Concept and Reflections

When an alcoholic attends an AA meeting and stands up and says. ‘Hi my name is Bob and I am an alcoholic’ its termed as the moment of clarity. Alcoholism is viewed as diseases because addicts are not aware of that they have a problem.
This denial is also common among toupee wears because they assume they look good when the reality is their disguise stands out.

My concept investigates what wigs symbolize for those of us that interact with wig wearers.
In cases involving women this fake hair practice is harmlessly condoned, but it takes a special kind of character to pull it off as a man. I am British and of African descent and I have heard personal experiences of women from my family and women that I have known using wigs, usually as a cosmetic prop. This is a sign of self colonization where a culture has adopted a western perception of what beautiful hair should look like.

According to Encyclopedia Britannica, “A wig is a manufactured head covering of real or artificial hair worn in the theatre, as personal adornment, disguise, or symbol of office, or for religious reasons.”

However, wigs go back to the 4th century B.C. and the culture of the Egyptians, who shaved their heads so as to remain free of vermin in the hot Egyptian climate. Palm and wool fibers, animal hair and even gold and silver metals were used to show the rank of office held by the wearer – the more elaborate, the higher the office of state.

In the 16th century the periwig merely simulated real hair, either as an adornment or to cover hair loss. The 17th century saw the periwig worn as a distinctive feature of costume. Louis XIII, prematurely bald, also adopted one thus setting the fashion. In fact the periwig never really came out of fashion, being favored by Charles I, Queen Anne and George III up to modern times, and worn by both males and females for cosmetic and medical reasons. In fact the present term ‘wig’ is derived from the French word periwig.

In today’s image conscious society, appearances do matter, that’s why loosing ones hair can be such a traumatic experience.
“Many people (perhaps even the majority) end up with something that is either unflattering or unconvincing because they don’t receive the proper care and advice” sales pitch from a wig salesman.

What I am seeking to express is the symbolism behind wig or toupee wearing, because it’s fundamentally about appearances.

My guiding notion is that the human body is the most beautiful piece of art ever. So a hairless woman might be a bit of a hard sight but on close examination some other redeeming feature will come into focus.
In addition, we are prisoners of our appearances and what a better way to express this notion than to show a wig with independence by that I mean ‘life’ injected into it. A jumping wig or a toupee that interacts with the audience

Finally this piece will be an experiment on sculptures with elements of movement and electronics work

Development of the piece.

Having decided to make a piece that incorporates movement. I was aware that the first step was to define the technical workings of the project. However, there was an element of luck, on e Saturday morning in November last year, in Tooting south west London I came across a discarded shop display cabinet on a side street. I loaded it into my van and brought to the studio. Later on I also purchased the two wigs from the same street. The sensors and servo were ordered on-line and delivered in Tooting. In a way the whole piece is made in Tooting were I leave and even though I have not set name for the project. Tooting or Tooting SW London does seem appropriate. In addition the multiculturalism aspect of the area should influence the title.

The first step was visualizations of how the piece would work within the space inside the display cabinet. To facilitate movement that reacts with sensors I had to develop a of pulleys system with spindles that would work in conjunction with servo. The next step was to write the code for the ultrasonic sensor that would detect objects or movement around the piece and the values would move the servo.

At present I have achieved all the mentioned developments, and I am thinking about the aesthetics of the piece. I got in touch with a well known Canadian artist, Michelle Bellemare and lucky enough she did reply my email. She reflected on her piece Tease 2004 and advised me to spend more time prototyping until I achieve the final or visceral effect. My project is still work in progress and I intend to spend the coming weeks finalizing it.

Weak and Strong points.

I think the display cabinet is a liability. I like its charm and the way I acquired it; I recycled it but sometimes when I look at it I think it does not lend that much to the piece. I am tempted to expose the pulleys, spindle, sensors, servo and wigs. It’s something that I will look into.

I think I need to incorporate more varied movement to avoid a monotonous reaction. To achieve this, I need to write more code that will deal with proximity to the piece. The ultra sonic sensor has a 3 meter range, within this exits different possibilities and variation of movement. To achieve this I might need more servos or even more wigs.

As for the strong points, the piece is a personal comment. In an image conscious society, their is danger of reality or its perception being eroded.

