Projects

The Electronic Man

a Global body created for McLuhan’s Centennial

the Electronic Man

the Electronic Man

 

The Electronic Man produces a connective global body in a realtime performance that takes place simultaneously all over the world.

The Electronic Man Stickers have been placed all over the world by internet users (internet is coming out of monitors, lately, and into the streets). Each sticker has a QRCode and connects people to thebody of the Electronic Man.

When someone scans the QRCode on the sticker(for example using a smartphone), the body of the Electronic Man gets stimulated:

  • the person is asked to choose a word that will ble correlated with the geographical place in which the sticker is located;
  • the person is asked if he/she wishes todownload a smartphone application that will connect his device in realtime with the body of the Electronic Man;
  • everyone’s smartphone that is connected to the body of the Electronic Man through the application, instantly vibrates;
  • these people’s bodies will be, thus, physically stimulated by this vibration, directly connected to the place in which the sticker is placed, therefore producing a globally disseminated sensibility, an additional global digital sense for our body.

 

 

The Electronic Man Website

On Art is Open Source

On McLuhan’s Centennial

Download iPhone/iPad app from the App Store

 

 

 

 

 

MACME

Cross Media plugin for WordPress

MACME logo

MACME logo

 

MACME (Multi Author Cross Medial Ecosystem) is a WordPress Plugin designed to transform your WordPress blog into a cross medial publishing system. MACME allows anyone to transform a WordPress blog into a publication that allows creating books, design objects and interactive experiences. Multimedia contents are automatically transformed into QRCodes and Augmented Reality Fiducial Markers, and integrated into mobile applications and location based technologies that can be used to place contents in places, objects, books (PDF and ePub), bodies and architectures.

MACME source code on GitHub

MACME on WordPress.org

MACME tutorial on Slideshare

MACME on FakePress

MACME on AOS

 

 

 

 


Bluetooth Wars

a Live Linux Distro for invasive multimedia communications

Bluetooth Wars

Bluetooth Wars

 

Bluetooth Wars is a Live Linux Distribution that can be configured to hold a library of multimedia content that can be used to invade cities with multimedia content.

Load your content, put your laptop in your backpack and you become a multimedia broadcast station on legs.

Bluetooth Wars on AOS

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 


Leaf++

Augmented reality for Leaves

Leaf++

Leaf++

 

Leaf++ is an Augmented Reality System that allows creating AR interfaces using the leaves of the trees.

Add your favourite leaf to the system and you can use it as a AR Fiducal Marker through which you can attach information and use it as a tool for gestual interaction. Presented at ISEA 2011 in Instanbul.

Leaf++ on AOS

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 


 

REFF RomaEuropa FakeFactory

a fake cultural institution using ubiquitous technologies and critical practices to reinvent reality

REFF RomaEuropa FakeFactory

REFF RomaEuropa FakeFactory

 

REFF is a fake cultural institution whose objective is to create real global cultural policies and to provide tools for the methodological reinvention of reality.

Beginning in 2008 as a fake competition using the practices of remix, mashup, reinvention, recontextualization, reenactment to promote innovative cultural strategies, REFF has been officially recognized by the Cultural Commission of the Italian Senate and by the European Community (official event of EU’s Year of Creativity).

REFF brings together hundreds of artists, academics, activists, journalists, hackers, architects and designers under a meta-brand that can be used to promote the fake institution’s strategies collaboratively.

REFF coordinated more than 60 authors to create a cross media book that was used to promote the fake institution internationally. The book is produced using MACME, a wordpress plugin that allows anyone to freely and autonomously produce ubiquitous publications. MACME has been released as an open source tool to the worldwide community.

REFF is currently leading a global youth program intended to enable young people all over the world to reinvent their reality using ubiquitous technologies.

REFF created an Augmented Reality Drug which is feeding the imaginaries of people worldwide with the idea of the possibility to reinvent their own world: augmented reality can change the perception of your world, just as a psychoactive drug.

the website of REFF RomaEuropa FakeFactory

REFF on Art is Open Source

REFF on FakePress

 

 

 


 

Nuclear Anxiety

the global discourse on Nuclear Energy

Nuclear Anxiety

Nuclear Anxiety

Nuclear Anxiety instantly gathers the global discussions taking place on social networks about Nuclear energy. Available under the form of a web mashup and of an iPhone application, Nuclear Anxiety allows you to see in realtime the worries, fears and doubts of people worldwide about the energetic future of the world.

The iPhone App is on sale on the Apple Store: all revenues will go towards funding an international exhibit on the themes of the energetic future of the world.

Nuclear Anxiety started as an initiative by penelope.di.pixel on ArtsBlog.

