Tolls of War

I. Introduction:

Every day American troops and foreign civilians die as a result of armed conflicts or war. The following monument proposal is meant as a means to visually represent lives lost through government sanctioned war or combat.


II. Background:

The United States has had ongoing military engagements since the beginning of the Gulf War in 1990. Currently there are 516,273 U.S. military personal deployed in foreign countries.
Since the September 11, 2001 over 5500 military personnel and at least 120,000 civilians have been killed in instances directly associated with either the Iraq or Afghanistan Wars.

A commentary by Dr. Karl P. Mueller, School of Advanced Airpower Studies, Maxwell Air Force Base, sums up the general point of view perfectly, “The American public is conditionally tolerant of military casualties and consistently indifferent to collateral damage”. As numbers pour in it's very hard to completely understand the constant death. This monument shall be created as an on time awareness aid. When reading articles about either military or civilian deaths, we almost don't make the distinction between 10, 100, or even 1000+ killed. The number is just a number, it is not physical but ephemeral, by the time we've read to the next paragraph it is all but forgotten. The tolls of war monument will be a visual aid in understanding the true extent of death as a result of military engagements.

III. Description:

As a visualization tool, the monument will acknowledgement the number of deaths due to war or armed conflicts involving the United States. It will be built on or near sites housing government officials directly related to the decision to engage in military action, it’s purpose, to remind us of the ongoing death tolls related to military action.

When attempting to represent the impermanence of life and even death I researched many types of communication before falling upon smoke signals.  Smoke signals are the oldest form of visual communication by man and still used today.  In Rome, the cardinals use smoke signals to indicate the selection of a new Pope.  Black smoke indicates a failed ballot, white smoke means a new pope has been elected.  The dynamic nature of smoke is able to very simply represent the shortness of life as well as the monentary, extinguishing and dispersing aspect of death.

The monument would be connected to a networked system of machines that reacted as new data is input into a website created for the monument. With each added death, the monument would create large plumes of colored smoke that would rise above and dissipate over the city. The color would directly relate to the specific war or conflict and whether the death was military personnel or civilian. The goal, to have as close to on time visual of each death as possible and force both the decision makers and the general populous to stop and acknowledge each individual death. This would allow commentary on the effectiveness of military action for a given event. The visual aid would give people a direct correlation between the length of time the conflict has taken place and the rise or drop in deaths related to that specific conflict.


IV. Benefits

The idea of benefiting society as a whole seems moot when referring to a monument. No one truly benefits from the building of a structure that acknowledges or remembers a time, place, event, person, or idea. A monument cannot provide food or shelter or love. The most a monument can do to benefit its viewer is to remind, to inspire, or to promote change within that society. With this monument, the greatest hope I could have would be to encourage the viewer to attempt to reshape what has become a business of war and possibly to search out more effective means to re-establish a feeling of safety within our lives that was devastated by the terrorist attacks on the United States.


V. Estimated Cost & Supplies

Initial: $15,800
Ongoing maintenance: $2250/ month

Hollow Concrete Base: $3500
30 foot Plexiglas tube: $800
Smoke Machine + non-toxic chemicals: $4000
Server to control smoke machine: $2500
Software to talk to server remotely: $3000
Website including data visualization: $ 2000

PDF of Presentation here: Tolls of War

Google Earth KMZ file here: Tolls of War

Improbable Monument

Ideas:

War: Monument to war and the purpose of war, rather than the lives lost. It would incorporate reasons for fighting wars like religion, oil, and land. Not sure how it would be conceptualized.

Recyclables: either an ode to recyclables or an impermanent monument made of all compostable materials that would deteriorate within a few years and absorb back into the natural environment.


But the idea I think I'll run with is a monument to Garbage. This monument would be dedicated to remembering the continually growing heaps that are essentially out of sight, out of mind.

Within Google earth this would be interesting placed as a giant floating garbage pile within the ocean, much like the Great Pacific Garbage Patch, a enormous region where garbage has accumulated due to ocean currents. The current rotational pattern keeps the debris in a specific area of the Pacific Ocean. Recent research done by the National Science Foundation suggest that the effected area is roughly double the size of Texas. The debris consists mostly of plastics, chemical sludge, and other random debris.

Though the patch is enormous, it cannot be seen through satellites and in programs like Google Earth because the majority of the debris consists of plastics which break down into small polymers that cannot be seen from space. Also, much of the debris is within what is referred to as a water column which is a conceptual column of water reaching from ocean floor to surface in any specific area.

This monument effects the public by keeping them aware of how their consumption effects the planet. It's a constant reminder of what we are all doing and possibly an incentive to change for the better. Obviously it wouldn't be feasable to create a monument in the actual size of ocean effected by the garbage, but if it were a large enough monument to say place within the San Francisco Bay and visible from Oakland, Berkeley, San Francisco, and Marin the visual effect off of our shores would be fairly dramatic. It would ideally be made of formed concrete, wood, or other natural materials to avoid the possible leaching of more plastics into the ocean. If it could be placed on a large pillar stationed on the bay floor for permanency, the actual monument would be above water level and the types of materials available for use are greatly expanded.

Artists working in Public Space

While searching for artists working with monuments or public space I came across Nilda Maria Comas, a painter/ sculptor from Puerto Rico. What struck me was a monument proposal of hers that I would think of as incredibly improbable within public space.

She created A Monument to Missing Children to educate the public about the violence and criminal acts, that are constantly happening all over the world against children. I see it as improbable because the subject is so horrific and monuments to atrocious events are very rare. Instead they seem to more often commemorate the events of overcoming hardship and terror.

