User:Anita!/Special Issue 24 notes

Making lists

Making lists as an observation method, spent the morning in the south. I was already familiar with this method, i like making lists and make them quite frequently. I made many lists, but the ones that stood out to me were:

• people i made eye contact with
• license plates with the number 4 in them by Zuidplein
• colors in the hair of a person on the metro
• things that I think of when I hear rain on my list

in the afternoon we gathered all the list titles in a pad, later in the evening i tried to draw a map connecting the lists:

Knitting city noise

Knitting city noise is a part of the Project that may or may not be made

I want to connect a digital knitting machine (that has a small computer inside of it) to a sound sensor. This sensor will react to the sounds around it (city noise) and switch the colour of the yarn that is being used, creating a distinct fabric for each event that is being listened to.

This could be done by placing the sensors in different locations, listening to the sounds of the city and looking at the codes and machines interpretation visually translated into a fabric. Using the fabrics to imagine what city experience they refer to, heavy traffic, the sound of a tram passing by, a metro announcement, wind between tall buildings, loitering, construction etc.

The ideal outcome for this would be showing the fabrics in an installation setting, showing the fabrics possibly in connection to the sounds they come from.

Why make it?

Making a visual output to city noise. Looking at noise, mixing two senses and trying to capture the sonority of being in a busy city, and how the machine perceives it through a visual output.

Also on a more personal objective perspective, practising using arduino and sensors, connecting my interest for garment making techniques and fabrics with technology

Workflow

Identifying and choosing city noise. Researching and learning about how digital knitting machines work, more specifically, looking at the brother electroknit kh-940 since it is the one available to me in the fashion station. Based on my findings, programming the code for the sensor to listen and then change the colour of yarn when it hears noise. Testing the results on the machine, making adjustments on the sensitivity of the sensor. Knitting several different fabrics based on different city noise and observing the differences between them.

Timetable

Two maybe three weeks? I feel like once the code works it should not take long to put together. It is not that ambitious of a project I think.

Rapid prototypes

Connecting the sound sensor (from prototyping class):

#define VCC 5.0
#define GND 0.0
#define ADC 1023.0

const int sensorPin = 34;
float voltage; 

void setup() {
 Serial.begin(115200);
}

void loop() {
 voltage = GND + VCC*analogRead(sensorPin)/ADC;
 Serial.println(voltage);
}

Recording quickly made on my phone on Blaak:

Sound of an ambulance passing by

Intersection noise

Tram coming, stopping and leaving

A visual (hand drawn) interpretation:

Ambulance visual interpretation (from me)

Intersection visual interpretation (from me)

Tram visual interpretation (from me)

Previous practice

My practice often references and includes elements from fashion and fabric manufacturing techniques.

Relation to a wider context

Does machine find the city overwhelming? or does it find it soothing? how can this be interpreted by simply looking at fabric?

Further prototyping

After looking into it a bit more, the 'computer' in the knitting machine is not really a computer, so I started working with the punch card machine instead, trying to write a script that will let me know, based on the nominal data received from the sensor (yes noise, no noise) which squares will be knitted in a particular colour by the machine.

Trial python script not connected to the sensor:

import matplotlib.pyplot as plt
import numpy as np

rows, cols = 60, 24
data = np.random.choice(['yes', 'no'], size=(rows, cols))

binary_data = np.where(data == 'yes', 1, 0)

plt.figure(figsize=(10, 5))
plt.imshow(binary_data, cmap='gray', interpolation='none')
plt.show()

Result of running that script

Python script to transform the inputs received from the sensor into a black and white grid:

import serial
import matplotlib.pyplot as plt
import numpy as np
import time

ser = serial.Serial('/dev/cu.usbserial-1130', 115200, timeout=1)

data = []

rows, cols = 60, 24

def read_from_arduino():
   while len(data) < rows * cols:
       line = ser.readline().decode('utf-8').strip()
       if line:
           data.append(line)
           print(f"Received: {line}")
   ser.close()
   return data

data = read_from_arduino()

matrix = np.array(data).reshape(rows, cols)
binary_matrix = np.where(matrix == 'yes', 1, 0)

plt.figure(figsize=(10, 5))
plt.imshow(binary_matrix, cmap='gray', interpolation='none')
plt.show()

This is all based on a punch card i got at the fabric station.

