Null By Morse: Historical Optical Communication to Smartphones

Leonardo ◽  
2013 ◽  
Vol 46 (4) ◽  
pp. 344-352
Author(s):  
Tom Schofield
Keyword(s):  
Optical Communication ◽  
Media Art ◽  
Signal Lamp ◽  
Light Levels ◽  
Camera Image ◽  
History Of ◽  
Slow Technology ◽  
Changing Light

Null By Morse is an installation artwork that incorporates a military signaling lamp and smartphones. A series of Morse messages is transmitted automatically by the signal lamp. The messages are drawn from the history of Morse and telegraphy. A custom app for iPhone and Android uses the phone's camera to identify the changing light levels of the lamp and the associated timings. The app then decodes the Morse and displays the message on the screen on top of the camera image. This paper discusses the artwork in relation to the following theoretical aspects: It contextualizes the position of smartphones in the history of optical communication. It proposes an approach to smartphones in media art that moves away from futurist perspectives whose fundamental approach is to seek to creatively exploit the latest features. Lastly, it discusses the interaction with the phone in the exhibition context in terms of slow technology.

From Vertical Roll to .MOV File

2020 ◽  
Vol 47 (3) ◽  
pp. 22-42
Author(s):  
Annie Dell'Aria
Keyword(s):  
Single Channel ◽  
Video Art ◽  
Media Art ◽  
Video Installation ◽  
Cultural Engagement ◽  
Screen Media ◽  
Art Practices ◽  
History Of ◽  
Contemporary Media ◽  
Bruce Nauman

In this article, I examine artworks from two periods in the history of media art—the 1970s and the 2010s—to demonstrate how changes in our haptic relationship to screen media shift the site of criticality in contemporary media art from disruption of electronic feedback toward an intensification and embrace of image flows that actively seek the viewer's touch and gesture. I situate video art within the shifting concept of flow in everyday media consumption, reading video art practices within a larger matrix of bodily and cultural engagement with screens. I locate touch and gesture as both themes in the content of single-channel works and components of the structure of video installation. Artists discussed include Camille Henrot, Joan Jonas, Rafael Lozano-Hemmer, Bruce Nauman, and Hito Steyerl. My analysis bridges media theory and art history with close readings of salient works of art, connecting the structure of artworks employing haptic input to shifts in the broader media ecology and the dynamic interplay of touch, image, and power under our fingertips.

Interspecific variation in the response of growth, crown morphology, and survivorship to light of six tree species in the conifer belt of the Bhutan Himalayas

2004 ◽  
Vol 34 (5) ◽  
pp. 1093-1107 ◽  
Author(s):  
Georg Gratzer ◽  
Andras Darabant ◽  
Purna B Chhetri ◽  
Prem Bahadur Rai ◽  
Otto Eckmüllner
Keyword(s):  
Tree Species ◽  
Radial Growth ◽  
Interspecific Variation ◽  
Low Light ◽  
Continuous Growth ◽  
Light Levels ◽  
Shade Tolerant Species ◽  
Lower Light ◽  
Crown Morphology ◽  
Changing Light

The responses of radial and height growth, plant architecture, and the probability of mortality of saplings to varying light levels were quantified for six tree species in temperate conifer forests of the Bhutan Himalayas. Increases in growth with increasing light were comparable with those of high latitude tree species but lower than those of tropical tree species and temperate species in North America. The shade-tolerant species Tsuga dumosa (D. Don.) Eichler showed the strongest increase in radial growth at low light and reached asymptotic growth early. It had the deepest crowns in low light and a low decrease of leader growth with decreasing light. It represents a continuous growth type, which invests in height rather than lateral growth under low light conditions. Betula utilis D. Don. showed greater increases in radial growth and a higher mortality at low light than the more shade-tolerant Abies densa Griff., in keeping with the trade-off between survivorship and growth at low light. Picea spinulosa Griff, Larix griffithiana Carriére, and Pinus wallichiana A.B. Jackson showed small increases in growth at low light levels. The latter two species showed no capacity to adapt their morphology in response to changing light levels, which resulted in higher probabilities of mortality at lower light levels. Differences in the probability of mortality at different light levels were more pronounced than differences in the light-growth response, underlining the importance of survivorship at low light for successional dynamics.

scholarly journals MEDIA ART IN MODERN SYNTHESIS OF ARTS IN ARCHITECTURE

2021 ◽  
pp. 26-32
Author(s):  
Tetiana Rusevych ◽  
Hanna Zavadska
Keyword(s):  
Human Perception ◽  
Modern Synthesis ◽  
Psychological State ◽  
Media Art ◽  
Media Technology ◽  
Media Technologies ◽  
The Arts ◽  
History Of ◽  
Definition Of ◽  
The Impact

The article substantiates the problem of synthesis of media art in the modern synthesis of arts in architecture, provides a definition of the term " Media Art" as a higher form of artistic development. Attention is paid to the analysis of recent research and publications devoted to the study of the artistic component of interactive design in the synthesis of the arts of architectural space, the influence of media technologies on the formation of the architectural image of art centers, describing trends in media technology in architecture. The purpose of the article is to consider the forms of media art, their role in the synthesis of arts in architecture. The article emphasizes the objects created and embodied in Ukraine, describes the synthesis of arts from the angle of influence of media art on human perception and outlines the prospects for development. The history of the synthesis of arts in architecture from ancient times, the development of the synthesis of arts in the Art Nouveau style, the preconditions for the emergence of media art are briefly described. The synthesis of media art and architecture, interaction with other arts, namely painting, sculpture, music and others is considered on the example of the multimedia center Atelier des Lumières – "Workshop of the World" in Paris, which specializes in digital art exhibitions; Ukraine WOW exhibition in Kyiv, which is equipped with various forms of media art; media facades in Kyiv; media cube on the facade of Chicago Central House, which is the first media sculpture in Europe. The definition of "media facades" is also given and the influence of media technologies on the emotional and psychological state of a person is considered. Examples of interaction of various forms of media art with architecture are given. The conclusions determine the role of media art in architecture, the impact of media technology on human psychology, outline the prospects for the development of media art in the modern synthesis of arts in architecture.

