2013 - My Year in Review
Posted on in Uncategorized
This is as much for myself as for anyone else… I’m doing a lot of planning these days, trying to approach 2014 strategically, and I thought it would be helpful to remind myself what I did last year. Time flies by and most of my to-do lists get longer, not shorter, but I do accomplish things, many of which I am proud of and thankful for 🙂
Exhibitions
The Cardboard Art Festival in January was a blast, and I created three new works for it. The next one is coming right up January 24-26… see the website or the Facebook event for details. Amy and I spent July in Europe, culminating in the Bridges Math Art Conference in Enschede, where I also showed the mini marionette.
October was a very busy month, with the Art & Algorithms digital arts festival overlapping with the Orlando Mini Maker Faire, where in addition to installing the giant marionette, Sergio Mora and I played with the Orlando Science Center’s Science on a Sphere and Processing to create some interactive experiments.
Though we did not make it in person, Amy and I also faxed artwork (yes, you read that right) to the Fax + Pattern show at Stonybrook. Finally, I hung my prints at Timucua for a one night show.
Beautiful Chaos
2013 saw the release of the Leap Motion Controller, a remarkably inexpensive motion controller that plugs into your computer and allows you to control software with hand gestures in 3d space. I was a part of their pre-release developer program, and created Beautiful Chaos for their app store (see video below).
In addition to selling the app to anyone with a Leap Motion Controller, I also used Beautiful Chaos to perform with Chris Belt, and as a temporary public art installation at the Creative City Project. I’ve already got a few special events lined up for Beautiful Chaos in 2014.
Processing Orlando, Training
I started a bi-monthly meetup in Orlando, called Processing Orlando, named after one of the software tools that I and many other new media artists use to create algorithmic and generative art. Many cities across the world have this type of meetup, or similar meetups focusing on the art + tech community. I figured it was high time we had one in Orlando, which has a burgeoning tech scene, a lot of energy in the arts, and a vibrant creative community that calls this place home!
In addition to introducing artists and creative people to the idea of using code to make art through the Processing Orlando meetups, I also started offering focused training to individuals and companies who want to learn how to use Processing and other similar software tools. When I was in NYC in October for the Leaders in Software and Art conference, I taught a 2 hour session at RedAntler, a branding consultancy where a friend of mine works, and in December I taught a 1 hour session for the local Orlando SIGGRAPH chapter.
Speaking
In 2013, I spoke about art, math and programming at Nerd Nite Orlando, Processing Orlando, and Art & Algorithms in Titusville. I also spoke at Brooklyn Tech and St Ann’s School in Brooklyn, and at Pecha Kucha twice with Amy.