The 27 local, regional and national artists have created their own collection line or individual pieces specifically for the exhibition, and have made work that will be modeled on the catwalk show during the opening reception. Artists explore the myriad influences and contexts of fashion, investigating issues such as identity and values, innovation and retrogression, trends and fads, materialism and consumption, high and low fashion, globalism and regionalism, thrift, reusing, recycling and reclaiming.
We participated in the runway showcasing our new UV fluorescing inks and in Basement6 doing live silkscreening. It was really cool to be able to finally present my own home town with the stuff we’ve been pitching all over the country. If you want to come hang out, we’ll be printing live every Saturday till Jan 11 from 6-9 if you want to get something made, bring by your clothing, we’ll print on it for free!
The Two Hands Project
A documentary tour of as many Hackerspaces we could possibly see in one month. I felt that Hackerspaces were at a tipping point last spring/summer and I wanted to capture the movement in the beginning stages to spread the concept and fan the flames of making. Currently in post production. We could use any help anyone can offer!
Here was our amazing flight plan:
The THP is also a hack in and of itself, it definitely brews from the same thrifty resourcefulness with an angle on how to make the most awesome project with limited resources. THP will be produced with two hands, like everything else ever made.
The Alibi was a privately owned space for music performances, film screenings, and art gallery showings. We started it as a way to try to gather creative people together in a creative space with the methods for production, performance and sales all located in the same building. The concept was to help sponsor creative people by creating a small local economy centered around making, sharing and selling. The space was allowed free room to grow and evolve and overtime we had people curating events of all sorts including a group which began a community garden in our backyard.
Jeffery Lewis came last April and performed at the Alibi.
The Alibi was a fun experiment in sustainable creative economies but after a year in operation my company (http://modati.com) was offered a education oriented relationship with the Neutral Zone teaching teenagers screen printing while promoting entrepreneurship and the main source of income for the Alibi moved. The Alibi is gone, but it’s successors are awesome! Yellow Barn in Ann Arbor
Alibi Alumni:
Actual Birds
Alan Patrick Schuerman
Allan Fullerton
Annie Palmer
Belikos
Charlene Kaye
Cojum Dip
Cut to Scene
Diane Cluck
Fatter Than Albert
The Fire Flies
Fred Thomas
Gary Lutz
Gunday Monday
Hullabaloo
Jae Stevens Live
Jeffrey Lewis
Legendz of the Fall
Looking For Mammoths
Lord of the Yum Yum
Mahoney
Matt Wixson
Mick Bassett and the Marthas
Old Big Bear
Stuck Lucky
The Ruined Frame
Tipton Lea & The Victorian Army
We Are The Union
Wesley West
Invisible Glowing Graffiti with two colors: Red and Green
This is some invisible UV glowing paint I made recently. It’s a clear paint that glows brightly under UV lights. There are many reasons I can think of to can be used to add invisible messages without obscuring preexisting signs or creating visual clutter. Also some fun uses could be to create city wide treasure hunts or secrete messages. The ink comes in two versions a plastic based version that you can screen print and a polyurethane version that you can spray. Here’s what the wall looks like during the day:
Wall with two skull tags imitating wall without tags
At night here’s a picture of it glowing with a UV LED flashlight: You can see it using UV LED's as well!
The applications are endless, what would you do with this type of ink?
-bg
So while developing my $50 laser cutter I needed a program that would help me turn vector designs into a series of steps that could run the motors. These steps are human readable, here’s an example text file: Flutter File. If you were to take 0 as north, and 1 as north east, 2 as east and so on and walked this document out you would have drawn this charming man:
My Biometric Data
There is a lot going on. Let me show you it. These are a few of the projects I’m working on RIGHT NOW!
WreckLab / MakeLab is a class I’m proposing around town in which people take apart the things that mystify them, learn how the component parts work, then put them back together in novel ways. The idea is to empower people with the knowledge of everyday objects they mistake for magic. Cell phone: magic. Refrigerators… majick. Printers: sorcery!! Having the knowledge of the inner workings of their thingsgives people more ownership over the stuff they buy. If your watch breaks, you’re not out all the parts, you can use that stuff! Also there’s the potential for fixing it yourself.
