Milk Pixel Arts Trail videos

Last weekend a highly improved Milk Pixel featured on the Southbank Bristol Arts Trail. The system was installated in the studio of the Creative Glass Guild, a brightly lit white-walled space filled with colourful glasswork. As Milk Pixel works best in the dark was necessary to build an enclosure. Being on a tight (i.e. non-existing budget) can be fun sometimes as a tent was quickly cobbled together out of a £15 Gazebo and a roll of cheap 'Halloween' fabric.

The system was working on some new 'autonomous', semi-random code whereby it would automatically change between different modes of responsiveness, sometimes overlaying colours onto it's video/motion/sound derived patterns while at other times ignoring what was happening in the tent and just doing it's own thing (i.e. displaying and moving pretty colours around). The idea was that:

1. The audience never actually knew what the system was doing
2. No two visits to the tent were the same

As I result we got some interesting behaviours out of both the system and the audience! Some of the most interesting comments went something like "It seemed to be watching me walk around, then it got bored and did something else".

Here's a video of the sort of interaction you get with the system, as you can see it's alot of fun (ignore the flickering, my camera went weird at the weekend, it doesn't actually flicker in real life):



I couldn't resist making a timelapse of the dissamembly:




Perhaps the most rewarding comments came from about 4 different people who all compared Milk Pixel to some of the installation work by Brian Eno and all said we should aim for more exposure in larger venues. Obviously, we were flattered!

Milk Pixel on arts trail this weekend

An improved version of Milk Pixel  interactive digital art installation will be featuring on Southbank Bristol Arts trail this Saturday and Sunday (8th-9th May) between 10am-4pm.

Since the Arnolfini installation we've managed to improve the structure of the system, iron out the (flickering and latency) bugs in the code and automate the software (which will save me curating the peice like last time for two exhausting days). This should all improve the experience of watching or interacting with the system.

We will be installing the system in the Creative Glass Guild, (No 16. Whitehouse Street, Bedminster, Bristol BS3 4AY) where there will also be a number of other artists showing paintings, drawings ceramics and glass sculptures.

There was an embedded Google Street View Map of the location here but I removed it as it was confusing my browser. A map of the other venues on the trail can be found here.

Entry is of course free so if you're are in Bristol come and have a look and a play (don't forget it's an interactive piece). Feel free to take photos / videos. One of my biggest kicks at first installation was seeing so many people taking photos of the system then finding some of the images and videos online via flickr and youtube. So share your media (leave a comment on this blog if you like to tell us where it is) and make us happy.

Potential Indifference

Quite recently my application to get Milk Pixel included on the Southbank Bristol Arts Trail was accepted. Great stuff! As the application form was intended only for a single person or group it was necessary to create a name for myself and the three other guys that built Milk Pixel.

And so it my great pleasure to officially anounce our Digital Art collective: Potential Indifference. Those in the know will realise that this is quite similar to the official description of Voltage. The second reason for this name is that this is how our work may be viewed, we sit somewhere between engineering and art but not sure if we really impress people from either discipline...

Potential Indifference consists of:

Ad Spiers (Me), Paul O'Dowd, Thomas Burton and Jason Welsby

I used Soulwire's brilliant Glitch Generator to generate the glitches in the Potential Indifference logo. Lots of fun to be had with that thing.

The Southbank Bristol Arts trail will take place on the weekend of 8th & 9th May 2010. More details to follow about where to find Milk Pixel.