Website?

Who's still reading this? Just in case, go here to see my stuff.

hatekillpuke.com

Done?

The show is almost over. It's gone really well. I need to get just a bit more documentation of my piece, yet. Once I sift through all the photos and videos I've collected I'll post them up here. Also, my reflection writeup on the piece is available in the Things section of the sidebar.

as promised

Here is the progress that's been happening.



The biggest piece of the installation, the floor switches are now fully functional, up and running. It's been a lot of construction work to get these made, but it's worth it, now to see it working. Cosmetically, these need some sort of covering, to make them look more finished, but as far a function goes, they're all there.




Here's a close-up of the wiring that makes the whole deal work. I need to decide whether I'm going to build a frame that will hold all this, or whether to hide this part inside the wall I'll be building. I'd really like to show this part, but if I don't have time, then that's something that can go.

Next up, integrate the input from the "dance floor" (as I've been calling it, since the switch design is that of a home-made DDR dance pad) with the video tracking work in Director. I can feel the whole project really coming together.

blog neglect

Like that house plant I never watered, my blog is shriveling up and dying.

I'm on the edge of having the largest piece of the puzzle in place, exciting (nerdy) photos will follow.

Spring Break Progress

While all you lazy fuckers were getting drunk and partying, I was hard at work. Taking advantage of the fact that my dad runs the metalshop at his work, we went in and used all the tools and got a bunch of work done.



I'd like to say that my dad is a huge badass. Here he is using the hand-held bandsaw (you didn't even know that that was a thing). It was great to work with him, his sense of craftmanship has always been a big inspiration to me.



In the end, we made all seven brackets that I need, and I feel they came out really well. As usual, check out Flickr for more photos.

Also, I'm taking down the link for the show proposal PDF. That's the one place where I've really explained what the whole piece is about. It's been available all along, but no one seems to know what it is I'm doing. Well, now you'll just have to be surprised at the show like everyone else.

Winter Term Round-up

Keeping the bar low, this post rolls in early Sunday morning. That's still on time, right? What's to say? I've got a lot of pieces, and the assembly is coming along. First, let's take a look at the mess I've been making.



Well, that certainly looks like I've been doing something. I figured that since basically only James, Jason and I were using the room as a working space, that I'd take up as much of it as I liked. Is that a breadboard and soldering iron? Now, how about those iMacs?



They're all updated and stripped, and they look so computery. I'll be building the frames to mount them to the wall over spring break, with my dad. It'll be good to work with him, as his metal working skills and tools should speed things along, plus the sense of craftmanship I strive for is almost entirely instilled by him. How about some woodworking?



Oh yeah, look at all those dado cuts. It'd been way too long since I'd used a table saw. Digital Arts needs to lead me to the woodshop more often. These parts go together to be floor switches to track the viewer through the space.



These work pretty well. Aluminum tape is a great solution for a cheap conductor. This will wire up through the BASIC Stamp, to the computer. If you don't know what I'm talking about, that's okay, no one seems to. It'll be a surprise!

What's left to do?

• Fine tune video movement tracking, sync it up with the floor switch positional tracking
• Film video of myself for people to interact with
• Remember how to network OS 9 and OS X (it's been a few years, but I used to do it all the time)
• Get the whole deal basically kludged together, then test it with people
• In response to testing, tear it apart, make it better
• Lather, Rinse, Repeat until it's time to install it in the space

I feel confident at this point that all this will happen. Oh yeah, here's the photo I came up with for the catalogue. Also, I took a bunch of pictures of the space, so I put them up on Flickr. Check the sidebar for the updated artist statement. If anyone is really reading this, have a good break, see you next week.

keep going.

"Is starting hard? You know it is. I dont know about you when you start, but I clean my desk, I make a lot of stupid appointments that I make sound important. Avoidance, delay. denial. I am always scared that I'm not going to know what to do. It's a terrifying moment. And then when I start, I'm always amazed. Oh, that wasnt so bad." - Frank Ghery

"That thing which I understand by real art is the expression by man of his pleasure in labor" - William Morris

My project is endless phases of starting new, complex, difficult components. I draw a lot of plans, think a lot about how to make each part happen, but actually stepping up to the welding torch or the table saw is a big deal, especially when the materials are increasingly expensive, so there's little room for error. Once I get started, though, it's so much fun. I've been in the woodshop, fashioning the floor switches that are presently the most critical piece to moving forward.

Let me tell you: the simple acts of cutting, drilling, sanding and gluing are so satisfying. So much of art-making is big ideas and hard thinking, crafting something with your hands seems so simple, once you get to it. Good thing I love process and repetition: I've just commited myself to cutting over a hundred feet of steel by hand with a hacksaw. The good news is that once that's done, I have secured my father's help with all the welding work that is now to be done over spring break. This is all coming together.

(I just made another big decision, and purchased a 22" Dell LCD for the project's main display! Progress!)