There is the hope that more happens, that through this destructive and constructive play people find themselves inspired to experiment, to realize that science is done by people solving their own problems. That a playful experimenting mind is a fun thing to cultivate, and who knows what fun hacks we’ll develop along the way!
Radioactive Boardgame Free will and chance, these are things I’ve been thinking about ever since I was introduced to the concept of reductionism. I’d really like to see more large scale things controlled by quantum and subatomic weirdness. It is disappointing to know that something mysterious exists that has the potential to give life true randomness and in my opinion adds a fair serving of intrigue then realize that as it aggregates all the fun random effects blend out to your last choice at Wendy’s (you got something from the dollar menu). So I’ve built a scintillator using Zinc Sulfide and Americium and in absolute darkness I can see subatomic particles exploding off and shooting out individual photons. It looks like static (coooooool). What I would like to do with this is develop a way to amplify it singularly to make decisions for a board game. No idea what the game will be, maybe I’ll make it a SMS based application where you ask it a question and it replies with an answer selected by ATOMS.
Biometric data link with my online and audio inputs. I’d like to see if there’s a correlation between my blood pressure and the websites I visit regularly.
It’s now late and I have a letter to write. So I’ll just name a few others: UV graffiti, RGB UV plastic based inks, refillable spray paint cans (found some), laser projector, The Two Hands Project, and starting a hackerspace in Ann Arbor called All Hands Active.
Considering new ways to send tactile data to my skin I’ve been working on gloves with speaker coils embedded in them. As a test I wound and glued speaker coils to my fingers and was able to use them placed against a magnet to feel some pretty good vibration. This is awesome, but the only problem is that they seem to require LOTS of amplification to give me a good sensation. I think adding an air cavity with approximately 1mm of open air between the diaphram and my finger will give me a really good buzzing sensation and will try that out during the next build night at AHA. Can’t wait to figure out a way to make tiny tactile sensors that we can build in a massive array!
I’ll be talking at Ignite Ann Arbor 2 tomorrow. You can RSVP here Ignite Ann Arbor RSVP
Currently practicing my slides, I hope people follow me and can see a concrete image in what I’ll be proposing. Why gathering together in communities to build, share and talk regularly can fix what’s ailing our community. And what Benjamin Franklin would have to say about it. Doing what you think is most important is critical to working passionately and inspiring others to build with you. If you want a sneak peak at my slides, ask me for the URL. I’ll post the slides and video later, there’s a fun ending I don’t want to spoil. Come tomorrow and let’s hang out!
Awesome news! I’m proud to announce that Ann Arbor’s Maker Space is now with name! All Hands Active [AHA] has a good flow and ring to it. But for me I feel it implies immediate action, a hands on / personal feel, and community involvement and these are three things that I think are critical.
Hey all! Just thought I’d let you know that this Thursday (tomorrow) will be a Build and Tell presented by the A2Makers group. We’ll be meeting at the Neutral Zone [310 E Washington Ann Arbor MI 48104] to have some stimulants (coffee/mate), brain storm and share what we’ve been making. If you’re down to come, here’s facebook stuff yo.
Sitting in my car a few days ago I had the strangest experience watching my brain attempt to deconstruct the way it parses it’s environment. I was attempting to listen to words for the sounds they were creating devoid of language and I absolutely could not. Unless I took a single sentence and turned off the radio I couldn’t just let the words wash over me without what felt like setting down roots that would drag as I pulled.
Try it, next time you’re listening to the radio, or your mother lecture you, try to hear her words for the sounds she’s making. I believe removing the human element from this essential interaction truely lays bare the awesome power of language. Vibrating air as telepathy.
I’ve finally bought my ticket and a good group has formed around the project. Very rapidly things are coming together and it had to, there’s 9 days. I’ll be printing shirts for this project as a way to raise funds and to have something to offer. I really should make stickers and cards, I wonder if there’s a good place to do that that anyone knows.
