Important: I have changed the url of this blog to http://zemi.kasrl.org.

Only a small percentage of the members of the zemi are doing work in the field of what I would consider to be “NIME” (= New Interfaces for Multimodal Expression).

Please note however, that the zemi is in fact in the “Technology” field of the Eizo Faculty.

In other words, members are expected to undertake challenging research related to image arts and sciences technology, with an emphasis on real-time, interactive, expressive multimodal interfaces.

My main area of interest remains NIME (= New Interfaces for Multimodal Expression). That is my major area of expertise and the area in which I am most interested in supervising projects. Work in this area requires knowledge of computer programming, or at least a strong will and effort to learn how to program. This is stated clearly in the official description of my seminar. For whatever reason, it seems that some students have the impression they can join this seminar without the ability or will to learn how to program. That is incorrect.

Thank you for your understanding.

Michael

Dilbert on creativity

This exhibition, which ends today in Paris, includes works by Hiroshi Sugimoto, Tadanori Yokoo, Takeshi Kitano, David Lynch, Patti Smith, and others. The exhibition was created through a dialogue between the artists and practicing mathematicians. I love the byline, a quote by Alexandre Grothendieck, that mathematics offers a “a sudden change of scenery.”

The Fondation Cartier created an iPad app to introduce the exhibition and it is available free in the iTunes store.

A quote from Galileo Galilei‘s book, Il Saggiatore published in Rome, October, 1623:

Philosophy [i.e. physics] is written in this grand book — I mean the universe — which stands continually open to our gaze, but it cannot be understood unless one first learns to comprehend the language and interpret the characters in which it is written. It is written in the language of mathematics, and its characters are triangles, circles, and other geometrical figures, without which it is humanly impossible to understand a single word of it; without these, one is wandering around in a dark labyrinth.

 

The same can be said of media arts and sciences: if you aim to go beyond a superficial understanding of contemporary media technology, it is necessary to be able read the language in which it is based. Ultimately, that language is mathematics.

The School of Athens, Raphael (1509)

In my first year of graduate school, there was a student from Greece who taped a banner above the entrance to the graduate student offices. His banner looked something like this:

meaning ‘Let no one ignorant of geometry enter here‘, an inscription that is said to have hung over the entrance to Plato’s academy. The importance of mathematics for understanding the world was recognized in ancient times by the Greek philosophers, reflected in the painting by Renaissance artist Raphael, The School of Athens, linked above. One sometimes sees reproduction of Raphael’s painting displayed in research labs and scientist’s offices. I have one which I bought as a souvenir on a visit to the Vatican.

While mathematics is often deeply hidden behind the user-friendly interfaces of the complex software packages we use in our work, it is important to understand it is basis for these tools. Especially in the area of computer graphics, no development of new techniques is possible without an understanding of geometry and other branches of mathematics. If you are doubtful, try sitting in on some presentations at a graphics conference such as ACM Siggraph. Without some knowledge of mathematics you will quickly come to feel that you are wandering in a dark labyrinth.

[1] Galileo Galilei, Il Saggiatore, Rome, 1623.

Quote via the Wikipedia article about the English translation, The Assayer.

There is a slideshow of works from the Lee Bul exhibition available at the Mori Art Museum Flickr account. Worth a look, but you really need some background to properly appreciate these works. I used the audio guide while looking at the exhibition. It may help to reflect upon some of the themes which show up in the exhibition:

• Recent history (post WWII) of the Korean peninsula/Cold War
• Cyborgs/Genetic Modification/Body augmentation/Prosthetics
• Evolution/Post-Humanism
• Modernism/Futurism/Utopia/Totalitarianism
• Urban Design/Architecture
• Bruno Taut
• Performance Art
• Stinking Blinged Fish
• Leonardo da Vinci
• Personal Karaoke Pods

Best watch the slideshow in full screen mode.