What I have learned.

I have learned that when working with electronic components and circuit boards its important to have back-up components. This will be ideal if exhibiting in a gallery or during a demonstration. Secondly, I have learned to be patient when dealing with electronic components such as circuit boards, micro controllers and code writing; they need to be exact.

I received my sensor late in December but I did not have a servo motor. I tried to get one from maplins and it was the same old story. They had the stock on-line but none in there London stores.

The sensor I am using is a Devantech SRFO4 Ultra sonic Range Module from active robots. For movement I am using a futuba standard servo, not that it makes a difference but I am calling the components by there full names, because when it comes to searching for a code on-line it does matter.

The SRF04 Ultra Sonic Ranger Module is adequate. Its affordable and it can easily be connected to many micro-controller’s including Arduino, to measure/detect the presence of obstacles. The input from sensor can be be coded to move the servo. In my case its 270 degrees and reverse with a delay and the ability to alter the tempo.

The first code example I looked at is on Tom Igoe’s Blog. The extract below is for controlling Devantech SRF04 and SRF05 sensors.

http://www.tigoe.net/pcomp/code/category/code/arduinowiring/17

/*
  Ultrasonic Sensor sketch

  This program reads a Devantech SRF04 ultrasonic distance sensor
  The SRF04 sensor's pins are connected as described below.
  Created 9 November 2006
  By Tom Igoe and Neilson Abeel
*/

#define echoPin 2             // the SRF04's echo pin
#define initPin 3             // the SRF04's init pin
unsigned long pulseTime = 0;  // variable for reading the pulse

void setup() {
  // make the init pin an output:
  pinMode(initPin, OUTPUT);
  // make the echo pin an input:
  pinMode(echoPin, INPUT);
  // initialize the serial port:
  Serial.begin(9600);
}

void loop() {
  // send the sensor a 10microsecond pulse:
  digitalWrite(initPin, HIGH);
  delayMicroseconds(10);
  digitalWrite(initPin, LOW);

  // wait for the pulse to return. The pulse
  // goes from low to HIGH to low, so we specify
  // that we want a HIGH-going pulse below:

  pulseTime = pulseIn(echoPin, HIGH);

  // print out that number
  Serial.println(pulseTime, DEC);
}

* Servo Move Simple
 * -----------------
 * Move an R/C servo back and forth (0 to 180 degrees) using
 * delayMicroseconds() for pulse and delay() for time between pulses.
 *
 * Created 18 October 2006
 * copyleft 2006 Tod E. Kurt <tod@todbot.com>
 * http://todbot.com/
 *
 * Adapted from Daniel @
 * http://www.arduino.cc/cgi-bin/yabb2/YaBB.pl?num=1160470155/0
 * Rotates servo through 180 degrees, using "servoPulse" function
 * adapted from "Temporary Servo Function"  by Tom Igoe and Jeff Gray
 */

int servoPin = 7;            // R/C  Servo connected to digital pin
int myAngle;                 // angle of the servo (roughly in degrees) 0-180
int pulseWidth;              // function variable

void servoPulse(int servoPin, int myAngle) {
  pulseWidth = (myAngle * 11) + 500;  // converts angle to microseconds
  digitalWrite(servoPin, HIGH);       // set servo high
  delayMicroseconds(pulseWidth);      // wait a very small amount
  digitalWrite(servoPin, LOW);        // set servo low
  delay(20);                          // refresh cycle of typical servos (20 ms)
}

void setup() {
  pinMode(servoPin, OUTPUT);          // set servoPin pin as output
}

void loop() {
  // cycle through every angle (rotate the servo 180 slowly)
  for (myAngle=0; myAngle<=180; myAngle++) {
    servoPulse(servoPin, myAngle);
  }
  delay(1000);
}

int servoPin = 7;            // R/C  Servo connected to digital pin
int myAngle;                 // angle of the servo (roughly in degrees) 0-180
int pulseWidth;              // function variable
int val;                     // variable used to store data from serial port 

