For my final project, I want to make generative horoscopes, so I investigated different projects in the same vein. The one I chose to focus on was the Horoscope Bot on Twitter, which tweets out random horoscopes, which tweets out random horoscopes created from the compilation of two user tweets.

Visit the bot here

Project Github here

Selected tweets:

The results have a range of tones (the second selection is actually pretty deep, while the third selection is much funnier in a “wtf” sort of way). However, after scrolling through the bot’s tweets, I realized that all of them take the form “you will …., but you will …”, which seems pretty canned after a while. I would like there to be more variation in the formatting of the horoscopes. The bot also filters out tweets with swear words, which I appreciate because it adds to the horoscope-y feel of the tweets (one doesn’t see horoscopes with swear words).

Meshu is a project by Rachel Binx that uses data visualization to make custom jewelry. By connecting Meshu to foursquare, the shape of custom jewelry is determined by ones foursquare check ins. A line is drawn between each point an individual has checked in at, and the resulting polygonal shape filled with lines and connections is a representation of where they have been. It can be printed in acrylic, wood, nylon and sliver. This project interests me because it taps into numerous aesthetic and design tropes that people are curious about in contemporary culture, and pushes them one step further. Custom 3D printed jewelry is a preexisting commercial market, though the ability to print the same shape over and over does not leverage the 3d printer as a unique tool. This project also taps into a contemporary desire to visualize ones self and share that with others. Using tools like foursquare allow people to be both unique and connected. Large-scale data visualizations have also become an entire field of work and a recognizable aesthetic. This project wraps all of these common themes into one art project and the final result is both practical and poetic. 

See the project online here. 

Pentametron ( @pentametron) by Ranjit Bhatnagar is a twitter bot that searches twitter for posts that happen to be in iambic pentameter and retweets them. Iambic pentameter is a line of verse with five metrical feel, each consisting of one short or unstressed syllable followed by one long (or stressed). There is something wonderful and poetic about this, as each tweeter did not know (I am assuming) that their tweet was iambic pentameter. It is a simple acknowledgment of older ways of organizing language in a highly contemporary way of writing. Ranjit Bhatnagar works with interactive and sound installations, with scanner photography, and with internet-based collaborative art.

Laura Juo-Hsin Chen is a creative technologist and self proclaimed “doodler” from Taipei, Taiwan. She uses her background in traditional 3D animation and desire to celebrate the mundane and the weirdness of human interaction to make captivating virtual reality experiences. My favorite of her projects is “Poop VR” which is a communal virtual reality pooping experience. The aesthetic quality of the virtual reality experience is very high, as it combines the lovely aspects of hand drawn animation with the weirdness and absurdity of virtual reality as a medium. The idea of the project is that while pooping, you can check into this virtual reality shared space, and see avatars of other individuals pooping in their respective location, also logged into the vr experience. You can interact with other users by saying hello, walking around and shooting poop at each other. The virtual reality experience is completely browser based which is very interesting to me, as it seems to have the ability to be a truly interactive experience using the current climate of virtual reality.

See more of her work here.

Camille Utterback’s External Measurements series began in 2001 and presents an interesting example of interactive art in a museum setting. This project has existed in multiple iterations, but across each, a digital work of art is augmented by physical movement around the room it is in. The projected image is a representation of an aesthetic system which responds to input from an overhead video camera. Custom tracking allows parts of the digital work to respond entirely to the movement and placement of the people in the room. I am particularly interested in this work as it excels both as an aesthetic work of art and a creative use of interactive technology. Her work does not rely on technology as an aesthetic, but instead as a tool for pushing what could have been a still image further. She does not compromise her aesthetic interests for technology and thus is able to produce unique and beautiful works of art that benefit from both her technical interests and the aesthetic systems.

Read more about her work here.

Nervous System is a generative design studio that works at the intersection of science, art, and technology. I am inspired by their “Generative Jigsaw Puzzles” collection. They partnered with artists to make visually engaging prints for the top of the puzzle. Then, using a custom software that simulates crustal growth, totally unique pieces are laser cut into the puzzle. The result is a one of a kind work of art that is both a unique art object, work of generative art and usable puzzle. I am very interested in making works that serve a multitude of purposes. I am especially inspired by how this project is a simple and elegant project that is digitally computed and results in a physical object that can be enjoyed by both someone who appreciates the computation that went into it and someone who does not.

See the project on their website here. 

Generative jigsaw puzzles from Nervous System on Vimeo.

