View of the RJ45 installation for the CalIT2 Building Dedication Ceremony October 28th, 2005. This was a collaboration with Carl Burton.

 

 

 

I just found a link to this UC Irvine/CalIT2 project, the HIPerWall, and I think it provides an interesting comparison to my community built display project. The "World's Highest-Resolution Display Wall", HIPerWall creates a large, arrayed high resolution display. Of course, they have better image quality, and graphics workstations and storage to handle large data sets, streamed data, and 3d graphics. But I think my project offers interesting benefits in its scaleability, its flexibility--it can be deployed anywhere, the visible public record showing what th user community has used it for, and it does not cost a thing. Rather than requiring a fixed location and purchase of hardware, a community built display can be set up anywhere with internet connectivity and laptops on hand. It is a free public resource. What the community built display does is dematerialize the display hardware. With graphics servers at home and fast enough internet connections, I think that similar content could be served to the community built display. Consider that the HIPerWall was funded with a $393,533 National Science Foundation grant, and is only available to researchers who have physical access to that lab space.

HIPerWall news release.

The official HIPerWall page.

For more information on the community built display, look at roberttwomey.com.


A community built display test with Adriene Jenick.

Adriene's Spec Flic project was picked up by the new york times and cnet. Check it out here: http://www.nytimes.com/cnet/CNET_2100-1025_3-5905888.html

My community built display project is going to be used during Adriene Jenik's Spec-Flic performance at the October 28th CalIT(2) Building Dedication here at UCSD.

specflic.com
community built display
calit2 dedication ceremony

with the lights on.

This light sculpture was a one-night installation for the TNT event and opening of the MCA show on Thursday, October 6th. I installed the light sculpture in a room on the second floor of the museum that faced out over the plaza and the evenings event. I was excited about its positioning there, to serve as a visible beacon marking the show. It was difficult to approach up close, or stare at for very long, but it filled the space with light and heat. This is the advantage of having it in a relatively enclosed space. In this case, the positioning next to the windows also allowed it to serve as a beacon and lure. In the future, I think I would like to install it in a totally enclosed white room which it could entirely fill--the room capturing and using all of the heat and light that the beacon put out. Previously I have installed this in the closed space of my studio, and a larger version hanging in the middle of an entirely open courtyard for the 6th college show last March. (I'll post photos of that below or on my website.)

In any case, here is the label information for this piece, which was published in the program for the nights events:

Chandelier
2005
Variable dimension light sculpture,
Halogen work lamps, extension cords, surge protectors, between 8 X 500W
minimum and 30 X 50 Watt maximum size.
With a special thank you to Walt Whitman.

mcasd light sculpture view 2

MCASD light sculpture.

Front view

For our MCA show, I was asked by the curator to head a design committe to design and build screening rooms to show the video work in the show. Fellow students Sharon Levy, Steven Remington, and I worked with five filmmakers in our program to design spaces to show their work. During our design process, I gravitated towards Zerek Kemp'f smoke signals project (zerekkempf.com/smoke.htm), and designed this screening space in conversation with him. The experience was a rich one in many ways, particularly the chance to work closely with my fellow program-mates and working in the beautiful MCA space, and it is something that would not have happened without the impetus of Rachel Teagle's request.

Here is the label text that was on the wall next to my piece:

Name: Robert Twomey. (Washington, DC, 1979).
Title: Chimney viewing space.
Year: 2005.
Media: mixed media.
Dimensions: 5' x 5' x 9'.

Extended label text:

This sculpture was developed specifically to show Zerek and Chip's 'Smoke Signal' piece, as a conceptual and aesthetic reaction to that work. The interior space of the chimney is sized to allow a few viewers at a time, to create a temporary intimacy in the semi-enclosed space. Visually and materially, the form is a reaction to the aesthetic evident in the video piece, and to the etherial nature of the smoke signals themselves.

Rear view of chimney.

Rear view of the chimney.

A long view of the chimney I built for the MCASD show, Fresh: New Work...

I put this show together with Natalie Jeremijenko at the Armory Center for the Arts, AxS. In this image, we can see an installation of my Community Built Display project (link) which was used to display plans for an eye-level viewer, part of Natalie's amphibious architecture and OOZ projects.

AxS: At the Intersection of Art and Science
June 26 – September 4
Armory Center for the Arts. Pasadena, CA.

A closer view of the cbd.

An earlier version of the cbd for the Armory Center show, with 6 instead of 4 screens.

End of the year show in the UCSD visarts gallery, June 24th. We also had work by Carl Burton (holographicwainscoting.com), Tristan Shone (oleblue.com), and Jules Hearne (juleshearne.org).

VAF Gallery, UCSD
San Diego
5/31 - 6/3/05

My offering for the "Que Traes" show at Estacion Tijuana, May 2005. Pictured, we have a computer running my Megahal Grandmommy program, photos of her space, and positively charge pennies.

"Que Trais: UCSD MFA Exhibition", Estacion Tijuana, Tijuana, Mexico
5/14/05 - 5/20/05.

 


Closeup of a positively charged penny. This is an effort to create cheap, handheld art that was easy to distribute with no feeling of loss. I am attempting to establish a positive current flow to the outside world, and create a net positive potential. Contact me if you want one and I will send them to you. rtwomey@ucsd.edu The '+' symbol of positivity is laid on top of the image of father figure Abraham Lincoln. Attempting to reframe the value of the penny, which seems in certain circles to have become an expendable, valueless form of currency. ('take a penny, leave a penny' cups) This is a cheap on-hand material ready for revaluation. Does the simple act of marking by the artist alter the value of the raw material.

 

Thus far 750+ ions have been fabricated and distributed. I have not yet determined the quantity of charge / ion, to do the calculation of total potential manufacture.

 

Tracings of the positive ions--similar to other particle imaging methods. The positions and charges of indidual particles are recorded with graphite rubbings on paper.

From left to right we have:
(1) Postive charges in a fully saturate drawing field.
(2) The transformation of the uncharged particle into the first positive ion form.
(3) Motion of a single particle through space.
(4) A local cloud of positive charge.

Next from the electricity lab is the creation of a symbolic voltmeter. 

 
Lantern/Beacon.

This was the second installation of this light sculpture. I hung it in the sixth college building at UCSD--six extension cords were threaded into the building around the central courtyard, bringing power from six different outlets to the six surge protectors at the center of the sculpture. Each of these power strips support 4 to 5 500W halogen work lamps. The total power of this lantern was 30,000 Watts. Over the course of the evening, the lantern slowly melted itself where lamps were turned against each other, and eventually shorted itself out. It was intended to serve as a beacon drawing people to the show.

"Outer Space: Sixth College, UCSD MFA Art Exhibition"
San Diego
3/10/05

 

First version of the beacon light sculpture. Installed in my studio.

 

The transformative effect of the beacon installed in my studio. The idea was to saturate the space with light and heat, enough that the studio itself was charged and radiant.