scholarly journals Wax, Wings, and Swarms: Insects and their Products as Art Media

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Barrett Anthony Klein
Keyword(s):  
Visual Arts ◽  
Natural World ◽  
Body Parts ◽  
Media Art ◽  
Human Culture ◽  
History Of Art ◽  
History Of

Every facet of human culture is in some way affected by our abundant, diverse insect neighbors. Our relationship with insects has been on display throughout the history of art, sometimes explicitly, but frequently in inconspicuous ways. This is because artists can depict insects overtly, but they can also allude to insects conceptually, or use insect products in a purely utilitarian manner. Insects themselves can serve as art media, and artists have explored or exploited insects for their products (silk, wax, honey, propolis, carmine, shellac, nest paper), body parts (e.g., wings), and whole bodies (dead, alive, individually, or as collectives). This review surveys insects and their products used as media in the visual arts, and considers the untapped potential for artistic exploration of media derived from insects. The history, value, and ethics of “insect media art” are topics relevant at a time when the natural world is at unprecedented risk.

scholarly journals Light-regulated collective contractility in a multicellular choanoflagellate

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Thibaut Brunet ◽  
Ben T. Larson ◽  
Tess A. Linden ◽  
Mark J. A. Vermeij ◽  
Kent McDonald ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Animal Movement ◽  
Swimming Behavior ◽  
Undescribed Species ◽  
Caribbean Island ◽  
Sensory Inputs ◽  
Light Levels ◽  
Cgmp Pathway ◽  
The Caribbean ◽  
Tissue Deformations ◽  
Changing Light

AbstractCollective cell contractions that generate global tissue deformations are a signature feature of animal movement and morphogenesis. Nonetheless, the ancestry of collective contractility in animals remains mysterious. While surveying the Caribbean island of Curaçao for choanoflagellates, the closest living relatives of animals, we isolated a previously undescribed species (here namedChoanoeca flexasp. nov.), that forms multicellular cup-shaped colonies. The colonies rapidly invert their curvature in response to changing light levels, which they detect through a rhodopsin-cGMP pathway. Inversion requires actomyosin-mediated apical contractility and allows alternation between feeding and swimming behavior.C. flexathus rapidly converts sensory inputs directly into multicellular contractions. In this respect, it may inform reconstructions of hypothesized animal ancestors that existed before the evolution of specialized sensory and contractile cells.One Sentence SummaryA newly described choanoflagellate species forms cup-shaped colonies that reversibly invert their curvature in response to light.

scholarly journals Convergent Phenotypic Evolution of Rhodopsin for Dim-Light Sensing across Deep-Diving Vertebrates

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yu Xia ◽  
Yimeng Cui ◽  
Aishan Wang ◽  
Fangnan Liu ◽  
Hai Chi ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Release Rate ◽  
Light Level ◽  
Emperor Penguin ◽  
Light Sensing ◽  
Deep Diving ◽  
Light Levels ◽  
Critical Residue ◽  
Retinal Chromophore ◽  
Dim Light ◽  
Changing Light

Abstract Rhodopsin comprises an opsin attached to a retinal chromophore and is the only visual pigment conferring dim-light vision in vertebrates. On activation by photons, the retinal group becomes detached from the opsin, which is then inactive until it is recharged. Of all vertebrate species, those that dive face unique visual challenges, experiencing rapid decreases in light level and hunting in near darkness. Here, we combine sequence analyses with functional assays to show that the rhodopsin pigments of four divergent lineages of deep-diving vertebrates have undergone convergent increases in their retinal release rate. We compare gene sequences and detect parallel amino acids between penguins and diving mammals and perform mutagenesis to show that a single critical residue fully explains the observed increases in retinal release rate in both the emperor penguin and beaked whale. At the same time, we find that other shared sites have no significant effect on retinal release, implying that convergence does not always signify adaptive significance. We propose that accelerated retinal release confers rapid rhodopsin recharging, enabling the visual systems of diving species to adjust quickly to changing light levels as they descend through the water column. This contrasts with nocturnal species, where adaptation to darkness has been attributed to slower retinal release rates.

scholarly journals Klein_2021_Wax_wings_swarms-preprint_complete

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Barrett Anthony Klein
Keyword(s):  
Visual Arts ◽  
Natural World ◽  
Body Parts ◽  
Media Art ◽  
Nest Material ◽  
Material Body ◽  
Human Culture ◽  
History Of Art ◽  
History Of

Every facet of human culture is in some way affected by our abundant, diverse insect neighbors. Our relationship with insects has been on display throughout the history of art, sometimes explicitly, but frequently in inconspicuous ways. This is because artists can depict insects overtly, but they can also allude to insects conceptually, or use insect products in a purely utilitarian manner. Insects themselves can serve as art media, and artists have explored or exploited insects for their products (silk, wax, honey, propolis, carmine, shellac, nest material), body parts (e.g., wings), and whole bodies (dead, alive, individually, or as collectives). This review surveys insects and their products used as media in the visual arts, and considers the untapped potential for artistic exploration of media derived from insects. The history, value, and ethics of “insect media art” are topics relevant at a time when the natural world is at unprecedented risk.

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