Meet :: Yana

Winter session - Wood shop week 6

2007-03-14T20:44:00.000-07:00

Finally a table!

Winter session - Wood shop week 3-5

2007-03-14T20:39:00.000-07:00

Making of coffee table (machogany, glass)

Winter session - Wood shop week 2

2007-03-14T20:31:00.000-07:00

A shelf for viewing strange and unusual. Plywood, Watco fruitwood oil stain (top), Watco red machogany oil stan and black pigment.

Winter session - Wood shop week 1

2007-03-13T13:35:00.000-07:00

Week 1::
1:6 scale moquettes of "pedistals" design, due in 24 hours from assignment

1. Model for magnyfyer display (for viewing really small and strange things. shown with a grain of rice) 2. Shoe mirror pedestal 3. A "hairy" leg which was consieved out of desperation and time limits

RISD Wintersession 2007

2007-02-16T16:04:00.000-08:00

From Immaterial to Material lead by Tucker Houlihan (second from the left)

End of the semester mistakes!

2006-12-19T10:51:00.000-08:00

All right, i'm installing Wordpress blog after all - just realized that i didn't publish my draft blogs since...a couple of month back, which is bad because people must have been looking for them. Oh, well - i'll try to upload them in a bunch (hopefully won't have to do them one by one).

Broken screen - quite literally

2006-12-02T16:58:00.000-08:00

Just another day visiting New England Tech. Saw a student trying to adjust system preferences to fix this one!

Experimenting

2006-11-22T23:05:00.000-08:00

Thought this would be fun. Shapes are traced from medical imaging scans.
http://ict.neit.edu/jsakellion/projects/tunes/

Inner Critic

2006-11-19T09:57:00.000-08:00

You will have to enable your mic (would be internal if you are on a laptop). I showed this as an installation for the RISD Open Studios in Oct, projected on the wall and pinned blank index cards and a pen onto same space for people to leave comments on their own inner critics.

It was fun untill my PowerBook internal mic started adjusting its levels to the background noise, thus decreasing sensetivity. Will use external directional mics next time.

http://ict.neit.edu/jsakellion/projects/critic/

Mediation

2006-11-13T22:56:00.000-08:00

"The mass media are genealogical because, in them, every new invention sets off a chain reaction of inventions, produces a sort of common language, They have no memory because, when the chin of imitations has been produced, no one can remember who started it, and the head of the clan is confused with the latest great grandson. Furthermore, the media learn; and thus the spaceship of Star Wars, shamelessly descend from Kubrick's , are more complex and plausible than their ancestor, and now the ancestor seems to enfiriour their imitator"

Umberto Eco

Walking sculptures ????

2006-11-10T10:44:00.000-08:00

Theo Jansen

Christmas is near...

2006-11-09T17:25:00.000-08:00

"I have admired many people. I have always considered myself a crooked tree, so straight trees earned my respect. Indeed, we should remember what happens to us before Christmas when we set out to buy a Christmas tree. Rows of lovely trees, and all of them look terrific from a distance, but close up, none of them really meets our desire for an ideal tree. One is too think, another crooked, the third too short, and so on. It’s the same with people; no doubt some of them seemed so imposing to me because I did not know them better, while I knew my own defects only too well."

Milosz Czeslaw

Beautiful Dust on My Desk

2006-11-08T17:06:00.000-08:00

Didn't work without padding it a bit

2006-11-06T17:16:00.000-08:00

Trying to embed pressure sensor behind canvas

2006-11-06T15:51:00.000-08:00

Servo/Sensor/Flash

2006-11-05T17:42:00.000-08:00

Pressure sensor is now driving the motor and sends corresponding values to Flash application at the same time.

When pressure increases, the motor is driven up and when decreases, it turns back down. So far it only rotates 360. Arduino code below::

/*
Servo control from an analog input

The minimum (minPulse) and maxiumum (maxPuluse) values
will be different depending on your specific servo motor.
Ideally, it should be between 1 and 2 milliseconds, but in practice,
0.5 - 2.5 milliseconds works well for me.
Try different values to see what numbers are best for you.