Punch card

Punched card

This is the arduino code for the listening sensor:

#define VCC 5.0
#define GND 0.0
#define ADC 1023.0
const int sensorPin = 33;
float voltage; 

void setup() {
 Serial.begin(115200);
}

void loop() {
voltage = GND + VCC*analogRead(sensorPin)/ADC;
if (voltage > 160){
 Serial.println("yes");
}
 else {
   Serial.println ("no");
 }
delay(100);

}

Also took a look at OpenSCAD, a software to 3D model with code, using a code from here to model a punch card and its pattern. I think maybe though it is easier to use the python script directly because I don't understand the code that much.

LORA network

(abandoned for now, might come back to it but right now i am more interested in exploring sound in relation to the city)

Creating a LORA network to share non linear narratives. Imagine having nodes in high points of the city, to share narrative information. Each node contains a secret, or a piece of information part of bigger story. I want to make a city wide treasure hunt, inviting the user to explore the city. A message would only be retrieved when the person is in proximity of one of the nodes, hiding information inside of the infrastructure that could overall be used for different purposes as well. It could be interesting to somehow implement sensors as well inside of this.

I am extremely new to this so honestly, I have no idea if this is even possible to do.

I want to experiment with this as a different method of storytelling with this, maybe sharing remarks about places in the city, maybe making up fictional stories about them. Navigation as a method for story listening.

Sewn soundscape

Context

To me, sound is a very integral part of what makes a city a city. notice how loud a common place is. In a space or place that is public, communal, shared is so often loud. filled with people talking, announcements, music, sounds.

what is the importance of silence? and is absolute silence something i would like to look for? would silence make you uncomfortable? what does silence sound like?

i ask myself the importance of white / background noise. i travel on public transport and record and try to separate and pay attention to all the overwhelming auditory signals i receive. i hear the movement of the tram as a machine, starting and stopping or better being ok stand by. i hear the announcements the mechanical and cold voice makes, telling passengers where we are and where we are going. i hear the music bleeding from other peoples headphones. i hear conversations between colleagues and friends. i hear the sound of checking in and out. i hear the rain puttering. i hear someone zipping up their jacket, getting ready to leave. a sneeze. sighing. breathing. getting up. walking.

Follow sound and rhythm. List sound and rhythm.

For this special issue, i feel very inspired to work with sound in relation to the city. In prototyping we made a 'sound map' of sorts, recording the sounds of places, trying to guide people in a certain way without using words, focusing on the sounds that make a place recognizable: children playing, a wind chime, the ticking at a traffic light. Would it be possible to create a map exclusively relying on sound?

I decided to start working by using a recorder while walking around, gathering a collection of noisy walks. Listening back on what happends, writing it down and looking at the connections between the sounds. I am on a hunt for silence in the city, but have not yet been able to find it. Maybe the night is quieter, but there is always a swish of the wind, a car or bicycle passing by me, a bird flying into the canals water. Of course, residential neighborhoods, even in the city.

The outcome of these walks will be an abstract map sewn on canvas, with each stitch type representing a different sound. A sewn soundscape.

Why make it?

Making a visual sewn output to a sound map, marking the sound of routes and paths in the city of Rotterdam. Exploring graphic notation, exploring sound and relating them to practices I am already familiar with (sewing).

Workflow

Recording bikes, walks, travels around the city of Rotterdam. Translating those sounds by possibly using a script, maybe instead use Fast Fourier transform algorithm that Joseph told me about, but I'm not sure yet. With that data, assign a stitch to a sound and start mapping, first on paper (as it is less time consuming) and then on fabric.

Previous practice

My practice often references and includes elements from fashion and fabric manufacturing techniques. Very much related to my other Project That May.

