Animated Fashion iDrawings

ARe2012 :: Augmented Reality Conference in Santa Clara, CA

Santa Clara Convention Center, CA, where ARe2012 took place

My interest in augmented reality brought me to ARe2012, the third annual international augmented reality conference held in Santa Clara, CA.

I can summarize it as a jolt of intellectual stimulation and inspiration unlike anything I've ever experienced within a 48-hour period. A showcase of crazy cool tech, futuristic ideas and paradigm-shifting inventions. It's been a week since I returned from the west coast, and I have finally scanned the drawings I did while attending sessions and presentations. The event gathered an array of brilliant people from all kinds of backgrounds who deal with augmented reality one way or another. Since this is a drawing blog, I'll restrain myself to a few memorable quotes from the speakers. Besides, writing summaries is quite the daunting task.

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"Imagination rules all Realities" 

 "Simplexity of design: complicated but intuitive" 

"Augmented Reality is a node within Mixed Reality continuum" 

(Christopher Stapleton)

Christopher Stapleton of Simiosys

The future of AR: eyewear and contact lenses.

Bob Ketner from the Tech Museum

Audience

Richard Wetzel of Fraunhofer Insitute for Applied Information Technology

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"Language was the first AR" 

"Environmental mediation"

(Ben Cerveny)

Ben Cerveny's talk was just a gust of perception-shifting ideas. Bloom : New ways to see and communicate

Sophia Parafina, a geographer, gave a keynote on Serendipity. I didn't know something as romantic and ephemeral of a concept as serendipity can be looked at through the lens of data and analyzed.

The panel on Aesthetics in AR was of utmost interest to me. I was in the front row for that one! The panel consisted of Bruce Sterling (science fiction author and an art critic),  BC "Heavy" Biermann of Re*Public (new media artist working with projection mapping and AR to re-imagine urban spaces), Amir Baradaran (new media artist whose installations draw on cultural heritage), and Jason Wilson (media artist, founder of "The Outer Body Experience Lab")

BC "Heavy" Biermann of Re*Public and Bruce Sterling

Amir Baradaran

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"There are two Augmented Reality artists 

I take very seriously: 

one of them is Sander Veenhof, 

the other is Helen Papagiannis" 

(Bruce Sterling)

Bruce Sterling 

Jason Wilson gave his talk wearing virtual reality goggles with the video feed from a nearby camera.

I participated in Jason Wilson's Outer Body Experience installation right after. Wearing virtual reality goggles, I had to compete against another wearer of virtual reality goggles in arranging a pattern of black and white 3D paper cubes. What I saw through the goggles was a 3-rd person view of me-a direct feed from a video camera. Such. Great. Fun.

Captivated audience.

The Auggies 2012: A panel of 4 judges with Bruce Sterling in the foreground, and one of the contestants.

The highlight of the conference for me was an hour spent in the company of Bruce Sterling during lunch, who is an absolutely delightful man in person! I learn so much from him by watching his talks that are available online. This one is phenomenal, for example: Bruce Sterling. Historical Narrative, Futurism and Emergent Network Culture. 2010

I asked him about drawing. Well, he thinks drawing from observation will remain relevant, so there you have it from a noted critic and net theorist!

Bruce Sterling during the closing notes

Big finale: fireside chat with Daniel Suarez and Bruce Sterling

Ori Inbar, organizer of the ARe Conference, co-founder of Ogmento and a fellow New Yorker!

If you have interest in augmented reality, Ori Inbar hosts monthly meetups in New York, ARNY.

Dalvero Mystic Augmented Reality Trailer

Dalvero Mystic AR gallery at the Museum of America and the Sea is viewable to visitors on their iPhone and Android devices. Artworks of 24 participating artists are spread all over the Mystic Seaport at locations that inspired them, as an extension of "Restoring a Past, Charting a Future" physical gallery exhibit. Through September 2013.



To view the AR gallery,
1. Download free AR app Layar
2. Search for "Dalvero Mystic AR"
3. Launch it on premises of Mystic Seaport

*Special thanks to Sander Veenhof for making this possible.

"Restoring a Past, Charting a Future" Exhibit is Open!

Today is a big day for me and the Dalvero Academy: our group gallery show "Restoring a Past, Charting a Future" that we curated for the Museum of America and the Sea is officially open to the public, and will be on view through September 2013. I'd like to commemorate this big day by posting a drawing I did during our very first visit to Mystic Seaport three years ago. The temperatures were way below freezing and my watercolors turned to frost right on paper.

Mystic Seaport became a milestone: never before have I had such a dive into American history.

On May 19th, we will be launching an Augmented Reality exhibit for this in-gallery show: visitors are able to experience artworks at locations that inspired them, visible on mobile devices, while walking the grounds of the Seaport. I believe this new technology will become ubiquitous one day, and it's a beautiful extension to our show as a connector between "Restoring a Past" and "Charting a Future".

*Special thanks from all 24 of us to Sander Veenhof for making this possible*

Stay tuned!

Nude Study

The idea: "If the artist only reproduces superficial features as photography does, if he copies the lineaments of a face exactly, without reference to character, he deserves no admiration. The resemblance which he ought to obtain is that of the soul." ~Auguste Rodin

"Overview as an Artist"

Read my interview with The Wall Breakers >

Positive Feedback Loops in Wood Planks

I spent many contemplative hours drawing planks of wood inside the belly of the world's last surviving wooden whale ship at the Mystic Seaport. As I was drawing ship's interior undergoing restoration (old planks are taken out, new planks are put in), I was thinking about healing and regeneration. Regeneration is essentially the creation of a positive feedback loop: making an old whaling vessel seaworthy again gives it a new meaning in today's context. 

I kept looking at these drawings over time, they held true to me for an unknown reason. Until I looked up meanings of "positive feedback loop":

"Feedback Loops can enhance or buffer changes that occur in a system.

 Positive feedback loops enhance or amplify changes; this tends to move a system away from its equilibrium state and make it more unstable."

"Positive feedback is used in digital electronics to force voltages away from intermediate voltages into '0' and '1' states."

And...back to looking at these drawings. Now they become abstract illustrations of binary code and how information is encoded in digital electronics. Or maybe it's my attempt at understanding how events are encoded within the wood fibers as the tree grows. Thinking through the hand makes new connections happen. I'll keep looking...

Breathing new life into the boat

P.S. The installation of the upcoming gallery show at the Mystic Seaport's Museum of America and The Sea has officially commenced on Monday, April 16th. I'm one of the 24 participating artists. More info here: dalveromystic.com

Public Art Project :: Cat's Cradle

An idea for a public art installation "Cat's Cradle" at the World Financial Center's Winter Garden (2011).


Cat's Cradle from Julia Sverchuk on Vimeo.