virus.circus source code and technical info
virus.circus is a collaboration between elle mehrmand and micha cárdenas. It is an episodic alternate reality performance involving latex outfits, wearable electronics, lilypad arduinos, conductive fabric, conductive thread, a fabric pressure sensor sensors and an ultrasonic rangefinder to create live audio and to bridge virtual and physical spaces. The performances explore possible queer futures of latex sexuality amidst a speculative world of virus hysteria.
For photos of the electronics see the flickr set.
Recent episodes in the virus.circus series of performances involve using an ultrasonic rangefinder and a pressure sensor sewn to a lilypad arduino. [thanks to Hannah Perner-Wilson for the amazing pressure sensor instructable] The lilypad sends data over Xbee wireless tansmitters to a Puredata patch which creates a live audioscape from our voices, modulated based on the state of the rangefinder and a pressure sensor. This data is sent from Puredata out to a text file which is read by a modified version of the Second Life Viewer 2. This custom client reads the distance from the local file and updates the position in world of two objects which our avatars sit on, with custom animation overriders to replace the sit animations with the animations we have chosen. Since SL viewers can connect to Opensim and OSgrid, this patch should also work fine for moving Opensim avatars with arduino sensors.
Attached to this page you can find the pd patch and the Second Life Viewer 2 patch. I’ll also include them below. The pd patch is based on code from William Brent, Daniel Arias and Tom Erbe who ported Tom’s soundhack plugins to pd. This isn’t the cleanest patch, but it does allow you to control an avatar in Second Life from Pd through a local file, eliminating the overhead of using llHttpRequest which can add seconds of delay. This is a continuation of work I began thinking about with an earlier project, Becoming Dragon. The pd patch requires pd-extended, because it relies on its comport object. It reads data from two different comports, as in our performance one arduino was sewn into elle mehrmand’s latex outfit and attached to a pressure sensor, which transmitted to an arduino connected to a single usb port, and another arduino was sewn into my bra with the ultrasonic rangefinder attached. Images of these electronics are in the flickr set, but we’ll add more detail shots soon.
This video shows the Second Life avatar movement clearly, but I added averaging to make it smoother: http://vimeo.com/12219412
So as not to clog up this blog with code, see the attached patch (diff file) for the Second Life code, or see this wiki page:
http://banglabinexile.pbworks.com/viruscircus-source-code-and-technical-info
technésexual at Art Tap Out: MCASD Tomorrow, Thursday March 24th!
Join us tomorrow night and support me and Elle! We’ll be showing a video of technésexual and having the public critique it in Art Tap Out 3! Out friends and brilliant artists Suzanne Wright and Omar Pimienta will also be in the ring. I can’t wait!
ART TAP OUT 3 THIS THURSDAY AT TNT 7-9pm
THE MUSEUM OF CONTEMPORARY ART SAN DIEGO
1100 & 1001 Kettner Boulevard
(between Broadway and B Street)
San Diego, CA 92101
858 454 3541
TNT info here
The third installment of Art Tap Out is here! This time at the MCASD downtown for TNT. For those not familiar with ATO it is an event that pits artist against critic in a ring resembling underground pugilism, ultimate fighting or cock fighting. As usual Kevin Freitas of Art As Authority will be in the critic’s slot throwing down verbal punches! Audience participation is strongly encouraged (in fact, it is what this is all about).
In the ring this time is:
SEE YOU THURSDAY NIGHT AT THE FIGHTS!
(don’t be late)
technesexual excerpt // Duke University // Micha Cárdenas and Elle Mehrmand
technesexual excerpt // Duke University // Micha Cárdenas and Elle Mehrmand from azdel slade on Vimeo.
//The sound is very low frequency, so please use headphones or good speakers to hear the video//
Performed in Durham, North Carolina at Duke University’s SoundSense Studio.
In technésexual the performers commit playful erotic acts in physical and virtual space simultaneously, using devices to amplify the sound of their heartbeats for the two audiences. An electrocardiogram was used to monitor the heart rate with an Arduino/Freeduino, playing a recording of the heartbeat at the correct rate using Puredata. Temperature sensors modulate the audio based on touch. DIY biometrics are used to bridge realities with audio, finding ways of exploring the space between realities.
technésexual opens discussion on the multitude of sexualities outside of the restrictive LGBT formulation and homo/hetero categories, which are rooted in binary gender assumptions. The mixing of realities in this project can be seen as paralleling our own experiences mixing genders and sexualities, queering new media. Virtual worlds such as Second Life facilitate the development of new identities, allowing for unimagined relations and relationships. technésexual looks closely at these new relationships, how they affect our everyday lives and horizons of possibility.
More information at http://transreal.org, http://bang.calit2.net/elle and http://bang.calit2.net/wiki/Mixed_Relations
Mixed Reality Artist Talk Today! Join us!
Today Elle Mehrmand and I will be doing a mixed reality artist talk from Duke University’s Nasher Auditorium. Our talk starts at 1pm SLT/PST, and we’ll be discussing technesexual, the work that led us to it and our upcoming project tentatively named virus.circus.
Join us!
http://slurl.com/secondlife/Seventh%20Eye/156/42/236
technésexual performance today in Second Life and in Reno, Nevada
Join us at the Nevada Museum of Art, or join us in Second Life in Insilico.
Teleport directly http://slurl.com/secondlife/INSILICO/49/164/3624
More information about the performance is here:
Join us Saturday in SL and New Article in Reno News and Review
Saturday, Elle / Echolalia and I will be performing in Second Life and at the Prospectives.09 festival in Reno, Nevada. You can join us on Saturday afternoon in Second Life or in Reno. Check back here and we’ll post the SLURL for you to teleport directly.
The festival, and our performance were reviewed by the Reno News and Review. The article, called Digital graffiti, starts out like this…
Projected onto the wall of a gallery, like a movie screen, is a computer image from the online virtual community Second Life: Two naked feminine avatars passionately embracing. Elle Mehrmand and Micha Cardenas, who bear better-than-passing resemblances to their virtual onscreen counterparts, approach the stage in front of the projection and begin disrobing.
The onstage artists strip to their undergarments and attach heart rate monitors. A fluctuating rhythmic pulse—the artists’ heart rates—can be heard in the gallery. Flashing lights in the chests of the onscreen avatars signify that the same pulse beats there at the exact same rate. Mehrmand and Cardenas embrace, locking lips and enfolding limbs. The connection between the images onstage and onscreen are unmistakable, as their hearts beat as one.
The article is really interesting, includes more of an interview with me and discusses the rest of the festival as well.