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Composer J. Anthony Allen and I are currently showing the latest edition of Urban Echo in Copenhagen for the ICMC conference. While our original desire to creatively reflect and transmit the desires and thoughts of local city-dwellers has remained, each new location has suggested a different approach. The installation in the courtyard of Huset i Magstræde in downtown Copenhagen is no exception. In this latest installment, J. Allen and I have tightly coupled the audio and visual components and worked to make the projections more “sensitive” to their façade. For example, when text and images are moving about, they respond to the presence of architectural features such as doors and windows by avoiding or bouncing off of them. A quick look at the images or video will make this a bit clearer.

We will be showing this through the end of the week. The sound components run all day and the video components run from dusk until around 10pm. If you want to participate, respond via voice or text message to:

+45 50 50 44 08

It’s a Danish number, but international text messages are pretty cheap. So go for it!

I just returned from Siggraph 2007 a few days ago. It was a mixed collection of interesting technologies and ideas. As one would expect, the primary focus of the conference was computer graphics and related technologies, but I was primarily interested in the artistic exhibits and emerging display and interface technologies on display. Here’s a brief collection of a few that I found interesting.

Overall, I was most impressed by the “lower” tech innovations. A few great examples were SOAP and Globe4D.

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To put it simply, Globe4D is kind of like a large trackball or an upside-down mouse with an additional optical sensor to measure rotation. Additionally, there is a turntable around the edge that allows users to explore another dimension such as time. The projection comes from overhead and seems to employ pretty simple OpenGL texture mapping onto a sphere. A very nice, responsive physical interface.

Continue reading Notes from Siggraph, 2007 …