void servoPulse(int servoPin, int myAngle) {
  pulseWidth = (myAngle * 11) + 500;  // converts angle to microseconds
  digitalWrite(servoPin, HIGH);       // set servo high
  delayMicroseconds(pulseWidth);      // wait a very small amount
  digitalWrite(servoPin, LOW);        // set servo low
  delay(20);                          // refresh cycle of typical servos (20 ms)
} 

void setup() {
  pinMode(servoPin, OUTPUT);          // set servoPin pin as output
  Serial.begin(9600);                 // connect to the serial port
  Serial.println("servo_serial_simple ready");
   val = 1;
} 

void loop() {
       // read the serial port 

  // if the stored value is a single-digit number, blink the LED that number
  if (val > 0 && val <= 270 ) {
    val = val + 1;       // convert from character to number
    val = val * (270/9);   // convert from number to degrees
    //Serial.print("moving servo to ");
    //Serial.print(val,DEC);
    //Serial.println();
    for( int i=0; i<20; i++ ) {
      servoPulse(servoPin, val);
    }
  }
  if (val>268){
    val = 1;
  }
}

servo-and-ultrasonic-sensor-combined

int servoPin = 7;            // R/C  Servo connected to digital pin

int myAngle;                 // angle of the servo (roughly in degrees) 0-180

int pulseWidth;              // function variable

int val;                     // variable used to store data from serial port

#define echoPin 2            //from sensor prog

#define initPin 3            //from sensor prog

unsigned long pulseTime = 0;   //from sensor prog

void servoPulse(int servoPin, int myAngle) {

  pulseWidth = (myAngle * 11) + 500;  // converts angle to microseconds

  digitalWrite(servoPin, HIGH);       // set servo high

  delayMicroseconds(pulseWidth);      // wait a very small amount 

  digitalWrite(servoPin, LOW);        // set servo low

   pinMode(initPin, OUTPUT);                //from sensor prog

  pinMode(echoPin, INPUT);                  //from sensor prog

  delay(20);                          // refresh cycle of typical servos (20 ms)

}

void setup() {

  pinMode(servoPin, OUTPUT);          // set servoPin pin as output

  Serial.begin(9600);                 // connect to the serial port

  Serial.println("servo_serial_simple ready");

   val = 1;

}

void loop() {

       // read the serial port

  // if the stored value is a single-digit number, blink the LED that number

  if (val > 0 && val <= 270 ) {

    val = val + 1;       // convert from character to number

    val = val * (270/9);   // convert from number to degrees

    //Serial.print("moving servo to ");

    //Serial.print(val,DEC);

    //Serial.println();

    for( int i=0; i<20; i++ ) {

      servoPulse(servoPin, val);

    }

  }

  if (val>270){

    val = 1;

  }

  digitalWrite(initPin, HIGH);

  delayMicroseconds(10);

  digitalWrite(initPin, LOW);

  pulseTime = pulseIn(echoPin, HIGH);

  Serial.println(pulseTime, DEC);

}

My aim is  to  receive input from an SRF04 ultrasonic sensor and translate it into a control signal for a servo motor which will in turn move the wig.

Methodologies of art -historical analysis are:

• Formalism
• Iconography
• Marxism
• Feminism
• Biography and autobiography
• Semiology
• Deconstruction
• Psychoanalysis

Formalism grew out of the nineteenth century aesthetic of ‘Art for Art’s sake’ -which stood for artistic a activity as an end in its self. Champions of formalism view works of art independent of their context, function and content. They respond to the formal elements and to the aesthetic effect that the arrangement of those elements creates.

Formalist writers on art were among the first to relate changes in artistic style to cultural change. A good example of a piece of art that has the effect of formal elements is Constantin Brancusi ‘Birds of Space’ (1928) A bronze unique .

A large part of the effect of the piece depends on its verticality. Yet it has curved outlines, sleek proportions and a reflective bronze surface. Its golden colour might evoke a reminder of the sun and therefore reinforce the association of birds in the sky. If the this piece was made with another material and was made so that it stood horizontally its aesthetic effect would be very different.

A second example is Meret Oppenheim, Fur Covered Cup, Saucer, and Spoon (Le Dejeuner en Fourrure) 1936 is a piece that is very memorable because of its texture
When one sees a cup the response is to drink from it, our lips touching the rim of the cup however its furry texture repels us. At the same timer the cup is amusing because of its extraordinary nature, the materials used to build it.

