And---- I’m officially the electronics studio Monitor for Wednesdays. So if you need someone to explain a Transistor to you, stop by the lab, I’ll be there and I’ll do my best to confuse you even more.

Somewhere beyond happiness and sadness, I need to calculate What creates my own madness/ And I'm addicted to your punishment
I feel irrational / So confrontational
I never look back cause I don't even want to
And I don't need to

I have wanted to add LCD screens to my thesis project, but didn’t think I would find any for a good price.

I was in futureshop buying a cordless phone (34.99 with caller id! ) and I saw something I’ve never seen before, the “Hip Gear, Screen Pad”. I never saw it here, but apparently it was a failed product in America. Basically it’s a game controller (3 versions, Xbox, Playstation, Gamecube) with a 2.6” colour screen built-in (built-in is a loose term, and so is the mounting job on this product). Overall right away I can see numerous reasons it failed, but none are important for me to go over here.
The important thing is instead of costing $149.99, it was going for 29.95! (I was shocked and couldn’t believe my eyes!! Right next to it they had another portable gaming screen for $219.99)

One persons junk is another persons GOLD. I must have starred at it for 20minutes, I just couldn’t believe it. I kept flipping it and peering through the plastic thinking it had to be PART of a full product, the mounting for a screen perhaps? Or, a complete misprint in price!) Everywhere else small TFT screens are $99+ and usually 7” of PURE crappiness!

This screen is 2.6”, but it’s crisp and sharp, I can read computer text on this tiny 2.6” screen! You can’t do that on one of the 7” ones!

What’s better? Hacking it was EASY! It took me all of 5minutes to rip apart and rewire to my TV. Priceless! Oh, it also has built in speakers. For $30 this is a complete steal!
I baught 4. 3 for me, 1 for my buddy Rob. (happy belated Xmas…) I want 2 for thesis, 1 for future use. It’ll take a few years before I see any other LCD screens for such a low price. And the odds they’ll be such high resolution is completely doubtful.

In the project I’ll use it as planned in the bordering store display surrounding the packages, but I will also embed a second into another Genpet package. At the moment I think they’ll both have the same video, but if I have time I’ll make them different. I want advertisings for these things playing on the screens, with happy kids and lots of flash.

I debated this for awhile, I want to keep my costs down, and I’m broke, but this is too good of a deal to pass up. Shiny blinky ALWAYS gets peoples attentions. Why cheap out if it’s going to make the piece so much better? I refuse.

Also found the motors I’ll be using. And sound proofing foam. And I’m cooler than you.

Sometimes the tool you need doesn’t exist yet. That’s why we have soldering irons and Beer* (*Brandejs.ca does not condone drinking liquor while welding or soldering, *snicker*).

Usher in a new tool I named the StamPIC. It’s a basic stamp, but it outputs to the pin configuration of a 16f84a PIC microcontoller. The circuit has a built in 5volt regulator ( the stamp has a regulator, but seeing as I paid $60, you can never be too careful, I’d rather my 75cent 7806 regulator get blown first) as well as a nifty on off switch! (version 2 will have a modded blue glow from underneath*)
* may be complete BS.
(Why use a regulator? Ahh the dirty little secrets of DC electronics. My 6volt adaptor actually outputs 11.3 VOLTS ! When I measure it with my voltmeter. Thus, regulating is key. This is normal. Go, ummm, standards and good labelling…)

The thing with Stamps is they’re nifty. They light up, and you can program them fast, they have built in power regulators, built in serial programming ports, etc. It’s one click, smoothness, but they’re $60 each! Not too useful unless you’re rich, or rip apart all your art pieces when done, neither option I like.

The PIC microchips are $6 each (+ $1 oscillator) but they’re annoying to program as they require a separate programming board (insert take out, check program, repeat 10 times, break leg off microchip, go buy another chip, waste time and money and so on. Not cool)

So what’s one to do? Can’t we have the best of both worlds?
>> Yes.
That’s what my circuit does!

The Basic Stamp outputs it’s signals to my special adaptor that funnels down to a cable with an 18pin IC socket on the end. It looks like a tiny PIC with a big ugly (dustin) cable coming out of it, and works in the exact same way.
The programming language is the same, so when all is tested and working, you only have to program the PIC once.