Nuclear Anxiety

Nuclear Anxiety on the App Store

Nuclear Anxiety on ArtsBlog.it

 

 

 


 

CoS, Consciousness of Streams

a global publication on the emotions of people

CoS, Consciousness of Streams

CoS, Consciousness of Streams

Presented at the 2011 edition of the Transmediale Festival, CoS, Consciousness of Streams is an ubiquitous publications with more that 60000 authors (estimate on April 2011).  CoS produces a realtime global emotional map of the world. Thousands of people currently use their mobile phones, web interfaces and dedicated disseminated interfaces to describe their emotional feeling about the place they live in. A global emotional map emerges, describing new geographies that are not built through roads and buildings, but through emotional scapes and the stories of people.

CoS, COnsciousness of Streams

participate to CoS using the Disseminated Node

CoS, Consciousness of Streams on AOS

CoS, Consciousness of Streams on FakePress

CoS, Consciousness of Streams on Transmediale

 

 

 


 

Knowners

a WordPress plugin for knowledge visualization

Knowners

Knowners

 

Knowners is a WordPress plugin that transforms any blog into a knowledge management system. All the discussions on the blog are transformed into a knowledge system and represented according to a structural based graph visualization. This interactive infoaesthetic visualization allows users to understand and interact with their knowledge in a multi-author, emergent way.

Knowners on WordPress.org

Knowners of AOS

 

 

 

 

 

 

 


 

Squatting Supermarkets

augmented reality to create squatted communication practices inside supermarkets

Squatting Supermarkets

Squatting Supermarkets

Products have incredible and complex stories, made of transportation, production, people, places. Yet products (and supermarkets) fail in showing the enormous richness that characterizes their production and distribution. Products’ labels and supermarket communication are the vehicle for a very limited set of points of views and voices. Squatting Supermarkets addresses this situation by creating a free, autonomous layer of information on products and supermarkets using augmented reality.

Squatting Supermarkets uses the logos and packaging graphics of products as AR fiducial markers. A content management system allows attaching information and interactive experiences to logos, instantly transforming them into open, accessible, emergent spaces for communication. A mobile application allows consumers to use their smartphones to take pictures of the logos on the products’ labels and to use them to access the augmented reality layers of information.

Presented for the first time at the Piemonte Share Festival in 2009, at the Museum of Science in Turin, Squatting Supermarkets has been shown multiple times internationally transforming products into a tool for ubiquitous storytelling, narrating the stories of the people, places and events that characterize their lives.

Squatting Supermarkets has been used as an innovative publishing system, as an art performance, as a tool for scientific research and as an instrument for social entrepreneurship.

Squatting Supermarkets on AOS

Squatting Supermarkets on FakePress

the iSee mobile application on FakePress

 

 

 


 

AR Fluxus Box

an Augmented Reality Fluxus Box

AR Fluxus Box

AR Fluxus Box

An augmented reality Fluxus Box produced for the 50th anniversary of the Fluxus art movement.

The box was donated to the NABA arts academy in Milan for the celebration.

AR Fluxus Box on AOS

AR Fluxus Box on Flickr

 

 

 

 


 

Angel_F

an artificial intelligence as a metaphor of the contemporary human being

Angel_F

Angel_F

Angel_F is the digital child of Derrick de Kerckhove and the Biodoll, the digital prostitute imagined by artist Franca Formenti.

Born as a spyware, the little artificial intelligence learns language by absorbing the content that thousands of people browse on the Internet.

Angel_F is a metaphor of the human condition in the digital era: establishing connective relationships and knowledge ecosystems.

Angel_F has been the first digital being to participate to the Internet Governance Forum, defending its digital rights.

Recently, Angel_F introduced the 2011 edition of the Transmediale Festival, together with his dad, Derrick de Kerckhove.

the homepage of Angel_F

Angel_F on AOS

Angel_F on Etnografia Digitale

the book of Angel_F

 

 

 

 


 

 

ConnectiCity

architectures made of information, interconnection and relation

ConnectiCity

ConnectiCity

ConnectiCity transforms the architectonic surfaces of cities into a new layer of reality built through communication, information and the visions of people. Launched for the first time in Rome, at the Festa dell’Architettura organized by the city administration and the Order of the Architects under the form of the “Atlante di Roma”, ConnectiCity has been implemented in multiple versions. Each version allowed for the transformation of the architectural surfaces of the city into a digital conversation sphere. Information gathered in real time from social networks, databases of the visions of citizens on the city, instant visualizations of data regarding the city, its energetic, transport, social profiles. The city narrates other stories found in data, in the interconnections of people, their dreams and possibilistic perception of the place they live in, and in the life of the city itself, as gathered from sensors and systems.

ConnectiCity fosters a new way to percieve the city, including new kinds of citizenship: more informed, active and participatory.

The instances of this project have been widely appreciated by researchers, artists and public administrations, and are currently featured in scientific papers and artistic festivals.

ConnectiCity at AOS

ConnectiCity at FakePress

the Atlas of Rome at AOS

 

 

 

 


 

Toys++

augmented reality toys

Toys++

Toys++

Toys++ is a research project done with FakePress Publishing producing a series of augmented reality toys. Initially presented at the ICALT global meeting on education technologies in Tunis during 2010, and then featured in the book “Musemus at Play” published by Museums etc publishing, the project implements a way to embed education practices directly into objects, by using augmented reality features that are accessible by placing the toys in front of a webcam.

