Tue Dec 30, 2014
This is a semi-automated backup of my old Tumblr account.
Faces
12/12/2014
Žižek, Stallman and Carlin rendered using pixels from 8 photos I shot. It makes me wonder, can a pixel have an author? An owner? What happens to copyright when I’m not using any pixels from the original image? What is copyrighted? The shape and amount of light? Is it allowed to generate work based on a copyrighted image? How different must the result be?
PS. I found these links about the topic: http://painting.about.com/cs/artistscopyright/f/copyrightfaq10.htm http://piddix.blogspot.de/2008/03/copyright-and-digital-collage-sheets.html
Apparently one thing that matters is how recognizable is the original work, and how important is the role of the elements you used. I used these portraits because I’ve seen this done frequently in Tumblr. But it looks like this might not be “fair use”.
Snowden
12/12/2014
These photos contain no Snowden pixels.
I loaded 5 random images from my travel photos, including trees in Cambodia and the Mediterranean sea.
I then used a photo of Snowden as a selector, to choose for each pixel which of my images is more similar to his.
Caramelize
12/08/2014
Interactive installation at the IT Show At Kustquartier Bethanien, Berlin Dec 5th, 2014
A collaborative piece, in which one or two participants sit together with me in a cozy environment for about 15 minutes to create generative images.
I ask them to make a drawing on a piece of paper, write their names or a title in a second piece of paper, and pick one or more physical objects from a large collection of items made out of different materials.
I photograph the objects with a camera, and the images are transferred wirelessly to the Caramelize GUI (second image above), which crops the images and places them in a folder.
In the final step I code a simple application for them which combines the physical objects with their own drawings. While coding I ask them to decide about colors, sizes, rotations, amount and kind of items, etc. while showing the source code at all times. We iterate until they are satisfied with the looks. Then the title is stamped on the image, which immediately becomes part of the slide show projected on the wall for all attendees to see.
The first image above shows one of the 15 results produced during the night, created together by Abby, Leo and I.
It was a very rewarding experience to collaborate with people and help them create something that mixes the physical, the virtual, creativity and code.