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Data Calorimetry

jamie — Fri, 10 Dec 2010 13:42:30 +0000

Twined applications in 1804 and 1809 by Campillo and Sömmering gave us the first long-distance electrical telegraph. These electrochemical contraptions comprised simple on/off switching at the transmission end, coupled to wires immersed in tubes of acid at the receiving station. The tubes were labeled with a unique alpha-numeric character, and hydrogen bubbles resulting from electrolysis of the acid would convey both message and meaning.

Data Calorimetry is an interactive installation comprised of two computers serving up digital documents to one another. These documents detail the natural history of electrical telecommunications development. The data cable connecting the two servers has been spliced, and placed in a tube containing a strong acid. As data is transmitted through this acid, glitches appear on screen, hydrogen bubbles are produced, and a metered temperature rise give a sense of the material energy and power of digital information.

Partners: Culture Lab

Friends as Fonts

admin — Wed, 27 Aug 2008 14:51:24 +0000

A friend is sent a white sweatshirt with their name on it, printed in a font chosen especially for them. A note is included, asking that they submit a photo to friendsasfonts.com.

Partners: Eyebeam

Link: friends as fonts

ghostbustour

admin — Wed, 29 Aug 2007 14:38:04 +0000

A multimedia walking tour of New York City, augmented by the use of portable media devices. Sites relevant to the original film ‘Ghostbusters’ compose the tour path, with video content relevant to the film, geography and history of New York comprising the tour. ghostbustour is an attempt to re-attach ʻmedia memoriesʼ with our experience of lived space and time.

Partners: Rob O’Neill, Tom Ainslie, Melissa Barrett, Lia Bulaong, Mike Horan, Derek Wang, Tali Padan, EYEBEAM, Tekserve, Conflux

Links: ghostbustour, wmmna

Killing Lena

admin — Mon, 27 Aug 2007 14:17:18 +0000

A single scanned image of Lena Soderberg took up favor amongst digital imaging researchers in the 1970s. The image has been used as a comparative standard in thousands of image compression tests, publications and algorithm shoot-outs for fomats such as JPEG and GIF. “Killing Lena” is Lena’s most famous photo repeatedly exposed to the algorithms she unwittingly helped develop.

Partners: Electronic Literature Organization, FACT Liverpool, Nikolaj Copenhagen Contemporary Art Center