Archives for March 2024

Title: Rafaël Rozendaal and His Work

Freedom of Movement at Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam, 2018. Photo by Peter Nijhuis (Copyright © Rafaël Rozendaal, 2018)

Abstract Browsing at Steve Turner, Los Angeles, Photo by Don Lewis (Copyright © Rafaël Rozendaal, 2016)

Net Art

Net art is a form of digital art that uses the internet as its primary medium for creation and exhibition, encompassing features like connectivity, global reach, multimediality, immateriality, interactivity, and equality. Its nature is processed-based, interactive, and mostly ephemeral. Artists utilize code, digital technologies, and online platforms to create innovative and experimental works. Building upon traditional art, net art expands the possibilities of artistic creation, and brings about new explorations and developments in the combination of art and technology.

Introduction

• About the Artist

Background: Rozendaal comes from a drawing background and also hails from an artistic family, where he was exposed to art from a young age. It was later on that he got introduced to coding.

Method: One of the methods frequently employed by Rozendaal is to utilize code to generate dynamic images and interactive works.

• Visual, technical,material features

Visual: Rozendaal uses bright colors, typically with high saturation and high contrast to provide a pleasurable visual experience. Besides, he often employs, arranges and manipulates various geometric shapes and patterns in his work to make them visually appealing.

Technical: His works are usually highly interactive, allowing audiences to engage with the artwork through clicks, swipes, or other gestures. For example, in one of his works, users can control pink and blue gradients with mouse movements.

Material: Rozendaal’s works are mainly presented in digital formats. However, they are not solely limited to online media, but also encompass installation, weaving, three-dimensional printing and even haiku.

Discussion

• Situate the Research Topic within what you have learned about net art in the reading. Consider the technological, political, social, geographical context (whichever applies). What’s the significance of the work? What do you interpret to be its intention/message? What impact does/doesn’t it have?

Rafaël Rozendaal’s works create dynamic and interactive digital experiences. Through vibrant colors, geometric patterns and interactive elements, his artwork challenges traditional boundaries of art and seek freer ways of artistic expression. Technically speaking, Rosendahl’s works demonstrate the potential of code and digital technologies to reshape artistic expression. Politically and socially, I deem that he also include themes like accessibility, connectivity, and the democratization of art in his artworks. Overall, his work push the boundaries of creativity and interactivity in online artistic expression, and inspire more artists to explore the possibilities of digital art.

• Which features of the internet / web are significant for your Research Subject, and why?

Significance: One point that left an impression on me in the article is the mention of equality as a characteristic of net art. In the interview, Rozendaal also noted that the internet provides more freedom for artistic creation, as anyone can publish their work online.I think the internet allows him to reach a diverse audience, allowing individuals from different walks of life to engage with his creations. Also, his creation is no longer limited to the canvas, but has a larger and freer space.

• What are the connections with the concepts we are learning in CCLab?

Exploration of digital mediums: Rozendaal’s journey from traditional artistic mediums to digital platforms mirrors the exploration encouraged in CCLab. We are starting to experiment with various digital tools and technologies to express our creativity, similar to Rozendaal’s transition from drawing to coding and web-based art. We have also recently added the webpage component to our coding.

Interactivity and user engagement: He displays interactivity and user engagement in his web-based artworks. And our CCLab projects are supposed to create interactive experiences and be user-friendly. 

Innovation and Experimentation: The innovative approach to art-making, characterized by experimentation with new technologies and mediums, aligns with the spirit of experimentation encouraged in our class. 

Critique of Technology and Society: The artist’s critique of technology, particularly his skepticism towards blockchain and social media, prompts reflection on the societal impact of technological advancements. CCLab projects can explore similar themes, encouraging people to critically examine the role of technology in shaping our lives and communities. These themes could especially be explored in Project B as perhaps a ‘warning’ to future civilizations.

• What can we learn from it?

From Rafaël Rozendaal’s work, we can learn to incorporate interactive elements in our own work and focus on user engagement to create dynamic and engaging projects. Also, drawing inspiration from Rozendaal’s use of color, geometry, and materials can help us explore new creative possibilities and enrich our artistic expression. Additionally, in his interviews, he offers fresh perspectives and insights into the realm of net art, broadening our understanding of digital artistic expression. He expands our horizons by providing innovative viewpoints on the intersection of technology and art within the online art space.

