My landscape was initially inspired by Conway’s Game of Life, a mathematical algorithm that mimics the development of human populations, but then I realized that the code was extensively long and complicated that I couldn’t mimic it that well or creatively. So, I decided to branch off of that and do randomly generating patterns of white and black boxes, with the previous staying behind. However, when the two boxes clash together at the same spot, they cause a burst of red that is eventually covered by their boxes, as if these two are trying to hide their past conflicts by just trying to fight each other again. I’m not sure if this has an actual relevance between racial tension, but I think that the concept of it trying to hide its past mistakes is quite interesting. Here’s the link: https://www.openprocessing.org/sketch/622646

1. My first idea is inspired by Conway’s Game of Life, which has these black boxes that are randomly generated with certain rules in mind, also creating patterns in the program itself. The landscape itself would be generated through a similar process to that in Life.
2. I was browsing ideas for generative landscapes, and I came across Matt Felsen’s generative trees, which I found similar to ideas that were previously discussed in class that I also found to be very intriguing. I will probably develop a web of sorts that develops in a matter similar to that in Matt Felsen’s work.
3. Computer-generated mountains are a concept I found ofen when researching for inspiration, and I want to develop a landscape of mountains that isn’t just still, but also moves around and changes values for the points of the mountains to simulate moving waves.

I found Lauren McCarthy’s research on relationships through surveillance to be very interesting, taking a somewhat unusual spin on the hashtag “#caughtonNestCam” publicized by Nest Labs, the company behind the home surveillance system Nest. McCarthy and her colleague Kyle McDonald conducted an experiment where they would observe each other solely through a surveillance system similar to Nest, but when one would surveil the other, that surveiller would be recorded. I found this experiment to be unique in how it made the surveiller feel very self-aware of themselves while monitoring the other, while adding a strongly “human” element to the surveillance. Many would say that surveillance feels very “alien” and impersonal in a way, but as McCarthy puts it, knowing what the significant other is doing is a large factor in any relationship.

Ideas for my visual clock:

1. I was thinking of using emoji-esque visuals to describe different times of the day. For lunchtime, I would draw a mini cowboy with his gun drawn and a cowboy hat on, because it would be high noon at that time. Then, at 2 am, would be a college student fueled by coffee and tormented by his or her own baggy eyes. I would use a solid color as the background for different times of the day, using specific colors for specific moods of the day.
2. I was interested by pixel art, specifically the use of smaller boxes of color to create an idea of a moving wave of color. I was interested in creating a “canvas” of sorts that changes color based on the time of day and also creates an outline of the actual time in a numerical format.
3. I’ve always been interested in the show “24”, which showcases a full day in a counterterrorism agent’s work. The show has intervals of the clock counting down from 24 hours, creating a theme of tenseness and drama. I want to somewhat incorporate that design into my virtual clock.

I was browsing through the list of artists listed on the site, and I came across Mary Flanagan’s [unnatural elements: avatar portraits]. The project initially took on a focus on how our “virtual personae and figures [that] we create in online space” compare to our personae and figures in reality. The team used computer software to construct a 3D portrait without using other commonly-used “Hollywood” software to smooth out the rough edges that most films do. During the project, Flanagan and her team realize that the computer is creating a portrait that has a stark resemblance to that of natural edges and shapes, specifically rocks and earth. Flanagan describes that the computer is disturbingly more “realistic” and natural than reality itself, in a way.

What made me take interest in this project is the initial focus of the project: how our virtual selves compare to our real selves. Our generation grew up with social media and other mediums from a very early age–not as early as younger kids–but nevertheless, we are very accustomed to social media and online networking. The twist that this project took was very interesting personally: how our virtual figures, when constructed entirely by a computer, is disturbingly more realistic than our own selves.