Ye fool.
“zero is not the other, but the very possibility of all the ones. “ Sadie Plant.
By: J.Pepin Gaste
Introduction
“Ye fool” is a succinct unpacking of the different stratus of the becoming image as code encounters the matrice. It’s a very literal proposal arguing that images can not be dissociated from their surface of emergence and a little critic of the absurd dichotomy between image and materiality. Image as entangled in materiality.
Concept and background research
"The medium is the message, and there is No possibility of distinguishing what is touching from what is touched” (lrigaray 1985b: 25).
As mentioned here above, I was and am interested in the materiality of the “digital” image as co-constitutive of oneanother. Never the less, this was a technical assignment therefore I won’t pretend for any in depth concept. I was generally inspired by the theoretical work of Sadie Plant "0 and 1". Then, on an aesthetical level I looked into ascii art from the 90’s and some generative works using fluid dynamics on both open frameworks and processing peer platforms. Thus, I tend to step away from over “styling” my work by referring to trend channels. (A.) is a small atmospherical retranscription of my references. As a trained "creative" practitioner I also put some effort in making the projection surface as I believe that both the image and the matrices are of similar importance. The surface was generated using NASA imagery of Venus texture. Clearly, using Venus texture as a 3D surface and talking about "0 and 1" is a small conceptual wink to queer computation, techno-feminism and cyberpunk which I am very influenced by, never the less, it is only a wink, not a concept.
Technical
For the visual:
I worked with C++ within OpenFrameworks. // The body of animation was generated working mainly with primitive graphics, basic image/ video manipulation and simple motions involving for loops, sin, cos, vectors, deques, bezier curves…
For the projection:
We were assigned to use PiMapper.
For the surface:
I generated the Venus surface using Fusion 360 together with NASA data imagery,
The ply-wood model was then lasercut and assembled,
Finally, It was coated with latex paint.
Future development
I reckon I would develop a proper concept and find a theoretical thread to actually critically assess the code I am developing. As I am not interested in pure aesthetic I would really dive into the procedural aspect of C++ coding for visual making and inquire its meaning in our current image warfare. I would also dive into a more in depth study of the techno-feminist aspect of image materiality and the feminisation of the Matrix.
Technically speaking, I could develop a few pieces with different surfaces and visual interaction but I generally wish to use C++ in a more relevant and critical manner. While finsihing the assignment I also already undertook the decision to have a more rythmed way of learning C++ as I think it demands a rather daily approach// I wish to try and developp my own coding synthaxic style.
Self evaluation
Generally speaking I think I could have worked out a more in-depth concept. I am globally satisfied, but the fact that it was assigned limited my creative endeavour. Therefore, I am looking forward in applying this learning to more relevant projects. Technically I think I was struggling with vectors and did no use enough of them, I did not annotate my code properly and could have thought a bit more arythmetically. Although I love working in such way, I think I played a lot with failed and unexpected aspects of the code which I would experimentally disrupt until I was satisfied with what I saw. This is, I believe, a very intuitive and experiemtnal way of coding but it might be trouble some if I get asked to do very specific things (yet, maybe I just don’t want to work like this anyway so it does not really matter?).
References
Theoretical:
Plant, S. (n.d.). Zeros + ones.
Temkin, D. (2018). Entropy and FatFinger: Challenging the Compulsiveness of Code with Programmatic Anti-Styles. Leonardo, 51(4), pp.405-412.
Technical:
"Bezier Beauty" from tinfoil_powers. https://www.openprocessing.org/sketch/445137;
"Fork of Noise-y Sea" from rondinif. https://www.openprocessing.org/sketch/394507;
"Nervous Waves 2" from Levente Sandor. https://www.openprocessing.org/sketch/153224;
Video:
MRU Tempestum Mars.mpg by Marco Ruocco
The video contains animations of globes of planetary bodies, rendered from public-domain NASA digital data (Mars Global Surveyor, Magellan Venus, and Clementine to the Moon space missions). Software: World Construction Set 3.5, Gromada VideoMach, on AMD Duron processor.NASA | SDO's Ultra-high Definition View of 2012 Venus Transit
On June 5 2012, SDO collected images of the rarest predictable solar event--the transit of Venus across the face of the sun. This event happens in pairs eight years apart that are separated from each other by 105 or 121 years. The last transit was in 2004 and the next will not happen until 2117.