Children's Drawings Projected on Buckingham Palace and BBC's Public Big Screens in the UK

Children's self-portraits cover Buckingham Palace (News UK)


Children in the UK were asked to create self-portraits for a special arts project designed to celebrate the Queen's Jubilee. The self-portraits were digitized and transformed to create a media facade that was projected on Buckingham Palace. This example of digital art for public viewing was shared on a number of large screen displays in public spaces around the UK.


This project was part of Face Britain.  All children in the UK were invited to submit a self-portrait in an attempt to create the largest on-line gallery of self-portraits in the world.


Below is a video about the media facade:





Photo credit: Face Britain
FACE BRITIAN video:


from Children & the Arts on Vimeo.


RELATED
Below are some examples of how BBC's large displays are used for interactive games in public spaces:


BBC's Big Screen Games in Public Spaces:

Math Multimedia: Paul Bourke's Random Space Filling Tiling of the Plane; Lots'o Related Info and Links

Paul Bourke is a research associate professor and director of iVEC at the University of Western Australia.  I've been following Dr.  for several years and never cease to be amazed by his mathematical and scientific visualization experiements. 


Dr. Bourk recently posted a video of one of his recent projects on Google+ that I found fascinating.  If you are a member of Google+,  you can view the video at https://plus.google.com/117410063754013499525/posts  (I wasn't sure how to embed the video in this post.)


Take the time to follow the link below to Paul Bourke's web page about his current work. The pictures and math are worth the effort!
RANDOM SPACE FILLING TILING OF THE PLANE

Paul Bourke, July 2011

Paul Bourke's "tiling of the plane" work was inspired by John Shier, a computer artist who integrates random numbers in his creations.

In my opinion, introducing students to the works of Paul Bourke, John Shire, and others might be a great way to spark curiosity and creativity in the study of mathematics, computer programming, and digital art.

RELATED

Paul Bourke's Amazing Collection of Textures 
Paul Bourke's Amazing Scientific Visualization Lecture Slides (pdf)
(The titles above are my own.)

MRI-style 3D volumetric data set of a liver

"A fulldome (planetarium) visualisation of three microCT volumetric datasets rendered in Drishti.  They include: (i) Liver Lobe, Rabbit liver illustrating venous and arterial (orange) systems; (ii) Interior of a lizard head (common garden skink); (iii) Fossil fish eyeball (Placoderm), 410 million years old, found in Wee Jasper, NSW. "


Credits for Artforms of Nature: A new way of seeing. 
Ajay Limaye, Peter Morse, Paul Bourke. Vizlab, Australian National University. WASP, University of Western Australia. Featuring fisheye volume rendering from Drishti. Datasets Fossil fish eyeball (Placoderm). Gavin Young, ANU Common garden skink. Tim Senden, ANU Rabbit liver lobe. Tim Senden, ANU ©2008 by the artists. "-http://www.youtube.com/user/peteremorse


Drishti: Volume Exploration and Presentation Tool
"Drishti has been developed keeping in mind the end-use : visualizing tomography data, electron-microscopy data, etc. Understanding the data set is important and conveying that understanding to the research community or a lay person is equally important. Drishti is aiming for both. The central idea about Drishti is that the scientists should be able to use it for exploring volumetric datasets as well as use it in presentations."

Paul Burke's Experiments in Interactive Visual Immersion in Second Life

Lynn Marentette, Interactive Multimedia Technology, 5/14/08

Interdisciplinary Workshop - OZVIZ 2011:  November 23-25, Sydney, Australia

"The workshop provides an occasion for participants to present research outcomes, share innovative ideas, publicise work and meet colleagues. It is highly multidisciplinary, with participants from fields such as mathematics, geoscience, architecture, biology, medicine and astronomy presenting alongside computer graphics and visualisation experts."

