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uname -a
Ed Bennett is the research specialist in the Department of Art and Technology Studies at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago.
Ongoing Research
Technology created for people to use in making art has given us the various fields of New Media. New media tools are almost always personal computer based, either in the production phase of the art making process, or the presentation phase, or both. That leaves a lot of technology in this world which wasn't created for use in art making. It's like I used to tell Mookie and Stinky, "Most things in this world are not for cats." Most technology isn't for making art. But sometimes it can be bent that way. Sometimes commercial or industrial technology is appropriated by artists to elevate the aesthetics of their work in a way that nothing else can. Artists create aesthetic problems and solve them. When an artist creates a problem which is technical in nature, but for which no commodified solution exists, a solution must be invented. This is what I refer to as non-media based technological art making. The process can work in reverse just as easily. Some phenomenon may suggest an aesthetic context to someone who is inclined to think in that way. The creative process which follows would involve a "dialog with the materials" to negotiate effect, controllability, and finally, instantiation.
The Art and Technology department happily accommodates students who wish to use Media and Non-media based technology separately or in combination. Interdisciplinary work in Kinetics, mechatronics, robotics, and physical computing are provided for in the regular curriculum (although not using all of those names) along side the expected forms of image manipulation, animation, graphic design, sound, and so on. We also have a class in programming for virtual environments which I must mention because it falls squarely on the intersection of media and non-media art.
My specialty is in gathering technology, usually mechanical, electromechanical, electrical, electronic, control-based, or structural, and digesting that technology so that it can either find a place in our curriculum, or answer a specific individual need. In that way, I perform the function of an informational gizzard for the ATS department. Some of my work is done alone with the technology, and some is one-on-one consulting time with faculty, staff and students.
When a soultion to a problem set becomes commidified, it's usually time to move on to something else. I try not to compete with the marketplace. However some problem sets give rise to standardized solutions which don't stay standardized very long because the technology changes. Wireless short-range data links are a good current example of this, and I think there will be many opportunities to re-invent that wheel before the job is done.
Here are some issues I like to at least stay conversant on in case the need for a new version of something existing (or not) should arise. Some of these issues are closed-ended, that is they have a definite product and a definable conclusion, and some are open ended, that is they involve following ongoing progress in industry that can be appropriated to generate new methods to solve existing problems or increase the specific sophistication of an already implemented process or method used to produce artworks of a technical nature. Progress is advanced on any particular issue when the marketplace and/or the technical press provides an intersection of cost, utility, and approachability which allows us through testing and prototyping to add to our capabilities. Alternatively, a member of the school community may make known to me, verbally or in writing, a need or set of circumstances which they may wish to advance. Sometimes this may involve opening a new avenue of exploration, but more often it means having a small dialog or set of dialogs to direct purchases, or assistance in implementing a method or technique. This latter mode works most rapidly and efficiently when engaged as friendly "informal" conversation.
- motion control
- structural materialmotion control
- motion control
- power transmission (mechanical systems)
- networking microcontrollers
- the Display Case
- documenting the Display Case
- 120VAC power control
- CAD-CAM/CNC
- miniaturization/surface-mount/wearables
- wireless data (embedded)
- sensors, sensing, signal conditioning
- sound storage
- embedded controllers
- materials for fabrication (metals, plastic, composites)
- machining techniques for precision and reproducibility
- Linux
- Embedded Operating Systems
- Real time systems
- Telemetry
- Programming behaviors for art
- algorithms for generating behaviors
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