Produced for The Franklin Institute Science Museum.
The goal of this interactive is to explain how neurons work together to form networks. Patrons use a multi-touch screen to create, move, rotate, and "fire" neurons. When oriented correctly, one neuron can send a signal through its axons to another neuron's dendrites. The open-ended nature of the interactive allows users to create loops and complex branching structures, which can teach them about the regularity of patterns in networks.
Written in Java using Processing.
Summer 2011.
Produced for The Franklin Institute Science Museum in collaboration with Brian Kelly.
The goal of this interactive is to explain how the brain deduces where a sound is coming from in space. Sound usually hits your ears at different times; despite the high speed and frequency of sound, the human brain can measure this time difference to an astounding degree of accuracy. To demonstrate this, the user manipulates a digital bee's position in space. Sound waves emanate from the bee in slow motion, in most cases hitting one ear and then the next. The user is displayed on-screen via a camera above to aid them in visualizing the sound's location.
Written in Java and C++ using Processing and Arduino. Audio filter written in Max/MSP.
Spring/Summer 2011.
Produced for The Franklin Institute Science Museum in collaboration with Brian Kelly.
The goal of this interactive is to demonstrate the limits of short-term memory. The human brain can temporarily remember an average of seven pieces of information. A locked safe is presented to the user. Three numbers are flashed on the screen for several seconds; when the disappear, the user must enter them using a keypad. If they have done so correctly, the safe is unlocked and the science is explained on a screen. When they close the safe, four numbers are presented. This process repeats up to ten digits. By turning it into a game, users actively explore the limits of their memory and can devise ways to remember more efficiently- for example, by chunking the numbers into small groups.
Written in Java and C++ using Processing and Arduino.
Winter/Spring 2011.
Produced for The Franklin Institute Science Museum in collaboration with Brian Kelly.
The goal of this interactive is to show how the structure of the brain changes over time. Users browse through actual MRI images using a physical interface which mimics the action of "scanning" the brain. Several ages are presented side-by-side to encourage a comparison between them.
Written in Java and C++ using Processing and Arduino.
Summer 2011.
Produced in collaboration with Meg Talley.
What if a hand puppet could think? What if it could express emotion based on instinctive needs? Can the puppeteer become the puppet? These are some of the questions guiding REX, an exploration in wearable technology. With its microcontroller brain and an array of sensors and actuators, it is capable of expressing basic human emotions to which the user must respond. Pet it and it will be joyous; ignore it and it will become bored, perhaps even letting out a cry for attention. Bombard it with sensation and it will become confused, perhaps even angry. Fluid and intuitive transitions between emotions keep users engaged and wondering how to please their own puppet.
Written in C++ using Arduino.
Fall 2009.
Produced as part of the Objectelephone Project (see the other post in the Design section for a full description of the project).
Objectelephone, an experiment in algorithmic, process-oriented design, generated 23 objects from 18 designers. An analysis of these objects was necessary for the benefit of both the project and its participants. Interactive information graphics were developed which displayed each series of objects according to a user-specified arrangement. Each object is represented by an icon; the size, color, and horizontal ordering of the icons are dictated by the variables selected from the menu.
Click the image to view the program. Note: it is quite large (1440 x 900) and requires a lot of computing power.
Written in Java using Processing.
Spring 2011.
Circles are generated randomly and grow each frame, stopping when they intersect with one another. An optional image mask forces the circles to grow within a shape. Mouse interaction allows the user to place circles and draw freely, while the interface allows for different modes of rendering.
Click the image to view the program.
Written in Java using Processing.
Spring 2011.
What started out as an exercise in creating self-deleting objects turned into a particle system with a simple but beautiful physics algorithm. Particles push away from each other with increasing force as they age, creating an effect reminiscent of dissipating gas or bacteria.
Click the image to view the program. Left click to make blue particles, right click to make yellow particles.
Written in Java using Processing.
Summer 2011.
It's amazing how much work goes into a simple effect. In Linedraw, balls fall and bounce off of user-generated walls which can be moved around freely. A collision detection system based on line intersections ensures that the balls collide with the walls, at which point they undergo some creative trigonometry to determine their reflection angles.
Click the image to view the program. Click and drag to create walls; drag the ends of the walls to reposition them. Press the spacebar to make new balls.
Written in Java using Processing. Line Intersection using ToxicLib's Line2D functions.
Summer 2011.
This music sequencer is based on the rotation of planets; if one planet is eclipsed by another, it plays a note according to its distance from the sun. Each planet can be set in its own orbit, allowing the user to make organized, as well as slow and arhythmic, patterns.
Click the image to view the program.
Written in Java using Processing. MIDI sound using the SoundCipher library.
Spring 2011.
Trapped in an apartment in the largest city in the world, David and Keith are hiding from an epidemic in which animal noses permanently affix themselves on people's faces. Hilarity ensues as birds, a baby elephant, a lion, a drug lord, and the most beautiful woman in the world teach them the meaning of friendship and camaraderie. The show contains both people and puppets.