Hope that makes sense, but it’s hard to explain most of what I do now in simple terms, it’s becoming rather specialized and not all pretty pictures….
Damn art school tryin to learn me.

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.

The Genpets TM Project is coming along on schedule. Designs are becoming more finalized, the box and accessories mostly. The animals themselves are still not taking shape. I seem to be designing a lot of things based on cats though, due to my recent over exposure to them (V = Crazy cat lady. And yes Dustin = Ugly).

One of my main concerns throughout, has been where I will show this sculpture. Where will I get gallery space, how much it will cost me, etc. I don’t mind spending a thousand $ or so on a gallery space later, however, I don’t have a significant body of work I would show yet. A 3-week project just doesn’t give me time to produce something of gallery scale and quality. (Well, for many it does, but my goal is never to be one of the crowd) I view the Genpets TM piece as my first gallery quality work.

Back on topic, today Johanna announced we’ll be participating in the Go West show. It will be a juried selection of course. But you know me. That doesn’t scare me in the slightest. I don’t lose. So expect to get invites from me in 4 months for a gallery opening on queen west, with my name. You might want to go.

An exercise in LEGO inspired artwork. As this cost me way too much, and I went overboard with a tiny project, I needed to find easy ways to reuse the components as much as possible. I also needed cheap wire. Thus, I used RCA sockets and cable. All the pieces interlock easily and can be reused for later works. It also gives the piece a very tidy finished look. Even though it’s still an experimental work in progress. In total, I used 40 feet of wire inside the sensor Pillars and 192 feet of cable outside to wire in the lights. Yes, I am insane, but that’s why you love me.

What does it do?
Inside of a darkened room hang 6 double sided images drawn by Ryan Solski that have small white lights hanging behind them. The cable all collects into a central mass being fed into 2 pillars in the centre of the room that have Photo-resisters installed on them. When the spectator walks into the room, they can either look at the images, or interact with the nervous system of the installation and by moving their hands over the pillars, they can effect the ambiance of the room. Dimming each light individually, or all at once. The user decides and has control over the entire space.

It’s a work in progress as none of the lights are exactly the way I want them to be, however all the circuitry and power systems for the installation are complete. As it was, THIS was $80, too much for a 3 week project and there just wasn’t time to finish correctly.

The idea behind the piece.
Ryan and I saw the work in different ways. The idea in my mind deals with space and how we relate and interact with it. The space is operating fine when the user enters it, but through the interaction of the user, the space is disrupted and the central user thusly effects the experience of all those around them. When they step back however the system returns to equilibrium on it’s own. In a white boxed gallery type setting, it gives the viewer the chance to control and effect that space rather than just being a passive observer within it.

<< Interim report rough draft for thesis.

Come on, what did you expect? I didn’t spend 4 years at art school to print out an MLA format, white wash title page with my name on it. Granted, designing this and stapling Blue acetate plastic to the back of it didn’t take long, but it was sure noticeable!

I prefer to stand out, when possible, with as little effort as possible. It’s not that it’s my goal to make anyone else look bad (as people have suggested), it just sorta happens. More work now = less work later.

As for the inside text, it was a rough draft, but I wrote it as a final paper, complete with Annotated Bibliography that V helped with, THANK YOU! (I HATE Biblio formatting. HATE). I think I felt a little stupid that night when I couldn’t deal with the MLA crap, but then I looked down at the microchip I’d just programmed earlier, and was like, I’m not the stupid one here, fuck you MLA.

It still surprises me, but everyone likes my thesis. People keep mentioning that to me, which is nice. Thanks! Even Johanna (thesis advisor) isn’t suggesting I change things, or do it differently; she thinks it’s a good idea. So I guess it must be. I just hope I can pull it off the way I want to.

Mould-making (work) tonight was great. I got about half of a new sculpture done as well as some reading for electronics. I must have looked pretty funny. I set myself up with a 2 tables, sketchbook, laptop, readings, and of course, clay/water/plaster. I like to multitask! I don’t worry so much about getting my laptop all dirtied up with clay. I back up my files regularly, and if anything ever does break, I can do the repairs myself (ebay = replacement parts). I NEVER want to be one of those people that has a freaking slip cover for their keyboard and such. It’s a mass produced piece of plastic for god’s sake. I mean ya, It would suck if it broke, but it’s not going to burst into flames because it has a fingerprint on it.