Here’s the first prototype shirt for the Two Hands Project:
THP shirt under UV light
I think that a bit more formulation and my UV ink will be perfected, I think I want to use an Acetone based dye, but my concern is that the only ones I can get in that formulation that are sunlight stable fluoresce under 385/375 and that’s a bit low for general public UV light sources.
In anycase, expect invisible inks in the future. Tomorrow will be a glowey day.
Man! What a great response. I didn’t expect nearly such a profoundly positive experience after proposing The Two Hands Project but I guess that just means that it’s time has come. There’s still lots of work to do, and I’m just now going through the JetBlue iternary and I also still don’t have all the money I need to travel. But I’m still so pumped!
If you know of any spaces that I need to check out, or want to help out in any other way lemme know. We’re considering printing these shirts: SHIRTS!
www.twohandsproject.com is a Documentary on Maker/Hackerspaces that will be shot in a month during a whirlwind tour of as many USA spaces as possible on the JetBlue 600$ anywhere anytime ticket!
JetBlue is offering a 599$ ticket for a month of unlimited travel. We can hop around the entire country visiting spaces for 600$ and a few couches. This is a project waiting to happen. I’m also looking for any exciting film makers and funding, check www.twohandsproject.com for more info and to donate / be a part of this trip.
It was such a treat to meet up with some old San Francisco friends today Mitch and Luigi.
We were able to talk a bit about the concept of a Hatchery (the name may be over used, but it’s so apt). And how it may help fund peoples ideas, I’m thinking some services that we can offer and some profit sharing models to encourage collaboration, and to stimulate work. I’m still mulling all these thoughts over and if you’d like to discuss what a hatchery can be, a hackerspace -geekery and +focus on entrepreneurship as a goal. But if you want to talk about this, projects in general, and DIY/Maker/Hacker culture you should come to the Ann Arbor Chocolate Cafe in Ann Arbor this friday!
Ann Arbor Introductions!
Where: 330 S Main St Ann Arbor, MI When: 7:22 PM Why: Talk, get excited, have chocolate Bring: An extra dollar bill
I’ve been thinking about the relationship between wiki’s and mind maps. It would be neat if we could go from wiki to mind map to try to see a birds eye view of our thoughts and how they progress and grow. So I’m looking for good software to try to write a project oriented mind map of ideas, materials, webpages and people… So far I found Tiddly Wiki. Does anyone have any experience with this? Should I use something else?
Coming back from PS1 in Chicago on the long drive back to Cambridge I’ve been doing some serious thinking. I believe that Michigan needs a hackerspace with a unique perspective, a job generating outlook. I’ll be back in Michigan – Ann Arbor – to start discussions on planning and organizing a new hackerspace next friday July 31st. Anyone who believes should be there.
_let’s go.
Jordan Bunker, Eric Michaud, Bilal Ghalib, and Amar Ghalib
US Short Code Association is the way Twitter is able to have such a short number for their texting service. It’s not free, it costs approximately $1,000 dollars a month, but if you have a good project that needs a quick texting service with a short number, register now. For me the word MODATI still is available… Hmmm
I’m still considering my options concerning interactivity and activism in relationship to business and exciting people. I want to make a interactive online/offline game that includes peoples environments including the things they’re wearing. I think I might try to set up a SMTP server to respond to text messages or picture messages… If anyone can give me some pointers on how to automate the translation of a picture text message, that’d be so sweet. Thank you all, and to all a good night!
Ahoi! I’ve been working on this project for some while now and I thought it was about time for an update. The tactile sensory substitution display has changed greatly since the last iteration, mostly in terms of electronics, currently it’s running at 10×10 pixels with a much faster refresh rate than the previous iteration. Previously I had it running a face detection program to isolate faces and present them to the wearer on their back, giving people additional information about their environments, here’s a video of me using the old haptic display:
The new electronics uses shift registers to load up chars which describe the video information, this makes it easier to send the data in streams and allows for a faster refresh, here’s a short clip showing the shift registers and the new electronics:
