Circuitry is like Lego for big kids. You need a lot of knowledge on how and what every little bit does, but after that, you can just start putting things together to get a final beast, and that’s what began to finally happen this year thanks to Simone (my electronics teacher).

Beyond all my Microcontroller and microchip programming knowledge, ( THANK YOU ROB!! PS, Rob Sux) I finally get, Voltage dividers, bi-polar psu’s, Analog to digital conversion, servos, 4049’s, lm3915, 16f84a PIC microchips, 4017 sequencers, etc!!! The picture in my head as to how to program all these things is getting clearer, and whatever I can’t program or do with hardware I can do through software and PIC’s (microchips).

It’s interesting to look back to my animatronic bat from second year and know that I can replace that entire laptop set-up with a tiny little black microchip.

Microsoft Word doesn't have the word, 'multicellular' in it's dictionary (and is underlining it in red right now). It does however include 'Disney' and 'Duracell' and will capitalize them automatically for me. Go team Microsoft.

Instead of my massive ‘TVU’ piece, I put an F’n light on the wall. What should I say? (well,.. I said that in my artist statement).

The piece came of frustration. After not having the time or space to do what I want, and after having a media ‘installation’ class, with no psychical space to build installations, (even after a 42million$ campus expansion) I’m feeling a little pissed. So this was my final.

It’s a wall socket, with 2 red LED’s (2001 Hal style) with a speaker built into the back. The unit speaks, and introduces itself as the tactile interface to our new (and oh so wonderful *cough*) smart room system. The unit is installed horizontally on the wall, rather than vertical on purpose. As the unit talks in a computerized and unclear voice (OCAD + clarity..?), the red lights flickers in unison.
After awhile, it asks people to interact with it and demo the system, saying “touch me” and “push my buttons” however, just like our smart room system, there are no buttons….

I did this for OCAD, as well as an homage to the wonderful workers who managed to put things in backwards, forget to wire things, crossed cabling, and, yes, forgot install light switches in the rooms.
Let’s be honest, as, I’ve done these things,… it’s just not that fucking hard to install a light switch. It’s like.. Circuitry, but with 2 fucking pieces. Nice job.

It was great to see people wave their hands and attempt to find the buttons or try for touch sensitivity, everyone knows my work is always interactive, and last project Billie Jo made sure to bring this up. So I figured it’d be fun to fuck with everyone.

Actually, people seemed to really like it. Which annoyed me. I don’t like that I put 2 hours into a piece and had it enjoyed. I prefer spending 72+ hours and making something detailed and such.. so I felt dirty.

Technical thoughts:
I experimented a slight bit actually. In order to produce sound a varying voltage is sent to a speaker, thus, if one puts a light onto that cable, the light will produce varying intensity, from zero to full brightness. I’d never really put the two concepts together before, and it’s funny, but neither have a lot of people. I’ve seen a lot of mods for computers with single light logos that bounce in tune with the music and they all use complex chips and circuitry. None of which is needed at all.

“Because society has given us the time and the means to think, to speculate, to ask questions, to propose solutions, to try things to experiment, our responsibility is that we give back to society. How do we give back? By engaging the audience in important issues of our time, communicating, offering a space of discussion, dialogue, and interaction. It is really about offering audiences something that no one else in society can offer them, not the media or the entertainment worlds, not their professional lives. That is what is unique about what we can do. It is very difficult to accomplish this, but we can take people to places they have never been. I don’t mean physically, but mentally. We can ask hard questions, we can suggest difficult answers. All that is part of the privilege”.
-Alfredo Jaar.