Relation to a wider context

Mapping following a different sense than what we normally use as navigation (sound over sight). Interpretation of graphic scores, instead of using them to play music, using them for as a form of orientation.

Prototyping

Out of place

Archive of items, part of the citys infrastructure, out of place. In the task of creating a perfect city, some objects are left behind.

A street sign without its sign, pulled out of its 'natural' environment

The street itself, pulled out of the ground

Reader!!

For now, a list of the texts that are in the process of being read:

• Uncreative Writing - Kenneth Goldsmith

• AmbientSense: A Real-Time Ambient Sound Recognition System for Smartphone - Mirco Rossi, Sebastian Feese, Oliver Amft, Nils Braune, Sandreo Martis, Gerhard Tröster

• A brief and incomplete history of Eliza Ludd, 1812— by Ollie George

• Encoding/Decoding - Stuart Hall

• The rest is noise - Alex Ross

• The future Looms - Sadie Plant

• Zeros and Ones - Sadie Plant

For the format: going back to last semesters idea of making an annotation, text and image collage. Word collages copying and pasting pieces of text mixed with annotations and images taken by me around the city directly relating to the topics being researched. So overall a mixture of original and uncreative writing.

Experiment with sewing annotations and parts of text

Testing using my sewing machine on thick paper

Sewing words 1

Sewing words 2

Proposal for SI project

What is it?

A workshop consisting of people performing and following scripts and walking rituals we would prepare before. The partecipants would be asked to write their own scripts, share their personal rituals to look at the city theugh a different lens. This shared information, together with the scripts would then be printed into one publication shared at the special issue launch, with more blank pages as an invitation to continue the wrtiting and exploring.

The scripts written by us would focus on showcasing aspects of the city that are 'scripted' to be ignored by the design of the urban environment, shifting the lends with which you are supposed to look around. For example,

- draw the edges of several buildings close to you

- now use it as a map, see where it bring you

Un-scripting the city with scripts. Noticing what urbanism tries to hide in its design, while being critical of it. Writing and contributing to this publication yourself to create your own little critical walking scripts.

The publication will overall include:

   - scripts to un-script the city
   - hand drawn maps
   - sewn maps
   - visual interpretations of experiments me and mania would do while writing the scripts and maps 
   - workshop documentation
   - blank pages for further contribution from who wants the publication

Why make it?

For the people performing these rituals to be brave and curious, be consious of the unwritten structures that are designed into the 'city behaviour' and try to break them. At the Gemente visit, we were told that 98% of our behaviour is without having to think about it, but i do not belive that is true, our behaviour in this environment is really dictated by the rules and restrictions that are in place. Re-claim a city that does not feel yours with these little breaks of paths.

Workflow

Create a network of hand drawn, sewn and imaginative maps of the territory to include in the publication. Test them with a workshop that we will document and include in the final draft of this publication.

Timetable

Draw and produce between today and 19th of June. Print the rituals for the workshop on the 20 or 21 Workshop on the 22nd Edit and add the documentation into the publication before the 24th Print and bind! on 25th hopefully

Rapid prototypes

possible script 1

possible script 2

Previous practice

Hand drawn maps, sewn maps, writing lists, performing rituals. Working with paper and print.

Relation to a wider context

In a highly scripted city, where paths are written for efficency and so many different sets of rules and prohibitions exist, this project would be a playful and critical way to 'read' the urban environment, encouraging chance discovery and unproductive inefficency.

Device to read the city

Project with Mania

By reading we mean finding another possible form of seeing, moving, listening

Project template

Context The project starts from a concept that an urban environment can be read, analyzed and criticized as a text. By aimlessly wandering and drifting we can name exactly what we see, hear. List making can make very explicit what is missing, and who is not present or what is successfully hidden. If the city can be read it can also be annotated Posters, newspapers, graffitti, clothing, performances in public squares, protest, traffic serve as footnotes, annotations with very diverse comments.

More context

Many services and "smart solutions" provide comfort but also drastically reduce the level of unpredictability in a city. In a highly scripted cities, filled with prohibitions, navigations, how can we use scripts to enforce and strenghten unpredictability?

