This piece is mainly a response to The Artificial Kingdom by Celeste Olalquiaga.

In it the author discusses the invention of industry, mass production, and essentially modernity.

She relates it to Walter Benjamin’s writings on

the death of the aura for a piece of art,

the disintegration of its aura creating a debris which covers the object in a thin film like the dust which ignited makes the tail of a comet (birth of kitsch)

the historical and social psychological narratives of the mid-1800’s as a response to the above and coinciding with glass technology improvements, in the rise of popularity of, the “Arcade”(a mall-precursor), an attempt to reproduce the natural, fern-o-mania (collecting ferns), aquariums, souvenirs, snowglobes, and the building of an enormous glass building which to the likes has not been outdone to this date.

one particular passage struck me.

        we suppose that in a few months

the glittering palace of iron and glass, the most

       unique and remarkable building in

the world, will be as entirely a thing of the past

      as the ice-palace of the Empress of

     Russia that thawed in the summer sun.

Illustrated London News On the

Crystal Palace, Saturday October 11, 1851

This was written so shortly after The Crystal Palace and was oddly foreboding in the prediction of its novelty but also its imminent death (burnt down) 80 years later.  The Ice-Palace of Anna Inanovna was built a mere 100 years prior and its ephemeral beauty melted, like all things must.

Less than 100 years after the melting of The Crystal Palace, and we have a new Crystal Palace.

A construction of transparency that we delude ourselves into believing will last forever.

The Crystal Protocol pings Google and traces the route the packets of information takes to be received.

The more “hops” from server to server, the more obfuscated and less direct our connection to that data.

Each hop is turned into an ASCII  snowflake/debris floating the digital screen. By moving around the globe you can watch the snowflakes drift around and by shaking you can queue the quote above from the Illustrated London News.

The snowflakes are likely to increase with time.  Eventually this snowglobe will not work at all.

The screen will power-on but wi-fi will be a thing of the past.

Following that, this snowglobe will be an antique, an artifact.

Following that it will be dust.

Folder for install and de-install Instructions

I apologize for the incorrect orientation and overall quality of the video. This is a temporary placeholder until 9/29/2014.

(I also plan to post a breakdown of methods/code/problems that were  used/employed/encountered in this project along with lots of pictures of failure.)

portfolio_ms

There are two small project which try to help rehabilitation training be more interesting.

As we know, the rehabilitation training is hard and boring for stroke patients. For example, for one single grasp, they need to practice hundreds of time. But there are so many grasp, like medium wrap, lateral pinch, Thumb-Index Finger, Thumb-2 Finger and so on.

For the muscle wire hand, it uses muscle wire to control the transform of the paper hand. It could help to indicate stroke patient to open and close their hands.

For the magnet ring, by using the magnet, instead of just training grasp, the object may “hide/attract” to you which make the process interactive.

Thirsty is a waterbottle that encourages you to drink lots of water! It’ll buzz when you drink too many opaque liquids, and does a little happy dance if you drink your water regularly.

Video and documentation to follow.

This “Homing Device” is a belt containing a series of small vibration motors which allow it to give a strong directional sense to the wearer by vibrating whichever motor is pointing in a particular direction.  This means the belt can essentially act as a persistent compass, its direction available to the user at all times, even unconsciously.  Rather than pointing north like a normal compass, however, the user programs it with the location of their hometown and it always points there.

It’s been said that a quiet bike is a well-maintained bike. That may be true, but musical bikes are much more fun.

“Cyclic” takes a normal, functional bike, and extends it into a string instrument.

It requires little effort to play. Rather, the cyclist produces music passively with “Cyclic”. As they pedal, they strum the strings.

Cycling is a very rhythmic activity. “Cyclic” takes these rhythms, and turns them into melodies.

What I have created is a way for the user to experience music up close and personal without the need for headphones. “Sound Personal” is a Wireless Stereo Speaker System embedded into a backpack. The implications of this device are meant for daily commuters, college students, bikers, or anyone who enjoys wearing backpacks and music.

As the prototype, I opted for sewn on pockets to hold the speakers, instead of cutting holes into the straps of my backpack directly. The design had to be flush with the bulk of the materials inside of the backpack. Using a Wireless Bluetooth Audio Receiver, grounding both the speakers and connecting them to a 3.5mm coupling, I was able to effectively turn my backpack into a compatible Apple Airplay device.

In the future model, I hope to achieve volume control from the straps of the backpack, as well as have the speakers more embedded into the backpack straps while also being adjustable.

Technology has made remote connections obvious.There are times when I have wished if a group of people could be together in one location to be able to decode a message. Sender of the message defines number of receivers. Each receiver installs the phone application. Video message is fragmented and one part can be played by one person using the marker left in previous person’s phone.

Gesture Radio test from Rachel Ciavarella on Vimeo.

A wearable FM radio that responds to specific gesture cues to adjust volume and seek stations. Haptic feedback in the form of vibration lets the user know when the station has been changed.

To adjust volume the index finger is bent. Contracting the finger reduces volume and extending the finger raises volume.

To seek up stations the user tilts their hand to the right. To seek down stations the hand is tilted downwards.

Audio is output through a standard 1/8th jack which can be plugged directly into headphones or speakers using an AUX cable.

“Concrete” is a performance art piece, which I shared at The Button in Lawrenceville on 9/23/14.

—–

I am doing a study on concrete
Examining parallel lines
Distinguishing identical slabs

My eye so close
That dirt
Makes me blink

Measuring
Re-measuring cracks
Trying to define
The divide

Women are doing a study on concrete
Because with bent necks
That’s where we’re taught to look

Examining cracks
Blinking out dirt
Trying to define
Something someone else made

Why must I study concrete
And brick walls
And my own reflection out bus windows
When I would rather study the world

—–

more…