This program uses the millis() function to keep track of when the servo was
last pulsed. millis() produces an overflow error (i.e. generates a number
that's too big to fit in a long variable) after about 5 days. if you're
making a program that has to run for more than 5 days, you may need to
account for this.

by Tom Igoe
additions by Carlyn Maw and Yana Sakellion
Created 28 Jan. 2006
Updated 7 Jun. 2006
Updated 2 Nov. 2006
*/
int inByte = 0;
int servoPin = 2; // Control pin for servo motor
int minPulse = 500; // Minimum servo position
int maxPulse = 2500; // Maximum servo position
int pulse = 0; // Amount to pulse the servo
int firstSensor= 0;

long lastPulse = 0; // the time in milliseconds of the last pulse
int refreshTime = 20; // the time needed in between pulses

int analogValue = 0; // the value returned from the analog sensor
int analogPin = 0; // the analog pin that the sensor's on

void setup() {
pinMode(servoPin, OUTPUT); // Set servo pin as an output pin
pulse = minPulse; // Set the motor position value to the minimum
Serial.begin(9600);
}

void loop() {
inByte = Serial.read();
// read first analog input, divide by 4 to make the range 0-255:
firstSensor = analogRead(0)/4;
// delay 10ms to let the ADC recover:
delay(5);
// Serial.println(testVal, DEC); //i use this statement just to test if the code is passing to serial server
Serial.println(firstSensor, DEC);//this statement will send sensor data to serial server
delay(10);

analogValue = analogRead(analogPin); // read the analog input
//Serial.println(analogValue);
pulse = (analogValue * 19) / 10 + minPulse; // convert the analog value

// to a range between minPulse
// and maxPulse.
//Serial.println(pulse);
// pulse the servo again if rhe refresh time (20 ms) have passed:
if (millis() - lastPulse >= refreshTime) {
digitalWrite(servoPin, HIGH); // Turn the motor on
delayMicroseconds(pulse); // Length of the pulse sets the motor position
digitalWrite(servoPin, LOW); // Turn the motor off
lastPulse = millis(); // save the time of the last pulse

}

}

Serial Communication with Flash

2006-11-03T09:10:00.000-08:00

Finally got Flash to talk to Arduino. Turns out you have to install Dan Sullivan's serial server (http://itp.nyu.edu/~dbo3/SerialServer/SerialServer.html) and make sure to send data in dec form terminated by 0. This setting seems to work pretty great::

java -jar /Applications/ss6.jar SerialPort:/dev/tty.usbserial Baud:9600 SocketPort:9001 Sub0ForChar:13

Of course the Port will change depending. As far as flash goes, XML socket takes data in , so if there is more then one value passed (for instance, the switch and an analogue sensor), you have to adjust for the lack of structure.

What i did is set up a "control value" in Audrino code (say control value is 999) and set up an array in flash that stores data each time it's passed until it encounters control value. That way i can pull array[1] as first sensor, array[2] as second and so on.

Ann Hamilton

2006-11-01T09:01:00.000-08:00

In our interactive text class we saw Ann Hamillton's work documentation - so ellegant and fresh. Turns out she's risd graduate.

Anna Akhmatova, 1915

2006-10-28T22:06:00.000-07:00

N.V.N
There is a sacred, secret line in loving
which attraction and even passion cannot cross, --
even if lips draw near in awful silence
and love tears at the heart.

Friendship is weak and useless here,
and years of happiness, exalted and full of fire,
because the soul is free and does not know
the slow luxuries of sensual life.

Those who try to come near it are insane
and those who reach it are shaken by grief.
So now you know exactly why
my heart beats no faster under your hand.

Н.В.Н
Есть в близости людей заветная черта,
Ее не перейти влюбленности и страсти,-
Пусть в жуткой тишине сливаются уста
И сердце рвется от любви на части.

И дружба здесь бессильна и года
Высокого и огненного счастья,
Когда душа свободна и чужда
Медлительной истоме сладострастья.