OZVIZ 2010

Urban Screens Conference & Exhibition: Call for Interactive Media and Video Art (2010, Toronto, Sept. 24-30)

I've been fascinated by urban screens for a while, and this is a passion that is shared by a growing number of people who come to the "screenspace" from a wide range of disciplines. I received an email this morning about a call for interactive media and video art for the 2010 Urban Screens conference and exhibition that will be held in Toronto between September 24th-30th 2010.  This is a great reason to plan ahead for a trip to that fantastic city!


Below is a description of the urban screens concept, the details for potential conference and exhibition partipation, and a section of links and resources related to this topic.
The theme of the conference is "I am here; what can we do?"

"Public screens – or rather large screens situated in public space – are proliferating in cities all over the world. How should we understand the emergence of the electronic screen from the domestic interior onto the streetscape of contemporary cities? What are the implications of the merging of screens with architecture, which turns the surface into a communication resource? How will the overlap between streetscape and datascape shape public space in the future?
– Scott McQuire, “Mobility, cosmopolitanism and public space in the media city” (2009).

"Urban screens are digital displays and visual interfaces situated in urban public spaces. They include LED screens and signs, plasma screens, projections, information terminals as well as intelligent architectural surfaces and media facades. They support the idea of using public space as a platform for creation and cultural exchange, strengthening the local economy and encouraging public interaction and discussion."  - Urban Screens Association


Call for Interactive Media And Video Art

The exhibition “I am here; what can we do?” is part of Urban Screens Toronto 2010, an international urban screens conference and exhibition taking place between September 24th-30th 2010; produced in collaboration with the International Urban Screens Association (IUSA).

Urban Screens Toronto 2010 will promote a multifaceted approach to exploring the growing appearance of moving images in urban space and the global transformation of public culture in the context of networked forms of urban screens. It will build on the successful events held in Amsterdam, Manchester, and Melbourne and will be the first international Urban Screens conference held in North America.

Through an integrated program of keynote lectures, panel sessions, workshops, curated screenings and multimedia projects, it will bring together leading Canadian and international artists and curators, architects and urban planners, designers, ad agencies and brand managers, screen operators and content providers, academics, activists, policymakers, technology manufacturers, software developers and more.

I am here; what can we do?

Public Call For:
New or existing experimental, interactive artwork suitable for urban screens.
Short-format video works relevant for presentation on urban screens.
Interactive design & advertising works created for urban screens including past commercial interactive work from advertising  agencies and designers.
Student work interactive and video work by students from any institution worldwide.
Themes include, but are not limited to: The meeting point of the real and the virtual; work that incorporates media technology and contemporary building/architectural technology; user-generated content; multi-site, networked projects; work that addresses public spaces and civic engagement.

IMPORTANT INFORMATION:
Submission deadline: MARCH 1 2010
 Submission format: Please submit PDF files only, no larger than 3 MB.
 Proposals should include:
 1) Brief 50-word summary of your artwork
 2) Full proposal or description of the project (maximum 2 pages)
 3) Maximum 10 images and URL where work can be found online if applicable
 4) Documentation of this work if it has previously be exhibited, or of another exhibited work by the artist.
 3) Detailed list of technical requirements
 4) Curriculum Vitae (maximum 3 pages)
Fees: There is no entry fee. Reasonable presentation fees will be paid, for new and existing interactive work and videos. Fees will not be paid for design & advertising work. Students will not receive a fee, but will  be automatically considered for a prize. Please note that we cannot fund the creation of new work.
Submit; In the subject line please write URBAN SCREENS PROPOSAL
Email to JURY at:  urbanscreenstoronto@gmail.com
The jury will be comprised of Toronto Urban Screens committee members Michelle Kasprzak, Janine Marchessault, Gabe Sawhney, Suzanne Stein and Sharon Switzer.
Notification: April 1, 2010


RELATED
International Urban Screens Association
Urban Screens Blog
Urban Screens' Resources
Urban Screens '09 Videos  "The City as Interface"

Urban Screens' Blogroll
Digital Urban
Infosthetics
Interactive Architecture
Luminapolis
The Mobile City
Urban Projection
Visual Foreign Correspondents
We make money not art
Urban Screens Reader

"The Urban Screens Reader  is the first book to focus entirely on the topic of urban screens. In assembling contributions from a range of leading theorists, in conjunction with a series of case studies dealing with artists’ projects and screen operators’ and curators’ experiences, the reader offers a rich resource for those interested in the intersections between digital media, cultural practices and urban space."

