User:Mths/rwrm essay mths

DESCRIPTIONS::

The Autonomous Graffiti Robot is a tactical street tool, developed to extend the abilities of human writers, artists and activists, while retaining the essential out of range anonymity. This robot can perform desired tasks in insecure environments without continuous human guidance. The AGR is a self-generated drawing machine build out of an old compressor tank, a electronic solenoid valve, a tube with a nozzle controlled by two servo motors, some electronic parts, a battery and an Arduino micro controller. The tank is filled with paint and an air pressure of 9bar. The two servos are stacked on a tilt and pan system mounted on the tank, which allow the nozzle to be moved 360°. The servos are as well as the valve controlled by the micro controller. Once the AGR is armed and placed at the desired location, the micro controller uses an algorithm to generate the tag which is going to be sprayed. This tag consists of five coordinates on an XY Axis, and the time between the points. When the coordinates are generated the AGR opens the valve and begins the spray while moving the servos on the generated path. With its chaotic motion it draws an abstract and dynamically tag in realtime.

With Sphere the viewer enters a universe of granular sound patterns combined with droning and harsh soundscapes. Its an interactive spatial sound installation consisting of three white wooden objects (60x60x60cm), the shape is inspired by a octahedron but morphed to a new geometrical form. These are each equipped with six ultrasonic sensors measuring changes in the viewers distance around them. Together, they form a body who's individual parameters of the experimental composition can be influenced by the viewers by moving or coming closer, and becomes the second conductor of the composition. The transducers, also mounted in the object, transfer the sound directly on the objects and uses them as speakers.

DESCRIBE YOUR RECENT WORK::

The main focus of all my projects is on perception of sound, technology and movement of either performers or the viewer in space. How can they relate, affect and modulate each other. I'm interested in sound to create space, but also in sound which somehow is inhabiting a room and interacting with it. In my sound works i mainly work with samples, I use sounds that are already there, record or resample them, modify and add something additional to it. This methodology of sampling and resampling or re-using reflects also in my recent - not sound related - work, the Autonomous Graffiti Robot, were I reused an old compressor tank and some electronics parts to reassemble a graffiti robot out of it. With the AGR I also try to implement technology in the field of graffiti and street-art, explore the nature of this act and to mimic the dynamic movements of the human body, inspired by graffiti artists, to lead to a new interpretation by the robot.

Before I started to study at the digital arts department in vienna, I was working as a graphic designer at a newspaper. While i was sitting in the tram or metro on my way to work, i had enough time to observe the city, at this time graffiti and street art caught my attention. I was fascinated by the diversity of tags, stickers, posters and stencils all over the city. On rooftops, street signs, in the subway tunnels or even in the tram, it was everywhere. A lot of people were trying to color the empty city, that inspired me and i also started to participate. When I had some minutes free during my working hours, i was always scribbling in my sketch/black book and vectorizing the scribbles on the computer so i could print some free posters with the companies printer, to paste them later after work in the city. In 2009 when I started my studies in vienna, I somehow lost interest in street art and focused more on working with sound and technology. Last winter graffiti caught me again, I was exploring some tunnels in vienna and i started to realize what fascinates me, is the process of doing graffiti, sneaking around during the night, looking for holes in the fence, exploring abandoned buildings, following the third-rail through the tunnel systems under the city, hiding from the guards, don't care about the security cameras, leaving marks everywhere, always ready to escape, it's like a dance through the city. When walking in the light of a tunnel arm your perception changes completely, a total focus on mind, body and environment, you are starting to hear every noise and also the softest sounds become scary and feel like a thunderstorm. footsteps are mixing with the reverb of the tunnel and the delay tricks you, sometimes it seems someone is walking behind. It feels like you have the key to a completely different city. Inspired by this performative act, this experience motivated me to think about a graffiti related work and I started to work on the AGR.

Identify key themes

reuse, misuse, technology, futurology,
improvisation, sampling, looping, soundscapes, spatializing, diy instruments
movement in space, hiding, exploring, sneaking, leaving marks

Identify contextualizing texts
Another Pavement, Another Beach: Skateboarding and the Performative Critique of Architecture, Iain Borden - The Unknown City ...