Bionic flying penguins, wall climbing robots, rollable electronic displays, etc!
Jun 27th
One of my favorite things to do is go to technology conventions for a sneak peak at the future. This one is from the “Royal Society” of London and took place in UK as a summer science festival.
This is technology expanding horizons to new business opportunities. But, what can a flying penguin do for us? or more importantly, how can we sell it?
Click on the link bellow to check it out:
Sonic branding
Jun 21st
Brand, branding, visual branding, brand recognition… we hear a lot of that when people talk about advertising or marketing. But have you ever heard of sonic branding? I know I hadn’t, and coming across an article about it woke up my curiosity.
These are tiny snippets of music that have great impact on our psyche. They instantly remind us of companies without the help of any other element. They transcend language and are less than 5 seconds long. No idea what I’m talking about? Play this 4 second video. Arguably the most popular sonic brand to date:
But where did this come from?
Sonic branding originates from what is known as leitmotifs in the world of music composing: musical themes associated with particular characters, places, or plot moments. We owe this to Richard Wagner, responsible for making leitmotifs popular back in the 1800s with his operas. In them, Wagner identified every character with his music. Everyone has heard his opera music at least once, and when I say everyone, I mean every-one. Let’s do a childhood flashback with Loony Tunes.
In “What’s Opera, Doc?” they use Wagner’s “Ride of the Valkyries” song to identify the plot setting. Here is the original:
From art in opera to business, leitmotifs have made their way into the advertising world with sonic branding and have built a multi-billion dollar industry around them. Corporations spend millions trying to manipulate our minds to recognize their sonic brands. The Nokia tune, Windows start-up sound, McDonald’s “I’m loving it” tune. As soon as you hear one of those you are instantly reminded of the company. Sonic branding pioneer company, Cutting Edge Commercial, have been doing this since 1999. They say anything can be brought down to 5 second snippets of music and be identifiable.
So next time you want someone to remember you, maybe having your own personal sonic brand might help.
Adobe vs Apple; Apple vs Adobe
May 15th
Since the release of the iPad, apple has been raking in the profits by selling more than 1 million units after just one month in the market. (businessinsider.com) However, whilst the iPad has created a new market for slate computers, it also sparked a war between Apple and Adobe. This is very ironic for both companies, considering their beginnings.
“Triumph of the Nerds” is a documentary about the creation of the computer industry. If you watch it, you can better understand the roots of Apple, Microsoft, IBM, and all those cool tech companies. Apple was the innovator it has always been ever since the beginning and captured a good piece of the market. However, versus Microsoft’s graphic user interface, Windows, and its killer-app Lotus 1-2-3, Apple was losing market share to Microsoft. Ironically, it was with the help of Adobe Systems that Apple was able to survive. Adobe developed PostScript, which made possible exact printing of an image on a computer screen onto paper and Apple got the exclusive rights to it. This opened the doors for the artists to get computers, and it is partially why today we associate Apple as a computer for designers.
What is happening now? Why do I say the war is ironic? Because Apple is now attacking Adobe for one of its programs, Flash, saying that the content produced is proprietary of Adobe and it is not open sourced. Steve Jobs says that to develop Flash content all the tools you need are only provided by Adobe, making it a closed system. Adobe says Flash is open. I’m not sure how Apple sees it will benefit from this conflict. It is attacking one of its main allies and one of the software why people buy his computers.
In the end, I think Apple is only hurting itself by continuing this argument.
Here is the complete article about it.
Ryan Trecartin – Video Artist
Apr 30th
Wasn’t expecting to be interested after Pippi, but Ryan Trecartin’s videos were more of a treat. Packed with crazy, bizarre, weird, uncommon, wild, and strange visuals, I was able to make something out of the one video I saw. And yes all those synonyms can describe his video art.
“A Family Finds Entertainment,” is the video I watched. Crazy crazy again, but the one element I liked was how he makes fun of the modern teenager with all the tantrums they throw.
“I’m not sixteen anymore… but I feel like I’m five! with sunglasses on…”
I feel that those words, as funny as they sound, are exactly what parents hear when their teenage child is rebelling.
“I believe somewhere, there’s something worth dying for… and I think its amaaazzziinng”
Another yet very common thing a teenager says… it makes me reminisce on when I thought I was more important than the world. But anyways, this video truly talks about what a normal family goes through in a new unconventional way. Ryan Trecartin is an interesting video artist indeed.
Pippilotti Rist – Video Artist
Apr 30th
Watching Pippilotti’s videos was the weirdest consecutive 41 minutes and 56 seconds I’ve had to endure this semester. Maybe it was an intervention from the universe the video wouldn’t play all of its 73:12 minutes, but I can say this: Technology gave this woman an interesting way of expressing herself through video art.
It started off cute and funny with “I’m not the girl who misses much.” She was playing with the speed of the video which distorted her voice to sound like a little squirrel while she was jumping up and down. It became interesting when Pippilotti played the video slow and we could feel the song as more intense rather than a comical peep show. But video art is supposed to shock. I was proved right at minute 5:59. Definitely not funny, OR CUTE… and shocking. Trying not to stand on my head to see if I could understand this better, I went on to watch a third of the entire collection.