One half of David's dingy apartment is presented, littered with remnants of the three days he has been cooped up inside of it. The set is designed to hide three puppeteers; a window to the left sets the stage for Josito and Pedrito, two exotic mexican birds, while the attached kitchen counter reveals a baby elephant trunk. The window is designed to support several actors being thrown through it (by a massive elephant trunk).
El Leon was written by Chris Davis and produced in collaboration with Eric Wunsch, John Greenbaum, Kevin Chick, Adriana Lopez, Victor Rodriguez, Jill Keys, Annie Halliday, Eric Goetschel, and Mary Tuomanen.
This production was part of the Philly Fringe Festival, 2011.
Based on the childhood game telephone (also known as whisper down the lane), objectelephone exploits a simple algorithm. Give someone an object and tell them to create their own interpretation of it. Hand the result off to a third person, asking them to create their interpretation, so on and so forth ad infinitum. What started out as an exploration in emergent behavior and algorithms turned into an analysis of creativity and personality. Each object embodies its designer's style and thought process; in the end, an interactive graphic was created that showcased patterns in both the process itself and the people who participated.
See the information graphic in the Interactive section.
This project was exhibited at the University of the Arts "Active Territory" Design Show, May 2011.
Spring 2011.
This thesis project considered the status of math education in the United States. Analyzing the cultural stigmas and rote teaching techniques led to the proposal of a non-profit organization called Mathworks. The purpose of Mathworks is to inspire students by changing their perception of the role mathematics plays in the world. Two major proposals came out of the project; the first is a program where students learn how to create their own statistics– using numbers to relate different aspects of the world that interest them– and produce public art illustrating them, in order to bring their work out of a school setting and into the public realm. The second proposal is to teach students how to draw with math in mind, giving them the tools to explore mathematics through art without any rules, formulas, or hierarchy in mind. By discovering the fundamentals of mathematics on their own they will develop a deeper relationship with, and understanding of, the content.
Two workshops were held, titled 'Information Creation', with 6th graders at the First Philadelphia Charter School for Literacy. We discussed how it is possible to understand more about the world by relating objects at different scales. In an open-ended session, students discovered- among other things- that a SEPTA bus is 98 human heads long, and that it would take 30,760,121 SEPTA buses stacked end-to-end to reach the moon.
Fall 2010.
This tabletop lamp attempts to capture the spirit of the American Industrial Revolution. Its Victorian aesthetic elevates the complex and ultimately convoluted mechanics that allow the crank to power and spin the light coil. The project also served as a study in digital process; using Rhino, each iteration of the lamp was designed and fabricated using a laser cutter and 3D printer, allowing for quick and very high-tolerance prototypes. The lamp can be fabricated entirely with a laser cutter and 3D printer, and can be assembled by hand with glue and copper wire.
Fall 2009.
Tired of the strap clip that came with my Seagull Messenger Bag, which constantly fell off and generally failed to do its job, I designed a new one. It supports two different types of use I observed in other owners of the bag. Fabricated on a 3D printer.
Spring 2010.
I wrote and recorded the score for Michael Boyce's film "The Interchange of a Mysterious Briefcase". The film was produced for a 48 hour film festival at Brookdale Community College in New Jersey, January 2011, where it won 2nd place.
This is the second film I scored for Michael Boyce. This film was part of Brookdale Community College's June 2011 48 hour film festival, where it won Best Editor.
This 3D model was generated using Grasshopper for Rhino. A random point cloud was mapped around a sphere, connected by cylinders at every vertex. An inner ball, containing the same point cloud, is attached at every vertex to the larger one. The model was 3D printed out of ABS plastic.
Written in Grasshopper for Rhino.
Spring 2010.
Pixel color is manipulated based on simple rules, creating the appearance of bacteria-like growth. Users can spawn bacteria by clicking and dragging on the screen. The bacteria grows faster when it is near the mouse, the threshold for which can be visualized using the "Square On/Off" button.
Click the image to view the program.
Written in Java using Processing.
Winter 2010.
A drawing program which takes an image as input. The image is filtered and the resulting pixels are converted into vertices which pass through a Delaunay triangulation algorithm, outputting a vector file.
Written in Java using Processing.
Spring 2011.
A drawing program which takes a set of instructions as input. Starting from the middle of the frame, the program can be told to go forward (F), turn left (L) or right (R), or go forward based on the number of iterations (X). The input is given as a string; for example, the first image is a result of the string "FRXRXRFRFLFL" iterated 11 times. The second image is "XRFLFR" executed 33 times (with some color thrown into the algorithm for good measure). The final image is an array of many copies of the previous instruction.
Written in Java using Processing.
Winter 2010.
I am an artist and a designer with a penchant for technology. Beyond serving as an interesting mode of expression, technology has the power to educate in new and innovative ways; the work I do at the Franklin Institute Science Museum explores this idea. I'm available for freelance projects and am looking to collaborate with artists, designers, and non-profit organizations in Philadelphia.
Feel free to contact me.
See resume for additional contact information.
Click to download PDF version.