Стремящиеся к ней безумны, а ее
Достигшие - поражены тоскою...
Теперь ты понял, отчего мое
Не бьется сердце под твоей рукою.

2 мая 1915, Петербург
Анна Ахматова. Сочинения в двух томах.
Москва, "Цитадель", 1996.

Pink is my new obsession

2006-10-27T09:16:00.001-07:00

This candle was purchaced at a typical dollar store on one of my previous trips to Maryland. Interestingly "It's a Boy" version was nowhere to be found. In form of a pig or otherwhise.

The causion on the package lists, among other things, 'keep away from the reach of children'.

...in the hallway

2006-10-26T10:38:00.000-07:00

Walking softly, a little behind my dream,
Clank, clank - something's left in this bag
One quick glance, one more gentle scream
Far too many lifetimes to turn back

Thanks to Mark!

2006-10-25T09:44:00.000-07:00

Yoko Ono
Cleaning Piece

"Cleaning Piece,a new work which consists of a pile of stones (river rocks) in the center gallery, a large white canvas on one end wall, a large black one on the opposite wall, and an instruction on the wall in the center. Gallery-goers are invited to attach sorrows to the black canvas, happinesses to the white. Various writing materials are provided for this purpose. For each entry on the canvases, happy and sad, one removes a stone from the center pile and places it on the happiness or sadness side."

Today

2006-10-13T10:46:00.000-07:00

Woke up disoriented to the
sound of a man yelling outside
Couldn't understand the language
Russian? English? Uzbek?
Don't want to open my eyes
but don't mind feeling the sun on my face
"You give me no RESPECT!!!!" he goes on...
Thoughts racing, it seems i can smell
my grandfather's medicine
Is that what home feels like?
Then i look up at the sealing and say out loud
"My meeting starts at noon"
I say that in English.

Of Fireflies

2006-10-12T12:39:00.000-07:00

Yayoi Kusama,
Fireflies on the Water (2002)

Now is a part of permanent collection at Whitney Museum, NYC. Immersive experience achieved with mirrors, plexiglas and lights. The visual aesthetic reminds of Osmos. Transformation of reality. Emotional response to beauty, and what is universally beautiful?

Fireflies, "hotaru", are symbolic of passionate love on the one hand, but may also represent the souls of soldiers who died in a war. They only live in clean streams. "Hotaru no Hikari (The Light of the Firefly)" is a song performed at graduations and various other "goodby" events.

Love=passion=purity=defence of honor=farewell

Char Davies

2006-10-11T12:23:00.000-07:00

Char Davies, Osmose (1995)
http://www.immersence.com/

- Poetics sustained in the age of technology

- Existentialism and Martin Heidegger

- As a child who needs a reflection of her own existence, we have a need to explore beyond recognizable, beyond mirrors. Reactive environments, womb-like spaces (whether mental of physical). Immidiacy of experience. Time transformed.

-Best work comes of conviction; your body maintains well when you voice is heard. No reason to compromise your own voice, steer your vision to be something it's not, even out of best intentions. Important work shell be significant foremost to yourself. Without being such, the voice is meaningless, it's strained and on the verge of braking.

-Free flow may exist in the "digital media" world. The ideas will take time to develop - some you will miss and come back to

-Stay away from the "nostalgia" word!

-Memory and neglect. Solitude. Sound of paper in the wind. Papers age so fast.

-There is finding universal in most personal experiences. Writing helps. Sharing does as well. What else is supporting one's idea of being if not memory? But how long shell this past be in order to provide such base? Does it matter? Is there a longing for an artifact, the evidence of things passed?

www.sharemyworld.net - what is home? how loneley is the "citizen of the world'?

Toni Takitani

2006-10-04T15:44:00.000-07:00

When i first saw that a film was made based on Toni Takitani, one of Haruki Murakami’s short stories, i was skeptical. After all, the first half-baked attempt made after Murakami's novel "Hear the Wind Sing" was such a fiasco, that the author declined every optioning offer ever since (Jay Rubin, "Haruki Murakami and the Music of Words"). That would explain why Toni Takitani's voice over follows the story almost word for word. In fact, this production seems more like a variation of an audio/video book. Lines delivered by corresponding actors rather then the narrator himself are an ellegant touch.