"Urban Screens have emerged as a key site in contemporary struggles over public culture and public space. They form a strategic junction in debates over the relation between technological innovation, the digital economy, and the formation of new cultural practices in contemporary cities. How should we conceptualize public participation in relation to urban screens? Are ‘the public’ citizens, consumers, producers, or something else? Where is the public located? When a screen is erected in public space, who has access to it and control over it? What are the appropriate forms of urban planning, design and governance? How do urban screens affect cultural experiences?"

FYI:
I'm re-visiting all of the above blogs and will share what I find after I surface from the digital rabbit-hole!

More Urban Screens and Outdoor 3D Media Facades

Maybe this will sprout up on outdoor building walls in a city near you!  
 
 
There's more to life than a Volvo - Frankfurt 2009 "3D projection and production by NuFormer in coorporation with Saatchi & Saatchi"  

RELATED  
3D Projections on Buildings: A distinctive way of communicating  
Communicating Through Architecture:  Media Facades and the Digital Infrastructure  The Rathous 
(Contains an assortment of videos and pictures)  
Art and Commerce Meet on Building's Interactive Media Facades Kelsey Keith, Fast Company, 10/2/209 

International Urban Screens Association  

"Urban Screens are dynamic digital displays and visual interfaces located within urban public spaces. They include LED screens and signs, plasma screens, information terminals and projection surfaces as well as intelligent architectural surfaces and media facades...Urban Screens transform the capacity of public spaces to serve as a platform for user-generated civic and cultural expression, community building, multiculturalism and public engagment in issues related to social, cultural and environmental sustainability....Through networking, content sharing and joint broadcasting, they constitute a rapidly expanding and still largely experimental global multimedia infrastructure for commercial and cultural exchange." "The IUSA aims to inform and support the ‘worldwide Urban Screens movement’: the expanding use of dynamic digital displays in public spaces; their considerate and sustainable integration in the urban landscape; and the ability for screen communities to collaborate in the digital space to share content, experience, ideas, innovations and emerging possibilities."

Book:  Media Facades:  History, Technology and Content, M.Hank Haeusler 

Cross-posted on The World Is My Interface

Varied Collection of Interface Interactions: Art and Sculpture Videos For Your Viewing Pleasure

Cross posted on The World Is My Interface

I've been exploring the contributions of artists to the world of interactive digital media. Here are videos of some of the interesting works I've come across recently.  Some of the videos are of older works, but were new to me.


INTERACTIVE KINETIC SCULPTURE
Kinetic Pond

(I'm still searching for more information regarding the Kinetic Pond.)

Rose Finn-Kelcey:  It Pays to Pray.  Interactive Sculpture at the Cass Sculpture Foundation.  Filmed by Robin Fitton.

"Insert 20p and select one of a range of prayers. An interactive sculpture which gives you back the money after providing an interesting message. Warning not to be used by the holy or holey. The prayers were about relationships with various chocolate bar brands."    It Pays to Pray Description


Fiber Cloud, MIT Mobile Experience Lab

The Cloud - from MIT Mobile Experience Lab on Vimeo.
For more information, see the Fiber Cloud web page.


Marque Cornblatt: Interactive Kinetic Steampunk Sculptures (1993-1996)

Marque Cornblatt blogs at The MediaSapien:  The Art and Culture of Hypermediated Identity
Marque Cornblatt's MFA Thesis:  The Emergence of the MediaSapien

Daniel Rozin's Wooden Mirrors (Uses video system)

More Information: Daniel Rozin Interactive Art


GIANT- Interactive Sculpture at the Children's Museum of Pittsburgh (2008) David Butts
Imagine what this could do if it was controlled by gestures and a system of sensors!


