June 2011
8 posts
2 tags
Final Exhibition/Presentational Scenarios
Final Exhibition of Building Synthetic Agency and the future scenarios of the Neuroprosthetic Research System will consist of a series of videos that are edited down from durational experiences, highlighting different levels of engagement, mechanical acceptance and transformative moments with each device.  While to date only a handful of scenarios have been designed, the current robustness of...
Jun 10th
2 tags
Language of Praise
Building Synthetic Agency is an entry point into a limitless poetic space of human agency amplified by technologies both material and immaterial.  It functions as one node in the larger Neuroprosthetic Research System, which will be built out from the core functionality developed for this piece.  The major influence on this body of work are the early investigations of the body into space by...
Jun 10th
10 notes
2 tags
Revisions
Late in the quarter I was given access to synthetic voice built from my own which transitioned the focus of my project from physical and haptic investigations of expanding the body schema into a text and speech based exploration of the system.  Created using the Festival Speech Synthesis System, the voice was built from hours of audio recorded by Nicolás Varchausky last spring.  An example of the...
Jun 10th
2 tags
Code/Programming Issues
During the first half of the quarter my primary programming issue was to decide in which environment to build the final project.  I had been working in parallel with many strategies on my last few projects: Processing & Arduino, Supercollider with SCPyduino, Supercollider with raw serial, etc.  I had partial prototypes in each and had used different configurations for each of my previous...
Jun 10th
2 tags
Jun 10th
1 note
2 tags
Fabrication Issues
The primary challenge in the NRS devices is centered around motor control and housings as well In the case of the fan harness the use of a DC motor, rather than a stepper motor, is due to the desired scale of a wearable device.  Motor control will be solved using a small potentiometer and pulse width modulation to create controlled gestures that are limited in range, never going past 180 degrees...
Jun 10th
2 tags
Research Methodology
The Neuroprosthetic Research System functions as an experimental landscape in which to explore new aesthetic experiences of the body, or more generally the self, expanded  into technologically mediated situations.  I am most interested in locating a threshold for our neuroplasticity in remapping into abstract mechanisms.  Does that threshold have to do with the proximity of a prosthetic device to...
Jun 10th
Jun 10th
May 2011
6 posts
2 tags
WatchWatch
473Movie on Flickr.
May 4th
2 notes
2 tags
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V$-drawing_machine_003 on Flickr.
May 4th
3 notes
2 tags
May 3rd
2 tags
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MVI_8716 on Flickr.
May 3rd
2 tags
May 2nd
May 2nd
April 2011
8 posts
2 tags
Apr 22nd
1 tag
Apr 18th
1 tag
Apr 18th
1 tag
NRS: Annotated Bibliography
1.     Reshaping spectatorship: Immersive and distributed aesthetics. in Fibreculture Publications [database online].  Distributed aesthetics implies creative modes of operating in, and experiencing, the spatial and temporal flows of information networks. While there are differences between these aesthetic forms and experiences, immersive and distributed aesthetics also share similar interests...
Apr 17th
1 tag
NRS: Historical Background
“To begin with, instruments like the telescope and microscope were extending man’s perceptual powers, but along with such indirect access came doubts about the reliability of what one seemed to see by means of such prostheses.” Telepistemology: Decartes’ Last Stand[1] The Neuroprosthetic Research System (NRS) operates in stark contrast to the virtual concerns of “cyber...
Apr 11th
1 tag
NRS: Bibliography
Reshaping spectatorship: Immersive and distributed aesthetics. in Fibreculture Publications [database online]. Ascott, Roy. 2008. Cybernetic, technoetic, syncretic: The prospect for art. Leonardo 41 (3). Beloff, Laura. 2010. Wearable artefacts as research vehicles. Technoetic Arts: A Journal of Speculative Research 8 (1). Castellanos, Carlos, and Diane Gromala. 2010. The symbiogenic...
Apr 11th
1 tag
Neuroprosthetic Research System: Timeline
Phase ONE: Pre-production March 29 - April 1 week 1  project conception & initial research post 1  Abstract & Timeline [4/4] Assessment of functioning and semi-functioning components & strategies from previous projects: Emotiv BCI OSC network communication TouchOSC for iPhone (testing purposes only) Input & Outputs (Motors, Solenoids, qProx, sensors)  Mechanical devices...
Apr 3rd
1 tag
Neuroprosthetic Research System: Abstract
Neuroprosthetic Research System [NRS]: working title NRS is a group of neuroprosthetic devices that operate at a series of distances from the body; on, near and telematically situated.  This research system aims to test the limits of brain plasticity in remapping the body schema as well as examine the role of an externally located system for storing, processing and retrieving emotional data. NRS...