Speaking of actors - Issey Ogata (playing Toni Takitani) looks suspiciously reminiscent of Murakami himself; a very appropriate translation of his "boku". There is only one deviation from the original piece - the "corporate party" scene at the end. Personally, i was not all that pleased with that addition, but the soundtrack compensated fully. The music film is really beautiful, despite being repetitive. Thinking of the difference between solitude and loneliness, I can’t help but imagine Toni Takitani on the other end – “Long after he had forgotten all kinds of things”.

There are no question when nothing is measurable.
Wake me up in a place where none exists.
Do not wake me up at all to be so trivial.
Lead me out of it.
Leave me in.
Leave me alone.

Lumalive textiles from Phillips

2006-09-28T14:04:00.000-07:00

Phillips promises to release lumalive textiles for commercial use as soon as next year. German fashion designer Anke Loh is showing her latest collection where this technology is utilized fully. Described as "soft and flexible" led's which "fit invisibly into the fabric", and powered by batteries hidden in that same fabric. The article , sited from Philips Research lab, especially notes how easy those would be to remove for washing. No mention of cost, however.

The Master and Margarita

2006-09-24T11:27:00.000-07:00

'…Release me, then, I beg of you. Give me freedom to live, finally, to breathe again! ...': 'But you are free ... am I holding you back?' ' … Yes. Vanish from my memory, then I'll be free...'

Mikhail Bulgakov
'The Master and Margarita'

Having Fun with 'Le cadavre exquis'

2006-09-22T18:52:00.000-07:00

View Project Specs: Original Photography, Flash, ActionScript : Requires Flash Player 7 or higher
"I see nothing and everything" is a quick experiment in non-liniar narrative, based on the assignment introduced in Interactive Text Course (RISD).During the class, every student was asked to participate in a textual version of "exquisite corpse" game. Resulting 'poem' was to be visualized using any tools and/or techniques. Although originally designed as a quick exercise, i see this piece as a work in progress and will be posting updates as i'm going along.
Original text

Past Installations:: Gesture

2006-09-22T10:21:00.000-07:00

In spirit of re-examining one's interest (oh, Graduate Seminar, it's all for you!), i've looked at some of my past work trying to pick out important clues for deciphering self. One thing is clear - poetics of space and symbolism in objects, heavily laced with nostalgia, lead me to this point. Today i'm remembering how these pieces came about.

See "Gesture" documentation Specs: Wooden frame, Letters, Scrap Paper, Video Projection, EZIO micro-controller, Potentiometer, Macromedia Director
When i started working on "Gesture" i was packing up my place getting ready to move (again) and found a bundle of old letters form my former contacts in Russia. It's been so long since i've seen these (let along written back) that i hardly recognized once crisp and bright, and now yellow and worn out envelopes. I was not at all sure that the paper was supposed to age so quickly. In fact, i was convince that this fragmented documentation of my memories has somehow been infected and disfigured by my neglect.

So there i set, reading over the correspondence to find myself just shuffling the letters over and over again. I no longer bothered to read faded lines. It felt good to just keep stroking the rough surface of the pages as if petting a small sickly creature. Overwhelmed with guilt, i became addicted to this little practice and kept at it for weeks thinking that maybe loving these objects themselves would transcend time and distance.

Right around the same time i discovered Buddhism and the Mantra wheel prayer rituals. The idea of spinning a cylinder which contains written word to awake compassion fascinated me. How must one regard the power of inscription and find the comfort in this repetitive gesture! In my mind, this was a well deserved destination to my correspondence - to create a mantra of my own. To find the compassion in a presence long gone.

First venture :: Rituals @ 2003

2006-09-21T15:33:00.000-07:00

See "Rituals" documentation Specs: Video Projection, Self-made switches, Rubber Floor Mats, EZIO board micro-controller, Micromedia Director
The very first attempt at physical interface/installation. An interactive 'plane' based on Zen gardens, where one discovers path as the clues (triggered by steps) lead him through the space.