Individual Conclusion

In conclusion, exploring net art through the lens of Rafaël Rozendaal’s work offers valuable insights into the intersection of technology and artistic expression. Rozendaal’s use of vibrant colors, interactive elements, and diverse presentation formats demonstrates how net art can convey messages and foster meaningful engagement. Personally, I think his ability to integrate code and visual aesthetics opens up a world of possibilities for my own ideation process. Learning about his methods and artistic journey inspires me to creatively explore how I can optimize the utilization of code to enhance my own webpage and narrate the story uniquely in project B. 🧐

Project Title: Dancing Kitten 🎵

Link to the project: github

Brief Description & Concept

I make a kitten that can interact with music. When the music plays, the kitten will shake its head and tail in time with the rhythm, and may even make some movements of its hands and feet when the rhythm is strong, as if it is also a dancer dancing to the melody of the music. 🎶

Visual Documentation

Coding

In my project, there are many places where I want to create oscillating effects, so I use the ‘sin()’ function a lot because its values oscillate between -1 and 1. I embed the relevant property into the position coordinates of the rectangle, thereby creating the effect of the feet moving back and forth.

To create the effect of the tail, I introduced four properties respectively representing the swing angle, length, width, and curvature of the tail.

Reflection

• What is the benefit of your class not relying on any code outside of its own definition?

By not relying on any external code, I can have full control over behavior and functionality of the class, which makes the code easier to understand and debug, while also avoid being influenced by other code, thereby reducing potential errors. Putting everything about an object in one single class also makes the information more intuitive. All information related to this object can be found in this class, which greatly facilitates programming.

• What make it challenging to write code that has to harmonize with the code other people have written?  

One problem that comes to my mind is that when different blocks of code are merged together, variable names often get duplicated and may affect the normal operation of the code. Even if the variable names are not repeated, a large number of variables can be confusing. In addition, there may be differences in coding styles and habits among different people, affecting the consistency of the code. 

• Describe the terms modularity and reusability using the example of your dancer class.

In the context of the dancer class, I think modularity refers to dividing the code into independent modules or components (class), each with its specific function. For example, we can put different dancer behaviors and reactions (such as head shaking, tail wagging, limb movement) into separate functions, allowing each one to be independently modified and extended without affecting other behaviors or overall functionality.

Speaking of reusability, we can create classes that can be applied across various instances of dancers. If we want to achieve similar effects, we can also reuse the existing method from the dancer class without having to rewrite or duplicate code, which promotes code efficiency and simplify the code.

Journey through the Woods: Unveiling Memories in the Forest

By Sara He✨

🌷link-p5.js        🌳link-Github

Project Description

Desciption: Embark on a captivating journey of self-discovery by interacting with the mystical elements of the forest alongside the little creature, Sylvan. Join her quest to restore her forgotten memories and powers by returning the forest’s treasures and rebuilding her home.🍀

Abstract: Sylvan woke up in the forest, not remembering anything. She saw plants that seemed familiar and decided to explore. She collected forest stuff like flowers and berries, and put them back where they belonged. As she did this, she started remembering bits and pieces. She found out she could make different footprints and turn green in the sun. Even her ears could change color, but she had forgotten about these abilities when she woke up. Later, she found a letter and discovering that she and her family were once part of the elfin community that lived in the forest, now endangered due to deforestation. She was the only one left. By returning everything to the forest, she remembered who she was and got her powers back. Now, she’s going to rebuild her home here.🏕️

Design & Composition🎨

I have always had a deep love for plants, forests, and nature, as well as a passion for scriptwriting, exploring intricate and complex narratives. Therefore, I crafted a story set in a forest, where the little creature, Sylvan, rediscovers memories and rebuilds her home within the ruins of a lost woodland. The concept of how the creature become “generative” and interact with the surroundings is intricately woven into the storyline.