I find these aspects of formalism helpful hints  and use them as outlines as I enter the realisation stage of my project.

http://www.appearances-by-laura.co.uk/hist_wig.htm

http://www.makingthings.com/

http://tinker.it/now/category/physical-computing/

http://www.tigoe.net/intro.shtml

http://www.basicmicro.com/

http://opensource.org/docs/osd

http://www.similardiversity.net/details.php

Kutlug Ataman Women Who Wear Wigs. – Review – video recording review

http://www.saatchi-gallery.co.uk/artists/artpages/rachel_harrison_glamour_wig.htm

http://www.peakgallery.com/Fairs/art_fairs_05/05_arco.htm

http://www.youtube.com

http://www.processing.org/

http://www.arduino.cc/

We were shown footage of work from documenta 12. Most were installation heavy on physical compting applications exploring. I managed to find a video and read up a review on Imogen Stidworthy.
“i hate” (imogen stidworthy) II
“Imogen Stidworthy (born 1963) has a slickly technological investigation of language phenomena literally separating signifieds and signifiers with an enclosed area for sound and different screens for close-up mouth shots of the speakers, LED streams of their words, and phonetic text projections. The presentation was actually fresh and imaginative, but the issues, like so many of the dead artists in Documenta and the didactic tone of its curator, feel like they are from a bygone age.”

By David Cohen- http://www.artcritical.com/DavidCohen/SUN-2007/0615.htm
Hacking and breaking into existing circuits to commandeer them as part of an artistic practice.

Hacked mario.
Intsruments that play themselves.

On programming and the wig concept

Two pieces of work have captured my imagination on how to best present the appearnce/idenity concept. I admit that its all in the air and as I go through the possibilities of what is feasable some desions will be made on my behalf and that is all part of the process.

The first piece; Similar Diversity is a project by Philipp Steinweber and Andreas Koller, realised with VVVV and Processing. It is an information graphic which opens up a new perspective on topics of religion and faith by visualizing the Holy Books of five world religions. Communalities and differences of Christianity, Islam, Hinduism, Buddhism and Judaism are shown up in this datavisualization.
The visual’s basis is an objective text analysis of the Holy Scriptures, and works without any interpretations from the creators’ side. Despite – or even because of this abstraction, the artworks are not only working on an informal but also on an emotional level. The viewers should be inspired to think about their own prejudices and current religious conflicts. http://www.similardiversity.net/ I like the graphic presentation of data visually and when I think of the wig and diversity of wig colours, gender and ethnicity, I fill that there is something to be explored in a playful way. Data on why apperances matter, types of wigs, styles, colours, durability, quality, what causes hair loss and the use of wigs either for fun or for cosmetic purposes can be explored.

The second piece is sirens by Ray Lee. In the workshop we saw a video of this installation. metal tripods with what appeared to be sound generators or oscillators attached to rotating arms powered by motors, spin around picking up speed thus creating an amazing whailing sound enviroment. What I like about this piece is the performance element of it. I have certainly never seen anything like it and its a very different experience of viewing art because it takes up the sorrounding enviroment, its playful and fun. siren video clip trThe above two piecs set me thinking and on my way home, I walked into Boarders bookshop on Charing Cros road, to see what else could inspire me. I cam accross Banks violette piece Hate them

http://www.saatchi-gallery.co.uk/artists/artpages/banks_violette_hate_them_usa.htm

This is a sculpture that holds alot of meaning. My first impressions was that it looked like an abstract drum kit and further research expanded my view on this. I like this peice because it opens up my concept, I can incorporate more, for instance things a wig wearing person would not do for example ride a bicycle on a windy day or play a set of african drums.

Reflections from week 2

Reflection on Physical Computing.

http://www.tigoe.net/intro.shtml
I found Tom Igoe site full of good information, it was a very informative especially the physical computing section. Below is a summary.

What is physical computing?
It’s an approach to learning how humans communicate through computers that starts by considering how humans express themselves physically.

Physical computing applications tend to depend more on people for input, and amplify that input into another form, like an animation, a sound, or motion. Robotics tends towards duplicating what humans can do, replacing the human brain with a computer brain; physical computing tends to extend what they can do, leaving the human brain and body at the centre of it all.