Nothing (without you)(Adam Chapman)Warning: What is inside the box is sort of yucky!


Hall of Faces that Follow
(Installation at Puzzling World in New Zealand-I don't think this installation is computerized.)




Interactive Sculpture:  MirrorMap, by Ryan Schenk


Self Organizing Still Life- David Fried's Kinetic Sculpture at the Atlanta Botanical Garden (responds to sounds)


Another video of Self Organizing Still Life

Act/React: Interactive Art Installation Video Milwaulkee Art Museum
Brian Knep discusses computer technology and his art:


Scott Snibbe's Deep Walls   Milwaukee Art Museum

Scott Snibbe's Artist's Statement (Focuses on interaction)

Interactive Digital Art/Music at the Gray Area Foundation for the Arts

This video gives some background about the Gray Area Foundation for the Arts, and also provides a glimpse of some interesting interfaces and interaction.


forward/slash: The Gray Area Foundation for the Arts Story from GAFFTA on Vimeo.


"Gray Area Foundation for the Arts (GAFFTA) is a San Francisco-based nonprofit dedicated to building social consciousness through digital culture. Guided by the principles of openness, collaboration, and resource sharing, our programs promote creativity at the intersection of art, design, sound, and technology. By making digital culture accessible, substantive and inspiring, we aim to help realize the greatest power of technology: to bring us closer, faster. For more information and how you can be a part of our vision, please visit gaffta.org"

Thanks to Seth Sandler for the link!

(This is a cross-post.)

Rhizome 2009: A Lovely Interactive Multi-touch App on a Flexible Lycra Screen

Loran Bey is a member of the NUI group. He created Rhizome 2009 using Unity 3D and tBeta, now know as CCV (Community Core Vision). The screen in the video is made from flexible lycra, and this provides a tangible interaction effect. The music in the background is Aphix Twin's Avril 14th.

MultiTouch Screen Lycra from Loran Bey on Vimeo.

Unity 3D is a game development tool for browser-base games, including games optimized for the iPhone. (If you visit the Unity 3D website, be sure to download their 3D web plugin and visit their relaxing on-line Tropical Paradise.)

The screen displayed in the video was inspired by the 2005 Khronos Projector installation, by Alvero Cassinelli, an assistant professor at the Ishikawa Komuro Laboratory at the University of Tokyo. Khronos is described as a "video time-warping machine with a deformable screen."

The Khronos Projector website provides several simulation applets built with Processing that you can play with. They were fun to interact with on my HP TouchSmart PC. I liked Behind the Door the best.

The following video demonstrates how the Khronos application works:


Take a look at Alvaro Cassinelli's archive of his interactive media art if you have the chance!

Cassinelli's Meta-Perception research group is doing some interesting things, too:

"The goal of this group is to research methods for capturing and manipulating information that is normally inaccessible to humans and machines. In doing so, we hope to create new ways of perceiving the world and interacting with technology. Our research methods span fields such as human-computer interaction, media arts, physiology, and ethics."

Umajin Creative -Digital Story Telling for Interactive Whiteboard or Touch Screen- free demo available

Umajin Creative is an application designed for digital storytelling. I haven't had a chance to preview it. I was impressed with the pictures on the website. If you use this application, please leave a comment. It looks kid and teacher friendly. I can see that it has potential!

According to the website, you can "compose multi-page digital documents with rich text, digital photography (including blue screen support), illustrations, sound, video, 3D models, particle fx, interactive functionality, and so much more... runs on both a Mac and PC. It also supports interactive whiteboards and touch screen PC's.. so you can interact directly with the content. With the HP Touchsmart PC you can use real brushes on the screen..to experience digital painting with variable width brush strokes!

Interactive Digital Storybook:


Below: Cool-looking digital brushes.

Above- Sample 3D models
Below- Sample of blue-screened cutout images

Below: Samples of animated particle effects

Seven Custom Functions:

I think the people from Fingertapps are responsible for UMAJIN. Below is a video highlighting multi-touch applications: