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Life is either a daring adventure
or nothing.
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Truth
A wearable device that continuously monitors your skin resistance to reveal your truth. The second installation in the Bioluminance project to promote internal states to be externalized and made into interactive forms of expression. By measuring changes in skin resistance (similar to a lie detector test) this device can help the wearer know when he is getting closer to the truth. The baseline or "average truth" is displayed via an RGB spectrum on the side leds.
When instantaneous skin conductance exceeds the average, letters
of the word truth light up to display the extent of the "relative
truth". It is pretty amazing. You can pose questions about
anything from current events to
online education, from pop music to future plans. A must-try!
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| It works great, and responds very differently for
each person. Many designs for the future. Truth rings that retail
for under $10, games - like a new version of "truth or dare", and
personal interaction tools for web chatting or communicating with
your robot pets. |
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The Heart
Wearable device that measures your heart beat and externalizes it as
pulses of light.
The first installation in the Bioluminance project.
http://actualization.org/bioluminance/
The project sets out to promote internal states to be externalized and
made into interactive forms of expression. The heart sensors read the
wearer's ECG and produces flashes of light in time with his own
heart. Wearing the heart gives an amazing feeling of life and at the
same time reminds you that at heart we are robots running on pulses of
electricity. More pics to come. Now I'm working on a similar idea to
project scalp recorded brainwaves (EEG) as RGB light arrays. |
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Originally subtitled "Cannabinoids disrupt neuronal
synchrony", this is a modified version of the cover art once hoped to
grace the front of the journal "Neuron" (Fall 2005). Unfortunately,
after 7.5 mos in review at Neuron, our manuscript was rejected. Until
our paper is published, this will be the venue by which our story may
be told.
"Overall, our findings indicate that
under the influence of cannabinoids, neurons are liberated from
population control."
UPDATE: after several month of further review, our story was finally
published at Nature Neuroscience. Put that in your pipe and smoke it,
Neuron! |
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In Winter 2003 Guillaume & I decided a "Produce Consume Robot"
needed to be created. The original idea was to have the robot perform
some menial mechanical motions and repeat "Produce...Consume..." ad
infinitum.
Having a neuroscience background, I decided to approximate the
physical organization of the human brain in my robot. Proprioceptive
(sensory feedback) signals terminate in the sensory-motor cortex (NAND
gates wired to flip-flop). The sensory motor cortex terminates in the
cerebellar cortices (DPDT relays) which then control the direction of
limb/torso motor output. A frontal timing circuit (tlc555) controls
the eyes flashing and the timing of speech produced from the
Broca's-Wernicke's chip (from a Radioshack picture frame recorder).
Through this exercise I learned some interesting lessons. For example,
it became clear that it was necessary to create a mind/body separation
of energy. If the brain and body were powered from the same source,
surges in the power consumption of the body would reset the brain,
causing the body to flail out of control and break off the arms.
As originally intended, the "Produce Consume Robot" would be entirely
deterministic. He would listen to his master and, on command, he would
repeat back exactly what he heard and move about. However, by some
manner that remains a mystery, my robot developed "free will"! Instead
of parroting what he hears, he takes what he hears and turns it into a
sample for a free expression jam. It only happens when he is moving,
though (limited attentional resources for multitasking, I guess). Not
entirely sure what the source of free will is, but my best guess would
be an induction between the body and the mind (maybe the soul?).
In the end, it took some time to make him. Had hoped to debut at the
Robot Party in Jan. 2004, but after many a hiatus, he wasn't
completely finished until Fall 2005. Anyway, I love him as my child.
Maybe I'll submit to artbots someday. I hope to make a series of short
films about his life and times. |
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Like father, like son.
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| Lampshade study (Fall 2004). Dims: approx. 11"x11"x12"
In Summer 2004, a lab in our center was clearing out its shelves to
make space for new faculty. In so doing, stacks and stacks of old
films from radioactive in situ hybridizations, binding assays, gels,
and colony plates were being put out with the trash. I scrambled to
save as many good films as I could find among the stacks.
This lampshade depicts binding assays highlighting different memory
systems from hundreds of rat brain slices. |
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Genetic Illumination (Winter 2005). Dims:
approx. 15"x15"x17".
The lines reflect assays of genetic sequences and the saucers reflect
colonies grown to express particular genes. |
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| Gangsta lean. Est. 2004, HOOJ is a preeminent force
in NYC minibike gangs. Originally thought to be a novel word to
represent the duality between large and small, it turns out HOOJ also
refers to a techno label and in Polish it is the most vulgar word for
penis. Designs by Guillaume Pelletier and Maude Alarie. Gangsta bitches, Kara and Jill, model our digs. |
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"Memory" (2004).
Differential synchronization of neuronal networks in the
hippocampus
revealed by the power of local field theta oscillations during
putative encoding and retrieval states in an episodic memory task.
These patterns have begun to be mapped into an auditory space in
"brain speak". |
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| One fine Autumn day in 2000, Erica and I decided to have our cake
and eat it too. It was 'Head of the Charles Weekend' in Boston and the
boats were racing up and down the Charles river. We had just found an
old TV with wheels on the street and so we rented a Honda generator
and headed out for the Boston Esplanade to breathe the fresh air and
enjoy the crew races while we kept up on the college football games.
We got quite a few interesting looks and comments. Several guys
wanted to know the scores for the different games and a few commended
our industriousness in solving the age old watching TV vs. being
outside dilemma. One woman thought we were doing a sociology
experiment and another was appalled that we couldn't even stop
watching TV to be outside for a day. We got some video footage of us
near the end of the day in Copley Square watching the late day games
with a crowd of bums. |
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Trash exposition #3 - a.k.a. don't cross the beams Ray.
A bit of a learning experience, really. About mid-Spring 2000, Jamie
Ford and I thought it would be great to make myself a scooter
powered by a chainsaw engine. After many demons foiled our plans we
ended up with a sculptural piece to guard Jamie's chop shop from
future demonic intervention. |
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This is a wire sculpture I made in the image of Erica's daydream
as a dancing violinist. I began the sculpting process on
December 20, 2000, intending to give it to Erica for Christmas when
she came to visit on January 5th. The utter foolishness of
this intention soon became clear, however. By the time I got
the thing finished it was March and I had put in more than two
hundred hours into the sculpture. To my chagrin, on Erica's
flight back to Portland Northwest Airlines managed to lose it.
Of course, according to Northwest Airlines the item had no monetary
value. The moral of this story is that Northwest
Airlines SUCKS! |
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For Renn Fayre '98 I had the crazy conception to make a life
size "caterpillar scene" from Alice in Wonderland. This
picture was taken in the beloved Doyle/Westport II social room in
the final stages of construction, just before the
hookah was added.
It was absolutely fantastic to see a few rotting boards, a roll of
chicken wire, some nasty old sheets, and a hell of a lot of paint
miraculously turn into a child's daydream. I couldn't have
done it though without the support of my two good friends Erica St.
Lawrence and her best friend (who shall remain anonymous for
political reasons). Their moral support and splendiferous
painting job brought the scene to life (not to mention the giant
bluebell stalks that Erica made). Hopefully some day I'll be
able to post a picture of the actual scene in its place in a small
grove of trees... |
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