Factors to consider when choosing a micro controller.

Programming Environment.
What type of machine with what kind of ports do you need to program it, in what language e.g. Basic, Assembly, Java, C. Are their multiple pieces of hardware? Do you need programming hardware? How much does it cost?

Price of the Chip, of the initial development chip and the feasibility of reproducing the design a million times.

Digital I/0 –number of lines of digital input and output

Analogue In –number of lines of Analogue to Digital converters, speed and resolution of the measurement. The Basic stamp has no analogue inputs but you can fake it for some analogue sensors.

Analogue Out –ability to provide analogue outputs. Are there dedicated analogue outputs that maintain the output while the microcontroller does other things?

Speed of Execution — Is it interpreted (slow) or compiled (fast).
Amount of Memory –how big can your program be, how many variable you can use, how much data can you store.

Supporting Knowledge Base — are their books, news groups, web pages, friends to help you figure things out.

Compatible Product Line.
Can you add on boards to do things like controlling stepper motors or telephone lines? Often these boards are expensive but they just snap into place without you making any special circuitry. If your time is worth anything then these boards are a good buy.

Physical Size — how tiny is it.

Power –can they run on batteries and for how long?

EPROM — ability to keep a program in memory after power has been removed </UL>

I first came across High Level micro controllers whilst researching for the maverick machines module.
I agree with Dan O’Sullivan’s observation that high level micro controllers allow an artist to concentrate more on his concept hence saving time on wiring and finding the appropriate codes.
The Teleo System was a series of modules developed by San Francisco-based MakingThings.com. There were different types of Teleo Modules for controlling different types of motors, for collecting sensor data, and for a combination of collecting sensor data and triggering electronic devices like lights or motors. The modules could have been purchased separately as needed and strung together to communicate with each other through a network. The Teleo then communicates with the Max program through a direct USB connection. Unfortunately makingthings.com no longer sell Teleo micro controllers but all the documentation, downloads, and support materials can still be found on their website.
However makingthings.com do stock a new micro controller, (more expensive than previous ones from Teleo or harvester) from the description propaganda it seems impressive.
http://www.makingthings.com/products/KIT-MAKE-CTRL/

The Make Controller Kit is a fully programmable,open source hardware platform for projects requiring high performance control/feedback, connectivity, and ease of use. It can also be used as an interface to a variety of desktop environments like Max/MSP, Flash, and Processing, Java, Python, Ruby – anything that supports OSC.

http://www.netmedia.com/
NetMedia Inc. is a leading manufacturer in Video Distribution and Camera equipment, embedded micro-control products, and embedded Ethernet web products.

The chain reaction was about, a physical action setting off a series of events that in turn were relayed into an image and the image was then relayed to another computer using Ethernet through the computer’s IP address. Once there an additional patch, triggered by sound distorted the visual output.

A ball rolling towards a set of scales set off the chain reaction experiment. On hitting the scales the ball released a ball that rolled down a tube, which had an on/off switch at the bottom.

The on/off switch was a very simple fabrication. Basically, two pieces of conductive material (two little pieces tin from a coke can) were soldered and connected to the arduino controller. So when the ball hit them, they touched and completed the circuit. The arduino board had already been programmed with the Knight rider code, but the code was modified to include the on/off switch.

The LED was then set on, (initially the plan was to use the relays to set off a pair of fluorescent blinking but on the demonstration day this did not happen so we carried on with LED’s instead.) The web cam then relayed the live feed of the blinking on a computer (A) running Eyesweb. The patch was a simple frame grabber connected to a display. Computer A was already configured to communicate with computer B using the Ethernet connection. The computers identified each other through their IP address settings.

Computer B was also running Eyesweb and the patch was film string effect. This visual effect is activated by sound. A microphone is connected to the computer and the incoming sound distorts the incoming feed of the blinking LED depending on the continuous income of sound or the number of silent breaks between the sound feed. To expand more breaks in the sound feed the more linear visual effect.

After the presentation I suggested that this visual output is a representation of the gravity that pulls the ball down.
The sound input could have been the buzzing sound of the relays but the microphone was not long enough to reach the arduino and breadboard.  i