What is it? (physical description)

A physical device and a publication closely connected, working together. (Used as a method to encourage chance discovery and unproductive inefficiency, activated by a workshop)

Components:a device

• a tube that can be carried with you and accompany your walk
• a tilt sensor
• device is multifunctional, can be used to observe and to listen to
• what material its made from? fabric

a guide - printed

• a manual for the device
• collect scripts

workshop (scripts writing, a walk, exchanging and performing scripts and rituals, sharing the "unsmooth" encounters)

• scripts writing
• a walk to perform scripts

documentation of the workshops and the project

Why make it?

In a smart city ruled by obsession with perfection, maintenance and efficiency, how do we measure to whom those spaces are serving? And who decide what is the norm? This project is an attempt to find new forms of observing the city, to understand who is present in a particular space and what are their real needs and desires? What kind of city do we actually want? For the people performing this to be brave and curious, be concious of the unwritten structures that are designed into the 'city behaviour' and try to break them. At the Gemente visit, we were told that 98% of our behaviour is without having to think about it, but we do not belive that is true, our behaviour in this environment is really dictated by the rules and restrictions that are in place. Re-claim a city that does not feel yours with these little breaks of paths.

Allows continuously overwriting many parts of one street ( seeing a familiar place within a very different context)

Different narrative, objects, words, sounds, observations revealed

Plan

Week 1:

concept

writing scripts

Prototype 1

Design of the device - come up with ideas, sketches, materials, all rthe inspiring visual references

Power the device - find the

Week 2

Editing of the scripts

A guide - template

Finalize the device

Plan a workshop

Send invites for a workshop

Week 3

Print the guide

Workshop

Adjust the guide if time allows with insights from the workshop

Week 4

Playing cards

Drinking wine

Celebrating the project

Finalizing documentation from the workshooooop

Scripted city

Smooth city is expierienced differently by different people, and as much as everyone needs a safe and clean urban environment, free from danger and crime, it can also be a highly normative, controlling environment, gradually eliminating any chance for unexpected changes, productive friction, or oppurtunities to intervene according to one’s own ideas and desires.

Steering away from the expectations set by the "smooth city" often leads to various forms of social discomfort, ranging from disapproving looks to police intervention. Consequently, anything that strays from these expectations is seldom allowed to evolve naturally or at its own pace, resulting in a homogenized environment where diversity and individuality are suppressed.

Scripts for perfection and efficiency

- Contemporary urban scenarios - predictable what can happen

- Dictating what kind of activities are allowed

- Controlled terrain

- Social norms

- Certain expectations

- How people are expected to behave?

What kind of city do we accually want?

- Never speak to strangers / talk to strangers

- Desire for smoothness / desire for friction

- Frictionless environment / Random chances encounter

- Predictable / Surprising

- Higly controlled spaces / Autonomous spaces

- Privatised / Collectively shaped

Script open for interpretations

" In the ‘Smooth City’, complexities are deliberately erased. Spaces and narratives are simplified to form a streamlined version of urban life. The city, with its highly scripted and predictable spaces, becomes easy to use and thus remains unquestioned. The opposite of smoothness, unsmoothness, does not necessarily equate to unscriptedness. Like a theatre script that results in a different play according to a different director and actors, the ‘Unsmooth City’ enables a variety of narratives and interpretations. As such, smoothness and unsmoothness can coexist and even enhance each other." René Boer