Because it was getting very redundant and I clearly was not getting the idea, I decided to play it on the background while I read emails. After 6 minutes or so, I begin hearing a melodic guitar and the funny voice again. I switched back to the video and what do I see? I woman giving birth! Not the most welcoming sight I tell you… It shocked me enough to go back and read the title of the video. I’m not sure if this is it but when I translated it, it made the video make sense.
“Als der bruder meiner mutter geboren wurde roch es nach wilden birnenbluten vor dem braungebrannten sims”
Translated
“As the brother of my mother was born there was a smell of wild pears bleed before the tanned sims”
Yes that makes sense… and thank you Google Translator.
After this, the most interesting video came on, but I dare not comment on it. I won’t post the link to the videos either, but you have the name of the artist. So if you’re dying to see her work, go ahead and Google her. Just don’t blame it on me.
Television Delivers People – TRUE
Apr 28th
To understand my title you have to watch this video first
As a marketer, I 100% agree with what Richard Serra and Carlota Fay Schoolman say with this video art. The way TV channels make money is by selling commercial spots to advertisers. Now, how does a station charge for a slot in their airtime? It sells it by showing the advertiser how many people will be exposed to the message he or she wants to deliver. This makes us the product that TV channels sell to its customers, the advertisers. If there is more people tuned in, then the channel can charge more premium prices. This is why channels do their best effort to produce interesting content that will make people stick to the screen… Having said this, I wonder how much a commercial spot costs during LOST…
Anyways
My view was reinforced with what my professor Santiago said about how television is run in Europe in contrast to the US. For example, in the UK television belongs to the people through the government. BBC – British Broadcasting Corporation, its name makes more sense now that I know its run by the government. People actually pay a tax for TV, which makes the content different from what we are used in the US. Here we are used to see shows with that whole razzmatazz to entice people to watch because in the end that is what people want.
The power of TV is put into words with this excerpt from the video:
“There is inherent conflict between: COMMERCE, INFORMATION, ENTERTAINMENT.”
We get the news from TV, but we only get what TV shows us, and they have to have an audience in order to make money… so… the stations will only show news that will call the most of attention, in order to make money. It is a business after all. Putting biases aside, how can we rely so much on the information provided by television, if what is being shown is a lure to capture us and sell us as products.
This video art piece is one of my favorite.
In conclusion, TV produces content to be able to deliver us to their client. As an oblivious audience member, how does that make you feel?
My Performance Art Video
Apr 21st
Here’s the video on my performance assignment for class. I danced for 30 minutes to different types of music in Vaughn Center at the University of Tampa. I started dancing to Edith Piaf, then Frank Sinatra, and ended with more popular music like Daft Punk and Deadmau5. The idea was to decontextualize dancing to iconic songs by doing it in a populated area. I wanted to break down the barrier of embarrassment for the audience to join me in my dancing. In this sense, audience interaction was essential for my performance to be successful.
I didn’t quite accomplish the goal to the level I had imagined, but the objective was, well… you’ll see! Here is Dancing without Stars:
The man with three ears – Stelarc
Apr 9th
Stelarc is the man with three ears, and he has taken the use of art and technology to a whole new level.
He combines robotic engineering with his body for art performances. His past work includes creating a third arm extension, a robotic exoskeleton, and a small robot with a screen that functions as a head. His latest work, and the weirdest one I might add, earned him his nickname. He implanted an stem cell engineered ear into his forearm and plans to stick a small microphone into it that connects to a wireless transmitter and will let him send what his ear is listening to over the internet so anyone around the world can hear it. Is this is thinking out of the box or what… More like thinking out of the head!
Now this is too wacky for me, but he may be onto something. Stelarc is an art performer and may not think of business applications, but he firmly believes in augmenting the human body with technology. I’m very curious to see what can come out of his work. Today it looks like a far fetched performance by a mad scientist, but tomorrow his experiments might be the stepping stone to a whole new health industry.
You can find out more about him here: Stelarc, the man with three ears
Using cubism for fashion
Apr 9th
Yesterday, my sister sent me this link to a photograph that looks a lot like what I was doing for the grid project. It was done following the same concept behind cubism by a fashion photographer named Jeff. I can’t find his last name. All I know is that he is from Taiwan, but I find this very interesting. Its like a visual oxymoron being able to see movement in a still frame.
Here is the description he gives it:
72 Metamorphoses is an epical trick derived from a legendary folk tale in Chinese culture, describing the capability of a Saint altering his physical appearance at will. This is not an impossible trick today since modern fashion offers not only beauty, but also an endless array of looks people select at their own will. In this special project, I have interpreted the old Chinese literature using cubism art technique to portray the different forms and angles of contemporary women, representing women and fashion’s power at transformation.
You can see his other works at his profile: http://discover.genart.org/jeff
