inside. I also powered it on and stuck a tape in it. The drive came to life and unspooled the tape and made a lot of spinning motor and tape loading sounds. Not everyone knows what these things sound like. It brought back some memories. (At my first job in the tech industry I had to load daily backup tapes into two tape drives. I remember the sound fondly.)
I somehow decided I should mount the tape drive to a piece of wood for display, so I went to the Wood Shop and started cutting up some scrap wood I found. Steve showed up to do some training, so I sat in on that for a bit so I could use the compound miter saw and the band saw. I had all the pieces cut by the end of the evening and knew how I was going to mount it.
I ended up taking all the pieces home and assembling it in my basement workshop. I manage to only split one piece of wood. Just a minor split, but a reminder to slow down when working with wood. The rest of the assembly went very smooth.
Since the majority of fun with this drive is the startup sequence, I decided it should continually turn on, do its thing, then turn off, and keep repeating that. I’ve been playing with ATtiny85 chips lately, so I put one into service to trigger a 5 volt relay (which I also grabbed from Milwaukee Makerspace) and put the following Arduino code on it.
Yes, this is pretty much a glorified blink sketch. Sometimes the simplest things are exactly what you need. (Astute readers will see that the device will be on for 70 seconds, and then off for 15 seconds, and repeat indefinitely.)
To power the ATtiny85 and the relay I found a Samsung phone charger on the Hack Rack at Milwaukee Makerspace. It even had a long cord, which was quite useful. You can also see one of the tapes that this machine uses. Now, if you really want to find some contrasts, consider that the modern day phone charger pictured here was used to charge a phone that probably had 8GB (or more) of solid state storage. The tape next to it could store 400MB of data (or 800MB of compressed data.) I should have included a MicroSD card which can store 8GB of data that I routinely buy for about $6 USD.
Since I removed the case there was no indication of what this thing was. I felt I should have something that told a bit of the story. I chose to mount the beige power pack, with “Hewlett Packard” emblazoned on it prominently.
Oh, and while the whir of the motor is quite satisfying, we can do better. There is a wooden arm to which you can affix a small piece of material with a binder clip, which will then be activated when the primary motor spins. Fans of baseball cards and bicycle spokes, this one is for you! I call it the “Annoy-o-tron” mode. (Look, if you’re going to use an ATtiny in an Annoy-o-tron, at least be original, right?) I’ve experimented with paper, vinyl, and plastic, but finally settled on a piece from an anti-static bag which some electronics were shipped to me in. It seemed fitting.
Gallery owners and curators take note! This piece is ready to be mounted to a wall, and needs just two outlets to power it. It’s pretty much guaranteed to amuse some visitors while annoying other visitors. Art isn’t always about being pretty.
Enjoy the video below which allows you to experience this wonderful piece over the Internet while in the comfort of your own home (probably while wearing pajamas.)