scripts

ENDLESS EVER CHANGING ROUTE

Continuosly overwriting many parts of one place

Different narratives depending on the character

Different objects, words, observations revealed

https://teaching.ellenmueller.com/walking/assignments/exercises/

Random Set of Directions

1. Start at your front door and take exactly 37 steps to the left.

2. Turn right and walk until you see the third tree on your right.

3. Make a left turn at the tree and proceed straight for 50 steps.

4. Turn to your right and walk until you reach the first intersection.

5. Take a left at the intersection and follow the road for 2 blocks.

6. When you see a red car, turn right

7. Cross the street and walk diagonally until you reach a grassy area.

8. Walk around the perimeter of the grassy area twice.

9. Find a stick and draw a map of your walk in the dirt.

Different Walking Styles

1. Walk quietly, making as little noise as possible.

2. Alternate hopping and stepping

3. Drag your feet slightly as you move, making minimal effort to lift them off the ground

4. Take long, exaggerated steps

5. Walk smoothly, keeping your movements fluid as if you’re ice-skating

6. Add a slight bounce to each step

Interactions

Imagine the life stories of people you see

Walk until you find a bench. Sit down and go to the page number...

Walk to the nearest intersection and cross to the opposite corner

Notice an intriguing scent? Follow it

Close your eyes and listen to the city’s sounds for a momemnt

Pace

Observe people's routines

Notice the pace of people

Notice the timing of traffic lights

Follow the color Choose a color and follow objects of that color. For example, if you choose red, follow red cars, red flowers, or red signs.

Hidden stories

Imagine the lives of the people inside the houses you pass,

uncover hidden stories

Explore Side Streets: Whenever you see a narrow alley or a side street, take it.

Follow a theme: infrastructure

Let this theme guide your path and focus your observations on related elements.

Spend some time looking up at the tops of buildings

Then carefully examine the ground

Look for objects that could easily stay unnoticed

Flip a coin

Flip a coin at your starting point. Heads, go left; tails, go right.

Textures

Focus on the textures you encounter—brick walls, wooden benches, metal railings.

Touch and describe them

Who and what is missing Notice a recurring patterns, observe people and pay attention to who is missing

OBSERVER

Spend a moment scanning the building from top to the bottom - observing without moving.

Focus on small details: the texture of a building's façade, the color of a passerby's coat, notice infrastructurE

Try to find a surveillance camera

Observe the people around you. Notice their body language, expressions, and interactions. What stories do you imagine for them?

LISTENER

• Identify as many sounds as you can. What do they tell you about this place?

• Listen for the layers of sound. Notice the background hum, the mid-level sounds, and the prominent noises.

Look for contrasts:

old / new

busy / quiet areas

natural / urban

predictable / unpredictable

chance / control

staging / spontaneoity

Observer

Bring the device to one of your eyes, and close the other one, as if you were using a telescope.

Touch with your eyes Look at how the buildings and objects around you touch. Are they kind to each other? Are their bonds strong? How long do you imagine they could have they been there for together? Draw the lines they create below, then use them as a map to get to a new place.

Stroll and show Stand still, in front of a city object of choice. Examine it closely. Notice how it looks, feels and sounds. How it exists in space. Now imagine being this object, looking at the world from the same stationary position. Pretend you share the same set of eyes and go for a little adventure.

Tracking Sit or stand while you look around. Imagine you were able to archive exactly how your eyes are moving. Try to do that by drawing it on this page. Follow the shapes made by your eyes as closely as possible, as if they were a map.

Listener

Now bring the device to your ear, and listen closely

Layers Think of the sounds around you right now. They may appear as one big thing at first, but as you pay more attention, you notice how each is so separate.

Imagine now that they are different instruments in a song, and try to identify all of them.

Separate the different layers as you walk along them.

Now perform the sounds as if you were a musician, using the device as your instrument.

How much noise are you making right now? How much noise are you making right now? How loud is your step? Are you listening to music on headphones? Are they bleeding any sound? Are you breathing loudly enough to be heard?

Read around and search for the sounds you are making on someone else. Are they the same?

Moving sounds Stand or sit in one spot. Try to focus on all the different sounds around you. Which are stationary, and which are moving around.

Pick one moving sound you think you can follow and see where it brings you. Draw an arrow map of where you are going.

Rhythm collection Listen to the rhythm the sounds around you are creating. Try to ignore the tones, and only focus on the pattern the sounds are making. Some are fast,

slow,

repetitive.

How many different kinds of rhythms can you collect?

