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Jim Campbell is an artist who works with many types of art medium, but specializes in media and electronic arts. His most well known works are probably his installations. A couple examples of those that I find interesting are “Exploding Views,” “Color by Number,” and “Hallucinations,” although there are many many others to explore, which I highly recommend. In each, Campbell uses a different form of technology to bring his art to life. I appreciate “Exploding Views” in particular; it is a giant installation, most often in a public space, which creates a structural grid out of little LED lights that blurs the lines between 2D and 3D. The LED lights represent pixels, and are programmed by a computer very precisely to create a moving image from afar. From a certain distance and perspective we see a flat screen with a moving image, and from below or other perspectives, we see a 3D, flickering structure. “Hallucinations” is also interesting because it uses real time information from the viewer in front of the installation. The person sees a video reflection of themselves burning on fire on a little television. I really like this artists work. I find that they are visually interesting and appealing, and I find his work very innovative and ahead of his time being an artist from the 90′s.

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Another project from the article “Dodging, Dazzling and Divulging:” For his degree project at Rhode Island School of Design, South Korean designer Sang Mun created a font that would fool text scanners used by surveillance facilities at the government level. Mun worked for the NSA during his military service time in Korea, and learned how to extract information from defense targets. Using his experience in this department, he decided to protest against surveillance in the U.S.A., who uses similar tactics, by creating a font that is legible to humans, but not to surveillance technology. I find this very creative because he used technology to protest against technology and make something visually appealing. It reminded me of a workshop at ECAL which took place recently, where a styrofoam cutting machine was protested against by students in the Master of Type Design, who used the very machine to create the protest posters. The results were very interesting.  

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Part of the “Dodging, Dazzling, and Divulging,” collection of designers, here is a product design that uses an online platform to expand and individualize a simple concept. Snarkitecture, known for many public installations and high end clothing collections, paired up with the online platform “Print All Over Me,” to create clothing that camouflages with our surrounding environment. Specifically focusing on the underground subway stations in Brooklyn, Snarkitecture created a line of clothing for children to wear and blend in with their environment. What I find interesting here is that an important concept of technology is the ability to render an idea easily accessible to many. With the platform “Print All Over Me,” whoever wants to camouflage with their own specific environment can send their photos and get it printed on this site. Especially with drone surveillance becoming a growing concern for many, camouflaging with one’s environment might be an attractive concept. Not to mention that our surrounding environments can create fashionable and unique articles of clothing.

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This is a link displaying multiple projects on how designers became inspired government technology and data. Some designers created defense mechanisms against surveillance and drone technology, using coding and data to artistically protest these ideals. I will pick a few of my favorites in following posts and expand on why I chose them.

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Another example of typography using contemporary technology: Xavier Monney, a graphic designer based in Lausanne, creates incredible three dimensional forms that are surprisingly legible for the amount of movement. This doesn’t need much explaining to see why it is interesting, simply watching letters move in a mesmerizing fashion is fascinating, but the fact that it stays legible opens a new opportunity for graphic designers to catch eye’s through multimedia. 

www.instagram.com/xaviermonney

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Examples of work by Hansje van Halem.

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Hansje van Halem started out hand drawing her type forms. Her well-developed style was recognized by important people, and she accepted the idea of industrializing her designs, and using technology to open new opportunities of creation. Using coding technology to create algorithms accustomed to her creations, she was able to open up a new dimension of creativity by simplifying the manual drawing process. I find this application of technology interesting because it was a gradual realization more than an initial idea. Hansje van Halem’s style could, at first glance, be associated with technology because of its geometrically repetitive nature. The accuracy and complexity of the designs seem like something only technology could do, and I find it interesting that she plans on using coding technology to amplify her style and stay true to her typographic optical illusions. I look forward on seeing her future work with the applied technology.