Apr 3rd
March 2011
1 post
1 tag
Mar 9th
February 2011
1 post
Feb 17th
December 2010
1 post
7 tags
WatchWatch
Video documentation of me using a brain-computer-interface (in this case an Emotiv headset reading EEG) to turn a motor controlling a pinch-valve using Open Sound Control.  This is a proof-of-concept project for a number of upcoming performance and interactive pieces.
Dec 18th
November 2010
1 post
Nov 3rd
2 notes
October 2010
3 posts
5 tags
WatchWatch
Site specific installation Three Ships for Galeano from Passages at INSCAPE.  The inaugural open house show and rechristening of the INS building which is now artist work space.
Oct 27th
3 tags
Oct 26th
1 note
5 tags
Oct 12th
1 note
September 2010
2 posts
5 tags
Sep 30th
3 notes
2 tags
Sep 28th
August 2010
5 posts
4 tags
Open Studio Party: August 26th
Thursday · 6:00pm - 10:00pm 1816 26th Ave. Seattle - James & Janie Washington Foundation The James Washington Foundation invites you to an Open Studio Party Thursday, August 26th from 6 to 10 pm.  I’ll be showing some of the archive related projects I’ve undertaken since starting my residency just a few short weeks ago, which includes works that combine site-specific...
Aug 25th
4 tags
Washington House Residency: week 2
I’m just finishing up my second week here at the James Washington House and I’m in the midst of prototyping some of my project ideas out in the studio.  There are rooms upon rooms filled with tools, many for stone work, as well as wood working, printing and general making related tasks.  One of the side products of one of the stone drills are these core shapes.  Apparently there were...
Aug 17th
4 tags
Aug 15th
“There are also four main areas of inquiry involved with archives: material...”
– Archive - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Aug 14th
3 tags
Washington House Residency: week 1
I’m just finishing my first week here at the James Washington House and I’m finding that I’m blissfully lost in the archives and studio space.  I’m splitting my time between the studio, where I’ve begun to experiment with Mr. Washington’s collection of Edison voicewriters alongside my own arsenal of digital tools, and the archives in the basement of their...
Aug 10th
July 2010
4 posts
3 tags
Jul 27th
Jul 12th
5 tags
Jul 7th
RAPID...the conference
On May 20, 2010 I gave a talk on New Materials for 3D Printing and Their Applications with Mechanical Engineering Professor Mark Ganter as part of the Recent Breakthroughs and Develpoments compoenent of the RAPID 2010 and 3D Imaging conference in Anaheim, CA.  Highlights on Open3DP. 
Jul 6th
June 2010
16 posts
Oilbombing
Megatron offers commemorative BP Oil Spill Disaster objects.  “Oilbomb 12” is available now for $17,981.28 | (€ 14,610.61).
Jun 10th
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Jun 10th
3 tags
Karst
Karst: a site-specific performance work for amplified gesture and prosthetic voice featuring Sonnets to Orpheus (Part 2, Number 11) by Rainer Maria Rilke.
Jun 9th
1 tag
Jun 9th
1 tag
Karst final audio samples
Karst Noisefloor by Meghatron Karst Transform by Meghatron Karst Death by Meghatron Karst Machine by Meghatron
Jun 9th
3 tags
Karst final SuperCollider code
//Karst /* a site-specific performance work for amplified gesture and prosthetic voice featuring Sonnets to Orpheus (Part 2, Number 11) by Rainer Maria Rilke. */ //audio sample available here: http://soundcloud.com/meghatron //SERVER ( Server.default = s = Server.internal.boot; s.waitForBoot({ }); //took out paren to save a step since I have to reboot entirely after every kill //ARDUINO //ibid...
Jun 9th
1 tag
Karst 34: cleanup
//Karst version 34 cleanup //things to do: //cleanup code, jettison old scraps //more notes in the code to help with version tracking in the final 24 hours //add notes about site layout where pertinent - //SERVER ( Server.default = s = Server.internal.boot; s.waitForBoot({ }); ) //ARDUINO ( SerialPort.listDevices; d = SerialPort.devices[2]; f = SCPyduino.new(d);  //declares f an SCPyduino object )...
Jun 5th
1 tag
Jun 5th
1 tag
punchlist draft
//Karst version 33-CONTACT //code still not finalized but getting cleaned up //things to do: //add envelope with gate to decrease clipping -DONE //setup MOTU inputs for wall scraping with exoskelton -DONE //more notes in the code to help with version tracking in the final 24 hours //add notes about site layout where pertinent - //test different sensor behaivor with exoskelton - DONE //transition...
Jun 5th
2 tags
functional draft
Karst-031-secondforce by Meghatron This draft is functioning, i.e. exoskeleton activated 24” force sensors with correct behaviors.  Needs a lot of work on trigger control, but now that it’s all working I can dive into the compositional considerations.  I’m still using the previous work for formal considerations, but will try to rely on the inherent properties of this form as...
Jun 5th