Loud in quiet Walk to the quietest place you can think of in your close surroundings.

Now read around for the loudest sound.

Navigation?

Secret Language Walk around. Write down your walking rhythm as if you were using a secret language.

Be conscious of your movement step-by-step, as if you were performing an elaborate dance.

Feel every muscle moving, each millimeter creating its own choreography.

Find all the walls

Reading Walk along one street. Read the words that you can find written around you.

Write a poem with the sounds they make.

Walking patterns

Try to draw with your feet, every step being a little dot on the page. Think on a great scale, imagine the city is as big as a paper.

Step Walk using a different step you normally would. Maybe try a bouncy walk, almost as if you were going to jump after every step. Or a really slow and wide one, as if you were falling asleep more and more every step. How does this change the environment you are in?

Copy Look at the people in the environment around you. Pick one and copy how they move. Thier step, how they move their hands, maybe even their tone of voice if you can hear them talking. Imagine who they are, and what they notice in the city. Look for this.

Prototyping the device

We work on the (sensor) hardware while also thinking about the look of the device.

Technical aspects for the technical aspects we need:

• Tilt sensor
• Wires
• Microcontroller with SD card
• 3 leds
• battery
• maybe resistors

Led one turns on after one step. This led is corresponding to the observer section of scripts in the publication/guide. This will prompt the curious pedestrian playing to go to that section and perform a chosen script.

Led two turns on after 200 [could be changed, temporary value for testing] steps. This corresponds to the listener section of the publication/guide. This will prompt the curious pedestrian playing to go to that section and perform a chosen script.

Led three turns on after 500 [could be changed, temporary value for testing] steps. This corresponds to the listener section of the publication/guide. This will prompt the curious pedestrian playing to go to that section and perform a chosen script.

It would be nice if after this, the succession would continue in a loop, to have the pedestrians be able to keep playing after, choosing to perform new scripts.

For now (7 June), the code looks like this:

#define outputA 14
#define outputB 12
#define outputC 13
#define outputD 15
#define outputE 2

int counter = 0; 
int aState;
int aLastState;  

void setup() { 
  pinMode (outputA,INPUT); //this is giroscope
  pinMode (outputB,INPUT);
  pinMode (outputC, OUTPUT); //this is led so signal goes out
  pinMode (outputD, OUTPUT); //this is led so signal goes out
  pinMode (outputE, OUTPUT); //this is led so signal goes out

  digitalWrite (outputC, LOW); //turns all led off at beginning
  digitalWrite (outputD, LOW); //turns all led off at beginning
  digitalWrite (outputE, LOW); //turns all led off at beginning

 Serial.begin(9600);

   Serial.println("Hello World.");
 delay(2000);
  
  aLastState = digitalRead(outputA);   //checking the connection
  Serial.println(aLastState);
} 

void loop() { 
    
aState = digitalRead(outputA); //0 on groun 1 on 5 v, also checking connection

  if (aState != aLastState){     
    // If the outputB state is different to the outputA state, that means the encoder is rotating clockwise
    if (digitalRead(outputB) != aState) { 
      counter ++;
    } else {
      counter --;
    }
    Serial.print("Position: ");
    Serial.println(counter); //write the number of turns
    if(counter >= 50){
     digitalWrite(outputC, HIGH);
    } //turn on led if it has turned more than 50 times
    else {
     digitalWrite (outputC, LOW);

    }
    if(counter >= 100){
     digitalWrite(outputD, HIGH);
    }
    else {
     digitalWrite (outputD, LOW);

    } //turn on led if it has turned more than 100 times
    if(counter >= 150){
     digitalWrite(outputE, HIGH);
    }
    else {
     digitalWrite (outputE, LOW);

    } //turn on led if it has turned more than 150 times
  } 
  aLastState = aState; // Updates the previous state of the outputA with the current state
}

Reference used: https://howtomechatronics.com/tutorials/arduino/rotary-encoder-works-use-arduino/

Like this, the three LED turn on after 50 turns of gyroscope each, but we want them to turn off also, so it still has to be modified.