sarah @ sfpc

hi, i'm sarah & i'm a student at School for Poetic Computation in NYC. this is where i post experiments, code source, class notes, photos, etc.

[sarahsfpc]

here’s some progress on the average face mirror from tonight/this morning. it calculates the average of the faces it detects in the webcam feed. 

written in openFrameworks and based on kyle mcdonald’s ofxFaceTracker.

code on github! (still a work in progress!!)

*** final showcase starts in 58 hours 35 minutes omg ***

[sarahsfpc]

i'm making a shy/anxious little #arduino robot (this is the first messy prototype)

[sarahsfpc]

today i made my SHY ROBOT PROTOTYPE work!!!!!!111

[sarahsfpc]

here's how to convert quicktime movie (MOV) files to animated GIFs using the command line (ffmpeg and imagemagick)! 

ffmpeg -i movie.mov -vf scale=540:-1 -r 10 output/ffout%3d.png convert -quality 80% -noise 3 -loop 0 -virtual-pixel dither -layers OptimizeFrame -fuzz 35% -delay 10 output/ffout*.png output/animation.gif

[sarahsfpc]

i made a jpg glitch thing in openframeworks: it reads a JPG file and adds glitches by randomly deleting lines from it. (code on github)

[sarahsfpc]

a failed attempt at writing a program that draws my breath to help me calm down / using accelerometer data and p5.js

[sarahsfpc]

the other day i skyped with my sister and we talked about robots and mental health, so i made a little encouraging, reassuring hand: it pats your back and a computer voice says, “you’re ok!!! you can do it!!!”. 

arduino, servo motor, and a cardboard hand, held together by zip ties.

based on the arduino “sweep” example (code).

[sarahsfpc]

i made some generative poetry using markov chains yesterady. it’s based on old scattered thoughts/notes i found on my hard drive, some of the notes are very random (i found a text file from two years ago that said “i love bananas” – no idea why i wrote that down), others are very dramatic, sad, or angry.

these are some results i found interesting, though a lot of it was nonsense.

[sarahsfpc]

inspired by jason salavon’s work, i computed the average of hundreds of instagram photos tagged #sunset, #ocean, #autumn, #landscape, #blackandwhite, and #forest.

(code will be up soon, i should go to bed)

[sarahsfpc]

thoughts on making bad art

make something bad, and see how it makes you feel – do you feel embarrassed, ashamed? maybe even guilty and worthless? why? what’s wrong with making bad art?

is it because people will judge you for how bad your art is? don’t worry about it – most likely, they’re too busy worrying about their own shit to be bothered by how terrible your art is. (and even if they did, would that limit your ability to live a fulfilled, meaningful life?)

i encourage you to make Really Bad Art and then celebrate the terrible thing you made! in fact, i would love it if you sent me your bad art – i’ll congratulate you on it!

as long as you keep creating, you’ll be fine.

[sarahsfpc]

nancy burson came over to speak at SFPC earlier this week!

she has been making composite portraits digitally since the early 1980s. while composite photographic portraits have a much longer history, (e.g. francis galton’s composites of criminal types were made in the late nineteenth century), the use of digital is something nancy burson pioneered.

here’s some of her work:

the “human race machine” - allows you to see what you would look like if you were a different race.

“mankind / womankind”, 2003-2005 (male version, combined version, female version), images weighted to population statistics from 2003.

“androgyny”, six men’s and six women’s faces morphed into one. silver print. 1982.

what an interesting person. she shared stories about nam june paik seeing her from a block away, calling her “hey age machine lady!”... i mean, how amazing is that? she was also genuinely curious about what we’re excited about, and she was all like “if you want to show me your work, just send me an email!”.

a student shared his doubts and worries about the limitations of art, and the question of what art is, to which she replied:

“why does it matter?

is it making you happy?

is it making you art?”

which i thought was really beautiful.

while reflecting your artistic process is obviously an important thing to do, getting too caught up in these questions can be extremely paralyzing, so sometimes it’s better to notice the doubts and worries but just keep creating, keep creating, keep creating.

[sarahsfpc]

roy and i talked about our recent experiments and ideas at new inc yesterday and we met some awesome artists! (thanks yeseul for the photo!)

[sarahsfpc]

“ever since i asked siri where the closest bridge to me was, i am inundated anti-depressant and addiction-help spam.” [x]

[sarahsfpc]

If you're thinking, you're stinking.

Nancy Burson’s advice on overthinking

[sarahsfpc]

jules is a conversational character robot designed and built by david hanson. he is AI and has a statistically perfect androgynous face and is made with a light-weight material called “frubber” which enables his face to be mobile and expressive. [video]

[sarahsfpc]

worked a little on my face generator today. you can play around with it here! (click to draw new face)

written in p5.js / code on github

[sarahsfpc]

today i started working on a face generator as an experiment.

i’m wondering how i can best randomly generate faces with a wide range of emotions, (without using tons of colors and styling, i think i kind of like the minimalist style so far).

(mouth, face shape, etc. aren’t implemented yet as you can see!)

written in p5.js / code on github