Toys++ on AOS

 

 

 


 

Net Emotions

the realtime emotions of the Internet

Net Emotions

Net Emotions

This case study performed with FakePress Publishing shows a technique through which a system can be built to observe and represent the realtime emotional state in international social networks.

While this specific action oversimplifies the representation for the sake of ease of communication, the multiple scientific papers released describing the methodology and technology used to implement it show a wide range of possible applications.

Net Emotions

Net Emotions of AOS

 

 

 


 

Conference Biofeedback

tools for the next-steps of education

Conference Biofeedback

Conference Biofeedback

Conference Biofeedback is a wearable device that allows to transform conferences and lessons into a new form in which multiple voices can be expressed. A wearable circuits directly connects the body of the presenter to the emotional states of the audience. Members of the audience can use interfaces on their mobile phones and laptops to describe their emotional state while listening to a conference or participating to the lesson.

When negative emotion levels bypass certain predefined levels, several physical stimuli start happening on the presenter’s body, from sounds and flashing lights, to low current electrical shocks. This extreme implementation points out a possibility: the possible innovation scenarios in education and communication processes which it is possible to implement to foster direct emotional connections among all parties involved, thus obtaining deeply collaborative practices and new perceptions and forms of awareness.

Conference Biofeedback on AOS

Conference Biofeedback on FakePress

 

 

 


 

The Life of Things

barcodes as generative artworks

the life of things

the life of things

this project uses barcodes found on products to generate sounds and visuals.

The project also released a free library for the Processing language and evironment which allows developers to use barcodes and QRCodes in their software.

the Life of Things on AOS

 

 

 


 

Zones

granular synthesis for iPhone

ZONES a granular synth for iPhone

ZONES a granular synth for iPhone

ZONES is a simple granular synthesizer for iPhone. It uses gestural touch interfaces to allow easy creation and performance of granular sounds.

ZONES

ZONES on AOS

ZONES on the Apple Store

 

 

 


 

OneAvatar

wearable technology connecting physical body and digital avatar

OneAvatar

OneAvatar

OneAvatar is a wearable technology that connects physical body to the digital body of avatars in virtual worlds.

Presented at the Milano in Digitale festival as a special project, OneAvatar allows to transpose the digital sensations of the avatar on virtual worlds onto the physical body of the wearer, through low voltage electrical stimulations.

At the festival an immersive videogame was presented allowing people to shoot the performer, thus creating shocks on his body, corresponding to the digital hits.

OneAvatar

OneAvatar on AOS

 

 

 


 

Degradazione per Sovrapposizione di Corpi

a lowcost DIY motion capture system and a household VJing performance

Degradazione Per Sovrapposizione di Corpi

Degradazione Per Sovrapposizione di Corpi

DpSdC has been presented at several international events including the Live Performers Meeting in Rome, and HCI2008 and Reactor festival in Liverpool. It allows for the construction of a DIY motion capture system and its use for the implementation of a visual mashup of artworks using a gestural interface, as a performance on the themes of the international discussion on intellectual property.

DpSdC on AOS

 

 


 

Chakraputer

a digital mystical body

Chackraputer

Chackraputer

The Chackraputer interprets the computer as a body, and establishes a metaphor between the mystical interpretation of our human body and the computers’.

As in our body Chackras are related to the various systems of our body, in Chackraputer each subsystem is interpreted as a digital chackra, allowing us to observe them and the rare moments in which perfect equilibrium happens: the digital computer’s Kundalini state.

Shown at the Ibizia Biennale.

Chackraputer

Chackraputer on AOS

 

 

 


Dead on Second Life

bringing back to life famous people in Second Life

Karl Marx on Dead on Second Life

Karl Marx on Dead on Second Life

Artificial Intelligence and autonomous digital avatars are used to bring back to life three famous characters on Second Life: Karl Marx, Coco Chanel and Franz Kafka.

The project used multiple technologies to promote a research on language, on social interactions in virtual worlds and to observe and foster the expansion of the research scenarios offered by virtual worlds in terms of social practices, and of the creation of education and cultural processes through arts and creativity.

DoSL, Dead on Second Life

DoSL on AOS

 

 

 


 

Talkers Performance

a dance performance in which the body is controlled by the Internet

Talkers Performance

Talkers Performance

In this performance the body of the dancer is connected to a series of interfaces through which internet users can create stimulations with the objective of controlling body movements and sensations.

These stimuli are enacted on the body through electrical shocks that control body movement. Sensors are disseminated throughout the blue latex suit, thus monitoring multiple body metrics. The values of these parameters are fed to the generative videos and sounds, thus creating a complete body sinaesthesia.

Talkers Performance was presented for the first time at the Pescara Electronic arts meeting in 2008.

Talkers Performance on AOS