come out and play!
This seems to be the time of year for new media-related festivals, as another big one kicked off last night. However, before we got to that point, we met with some folks at the hosting site, Eyebeam, who are doing very cool things. The Graffiti Research Lab is comprised of a group of programmers and innovators who are exploring new forms of urban graffiti. 
One of their latest projects involves LED lights attached to magnets that they call "throwies" because they can be, well, throwed at things, creating a semi-permanent, chaotic form of graffiti involving much of the general public. They are also experimenting with a very cool machine: a 3-D printer that has so far been used mostly to print models of the head of one of the artists [at left]. Overall, very technologically and conceptually innovative, and I plan on following their work to see what else they come up with. Also during our visit, we met with the director of Eyebeam and took a tour of the rest of the facilities, including their education department, which puts on programs for school-age kids to get them excited about new forms of art.
After a trip over to the Postmasters Gallery to see Natalie Jaremijenko's new exhibit, we headed back over to Eyebeam for the opening of the Come Out and Play festival. It features about thirty big urban games played in various
locations in Manhattan, and is much bigger than last weekend's Conflux festival. Even as hundreds of people ran off to play games, the venue remained buzzing with activity. Notable was the performance of Modal Kombat, a couple of guys who were playing Mortal Kombat [and later Mario Kart, at right] with their guitars as the controllers. Various pitches, sequences, and volumes played on the guitars corresponded to actions on a traditional controller. The crowd had a great time watching them play, and it actually ended up sounding surpisingly good. Another twist on an old video game was the larger than life Space Invaders, played on the side of a building and controlled by the player moving his arms and torso.
Another highlight of the past couple days was not one, but two encounters with Mexican Mariachi bands.
Seriously, how cool is that? The first one was the biggest Mariachi band I've ever seen, comprised of about seven men playing in a pretty good restaurant called Mama Mexico. They even had a trumpet! Very authentic, and it reminded me a lot of Old Town Mexican Cafe back home. And the second was a not so great group of three men who popped onto our subway car and played a song. However, it was the first time I have ever seen people give money to those folks on the subway who demand your attention, and they didn't even have to do the "Can I have your attention? I just need a meal" schpeel, so I was pretty impressed.
One of their latest projects involves LED lights attached to magnets that they call "throwies" because they can be, well, throwed at things, creating a semi-permanent, chaotic form of graffiti involving much of the general public. They are also experimenting with a very cool machine: a 3-D printer that has so far been used mostly to print models of the head of one of the artists [at left]. Overall, very technologically and conceptually innovative, and I plan on following their work to see what else they come up with. Also during our visit, we met with the director of Eyebeam and took a tour of the rest of the facilities, including their education department, which puts on programs for school-age kids to get them excited about new forms of art.After a trip over to the Postmasters Gallery to see Natalie Jaremijenko's new exhibit, we headed back over to Eyebeam for the opening of the Come Out and Play festival. It features about thirty big urban games played in various
locations in Manhattan, and is much bigger than last weekend's Conflux festival. Even as hundreds of people ran off to play games, the venue remained buzzing with activity. Notable was the performance of Modal Kombat, a couple of guys who were playing Mortal Kombat [and later Mario Kart, at right] with their guitars as the controllers. Various pitches, sequences, and volumes played on the guitars corresponded to actions on a traditional controller. The crowd had a great time watching them play, and it actually ended up sounding surpisingly good. Another twist on an old video game was the larger than life Space Invaders, played on the side of a building and controlled by the player moving his arms and torso.Another highlight of the past couple days was not one, but two encounters with Mexican Mariachi bands.
Seriously, how cool is that? The first one was the biggest Mariachi band I've ever seen, comprised of about seven men playing in a pretty good restaurant called Mama Mexico. They even had a trumpet! Very authentic, and it reminded me a lot of Old Town Mexican Cafe back home. And the second was a not so great group of three men who popped onto our subway car and played a song. However, it was the first time I have ever seen people give money to those folks on the subway who demand your attention, and they didn't even have to do the "Can I have your attention? I just need a meal" schpeel, so I was pretty impressed.