I chose to watch Sara Hendren’s 2015 Eyeo lecture. To quote her website, She “is an artist, design researcher, and professor based in Cambridge, Massachusetts. She makes material art and design works, writes, and lectures on adaptive and assistive technologies, prosthetics, inclusive design, accessible architecture, and related ideas.” She designs objects and interventions that question the idea of what is “normal” while providing enlightened solutions to the many problems people face when they bump up against societies restrictive idea of normalcy. She is able to provide both practical solutions that double as poetic gestures, by working with experts on the issue, those effected by it first hand. Whether it is building a podium for someone who does not fit the standard podium size, or designing ramps for skateboarders and wheelchair users, she gathers her research from the source, and works with the people she is designing for. The final product embodies both an elegant design object, and a conceptual work of art, as the expert simplicity of her solutions highlight the serious neglect of otherness in design. I was particularly taken with her ability to talk about her work and act as a surrogate for neglected voices in design. She has expert public speaking skills, and I learned a lot about how to organize a presentation by watching her present.

See her website here. 

Kyuha Shim’s Generative Type Video

For my final project, I’d like to improve my alphabet book. As stated in my proposal, I’m working on making it actually alphabetical in the fonts that appear and more generative.

As I was looking for inspiration, I found myself looking more at generative typography than generative books. I ended up looking at Kyuha Shim’s work (Q was one of the reviewers!). I really admire Q’s work because of how effectively and beautifully he’s been able to use data and software as a medium to create such dynamic type. I really aspire to develop such technical skills in programming so I can be able to use it more fluidly in my design work. I would like to work towards making a generative book of generative typography one day. But first, improving my initial concept of a generative alphabet type book for babies. I’m not sure how generative typography would suit such a young audience, yet.

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http://www.typeroom.eu/article/q-s-perpetual-and-amazing-quest-algorithmic-typography
http://code-type.com
http://printingcode.runemadsen.com/lecture-typography/
https://runemadsen.com/blog/on-meta-design-and-algorithmic-design-systems/

I first saw “Traces” (the above video) over a year ago, and I remember that when I did, I was simultaneously impressed with the technology and disappointed that the artwork created by the shoes was not as representative of the dancer’s movement as it could have been. There’s something to be said for an abstract interpretation, obviously, but I wished there had been more than just circles, lines, and clumps. One reason that “Traces” looks this way is, of course, that its data comes from sensors in the dancer’s shoes rather than external motion capture. This is very impressive, but limits the motion recorded to just that of the feet.

For my project, I hope to create plotter artwork that is similar in style but different in appearance, because I want to use the whole body as the basis for the brush strokes. Ideally, I want to analyze which four or five joints on the body move the most in a portion of BVH data, and then have the plotter paint only those. In this way, I think the artwork will more closely resemble the motion of the dancer/person than if I painted only the hands and feet (or any fixed set of points). For example, in a pirouette, the dancer’s spinning knee would be more worth painting than her fairly stationary foot. I’ll see if I can find a way of effectively choosing which joints to paint using only code.

Here is another video that I discovered more recently. Unlike “Traces,” the software here doesn’t generate 2D images, but rather it makes a variety of animated shapes that it places on top of the video of the dancer. This isn’t quite what my project will be doing, but I think it uses similar technology, and I really like the end result. You’ll notice that several of the animations only involve select points on the body.

As stated in my final project proposal, I want to create a program that generates movie plot-lines. My initial influence from this project came from the short science-film Sunspring. Unlike other films, Sunspring is generated from an AI named Benjamin, which uses Long Short-Term Memory (LSTM) to develop a script based off of other scripts fed into. Although Benjamin was created over the course of a year, I hope to develop a similar AI, or algorithm, that can do the same thing but on a smaller scale. Rather than actually generating the entire script of the movie, I hope to at least generate these movie plot-lines with their corresponding characters, conflict, resolution, etc. (i.e. – film synopsis).

Very similar to this idea is the Story Idea Generator – Automatic Plot Generator. This plot generator creates a small synopsis and a few lines of “praise” for the film generated. I think this provides a good start and could definitely be improved, as this plot generator isn’t entirely generative (fills in random characters, items, etc. for an already written template for “Paranormal Romances”, “Comedies”, etc.).

Sunspring: http://arstechnica.com/the-multiverse/2016/06/an-ai-wrote-this-movie-and-its-strangely-moving/

Plot Generator: http://www.plot-generator.org.uk/