In the previous Mini Project 4, I’ve already explore some patterns and shapes regarding the topic of forest and nature. And I directly used certain graphics as elements in my Project A, such as recurring small flowers. I also brainstormed ways to make the creature ‘generative’ and, considering my storyline and game settings, I chose to: (1) Have her grow larger when collecting items, symbolizing growth; (2) Leave footprints as she moves; (3) Change her body and ear colors in the sunlight.

A screenshot of my project:

Pieces of my draft:

Speaking of user interaction, users primarily control the creature’s movement using a mouse and certain keys. As I aim to develop this project into a charming and engaging game, I have incorporated various game design elements, creating interfaces to guide users on how to navigate and interact within the game.

There are still some unresolved issues with a small detail: in Scene 2, Stage 1, the creature’s movement speed should be constant, but it appears that her speed slows down gradually. I’m not sure where the problem lies.

Overall, I have gradually experimented and refined most of the basic effects I aimed to achieve. As for areas where further improvement is possible, I will address them in the ‘Reflection & Future Development’ section.

Technical🔭

Among all the challenges I encountered, I think the complex logic structure to be a major obstacle. My work has a complex structure with many nested stages, and sometimes it feels very chaotic. So, I drew a diagram to clarify the relationships between them. I am also pleased to see that, despite not being good at handling logical issues, I was able to step out of my comfort zone.

Understanding and handling issues related to arrays can be quite challenging. Due to the large number of elements within the array, trying to solve everything within a single function can lead to ineffective results. Additionally, one problem might affect others, so I divided different functionalities into separate functions. Moreover, when using splice() to extract elements from the array, the length of the array changes, and the order of elements is altered, which I initially overlooked. Later, I used ‘i’ to represent specific numbers, so my graphics wouldn’t be affected by changes in length.

Color changes also posed a headache, as the colors vary between different stages. So, I set variables representing stages to differentiate them. Initially, when using lerpColor(), I didn’t achieve the desired gradient effect of changing colors while moving. Later, I realized I could use map() to achieve this.

map() is also used for changing the size of the creature.

Behind the Scenes: I drafted some ideas for writing code and the desired effects I want to achieve (though some of the text is written in Chinese). 🤣

Reflection & Future Development🔮

In reflecting on this project, I am moved by the evolution of the entire creative process. At first, the conception of the story and characters seemed like a blank canvas, but over time, they gradually came to life as if they had their own existence. From the initial ideas to the actual programming process, I encountered numerous challenges and difficulties, but at the same time, I gained countless growth and learning experiences. Throughout the creation process, I learned how to tackle logical issues, design game elements for user interaction, and continuously adjust and refine details to enhance the project. Each modification and adjustment allowed me to gain a deeper understanding of my work, and through constant experimentation and practice, I witnessed my progress and achievements. This project was not only a technical exploration but also a release of creativity and imagination, making me more passionate about creating things. Through this process, I realized that the essence of creation lies not only in the final product but also in the experiences and rewards gained throughout the entire creative journey.💗

As for future development, one thing that I feel I can make significant improvements is the shape of the creature. In the initial design, the creature had wavy-shaped feet, and as she moved, her feet would undulate like waves. I also wanted to create tails for her. However, due to time and technical constraints, I was unable to achieve this effect. I believe that if I could create a draft-like effect, the creature would become even more ‘generative’ and adorable.

Another area that could be improved is the transition between stages. Currently, the scene transitions within Scene 2 still feel somewhat unnatural. If I could make the visuals more coherent between scenes, perhaps it would result in a better overall effect and user experience.

In addition, professor Moon provided me with some valuable advice that I might consider making some changes accordingly. Professor Moon suggested that I should avoid using keys 1, 2, 3 on the keyboard to enter different scenes because the pop-up prompts could potentially disrupt the user experience to some extent. Perhaps using mouse clicks or natural transitions for navigation would provide a smoother experience.

Professor also mentioned that I could add more transformation effects when the creature is in the sunlight, which would make the work more visually stunning and beautiful. 🙂

Credits & References📝

As for techinical support, I want to express my gratitude to professor Leon and learning assistants Danni and Carrot for providing me with a lot of help.

As for inspiration, I think the narrative aspect of my project was partly influenced by a puzzle game I played before called Monument Valley.