The artist proposal is also interesting to look at and see how working artists write descriptions of their ideas for professional proposals. Reading other artists proposals I think will be very helpful in developing proposals for our student projects. I've never even attempted to propose something even similar to the improbable monument and it's nice to have a reference.

Carto-Biography

For the upcoming carto-biography or geo-narrative project in google earth, I plan on sticking within the bay area and following a path to my favorite places to enjoy a beautiful day in the bay. See if you can figure out the locations based on the pictures below:

Foster Farms Culture Jamm

Most people don't think about factory farming when shopping for their families. Most that i've spoken with just never considered it or what it's like until confronted with the realities. Human beings are compassionate in nature and the majority of us don't enjoy contributing to suffering. The majority of factory farming isn't just in the mid west. It's right here in california too. This Factory Farming Map details exactly where and what they are, with huge areas of california having extremely dense populations of both laying and "broiler" farms. As part of my culture jamming project, i wanted to do something that could get people to think, but not be too "in your face" about it. Do something that was subtle, yet reminding a person that there is more information out there for them to seek if they want it.

For this culture jamm I printed new label stickers for foster farms chicken. A company plagued with cruelty and abuse. I started thinking about foster farms after finding this announcement that was posted a few years ago in a local berkeley grocery store.

What hit me most was that the store approved the notice, understood it, yet continued to sell a product which comes from this environment. The social responsibility ultimately falls upon the consumer to regulate the products they buy and understand the conditions in which they come from. Since the notice was merely posted at the store, the new labels give information to the consumer that is carried to their household. It's not as easily ignored.

Musée Mécanique

Over spring break I was racking my brain for places to visit with some relationship to the course and remembered the Musée Mécanique at Fisherman's Wharf. I hadn't been there since I was a kid and my mom was in town so we took a few hours to explore. For those of who who've never heard of it, the Musée Mécanique is part museum, part penny arcade. It's a huge collection of old arcade games from the turn of the 19th century up through arcade games of the 1980's.

My favorite "games" were not games at all, but elaborate scenes that move and play music when you insert money. There was a barnyard scene that showed the epitome of racial stereotypes in the early 20th century. The white characters were sitting on porches eating and relaxing, while tiny black figures with giant

red lips and white eyes served food and tended animals. There was a carnival built by an injured carnie with moving rides, and a santa's workshop with the creapiest santa's i'd ever seen.

Though most of the "games" were not interactive at all, they were the pre-decessors to modern arcade games and home video games. The oldest machine there was a Praxinoscope created by Emile Reynaud. The Praxinoscope was the successor to the Zoetrope.The major difference being that instead of looking through small slit at the pictures within the zoetrope, the Praxinoscope used a central cylinder of mirrors to reflect the images as it moved so that the viewer could look from any direction to see the animation.

Jamming Proposal

While researching culture jamming, it seemed like most of the content was fairly in your face. It was either on billboards or in posters and in public spaces where a lot of people could see it quickly. But i'd like to do something a little more subtle, direct to the consumer/user of the specific product i'm targeting.

One of the most detrimental practices to the environment today is the raising of livestock for food. This practice trickles down to the consumer through factory farming, which makes meat very easily accessible and cheap.

Recently I assisted in the creation of an iPhone database, where the information was presented to the user in a food product type label. It would be interesting to alter labels on meat packaging in stores to highlight the process of factory farming. It would be presented in such a way as to suggest alternatives and the products the new labels were applied to would only be from large processors, not small, local, farms.

The label could include a website to find more information, information about what happens at factory farms and what goes into the product the consumer is putting into their bodies. It would include statistics and alternatives and would be interesting if the barcode could be edited in such a way that it would still be scannable and possibly scan as a different product from the system.

Illustrator Magnolia

Just thought I'd share a basic illustrator project I did about a year ago. I drew a flower based on a drawn image from an old botanical source book. I'd wanted to continue and do more of the background flowers and stems but just didn't have the time. Fun project to practice the capabilities of illustrator.

Original Image.

Illustrator Image.

Logo Study

Evolution of the Apple logo.

The logo reflects the change computer graphics technology over the last 30 years and trends in styles that grab attention. The first image is a monotone etching type print only lasted a year before being re-designed for a more modern image that has become one of the most iconic logos.

Logo Edits:
This was very simple so i'd like to do some other logos. But this goes along with what i'm trying to do with the culture jamming project so it was a basic start.

A Google Doodle:
Something fun to try. It would have been a lot easier if I had the font they use, Catull, but the package is $299. Instead I found a vector file of the basic google logo for some of the letters, and drew my own D's in illustrator using a font sample from online as a template. Then imported the vectors to photoshop to create the effects.

Burger-Town:
For this last edit I was searching for a vector logo that leant itself to the courses illustrator practice. I started by using live trace to trace the basic image. The problem with live trace is that it creates strokes based on color lines, not necessarily the parts of the image you want to be separate objects. So there is a lot of fiddling after you trace in order to make parts of the image the correct objects. I inverted the W for the M and edited the B to create a D in 'murder'. Enjoy:

Poster Boy

Poster Boy is an unnamed street artist out of New York City who edits advertisements to alter the meaning. He uses only a razor and cuts our segments of self-adhesive advertisement posters and applies those sections onto another to alter the meaning. His intention is to specifically create anonymous art so that it is free of copyright or authorship, probably also to remain disconnected from the illegality of the act. He sees the resulting work as a social piece. He's been referred to as the "Matisse of subway-ad mash-ups".

His work has spurned a "poster boy" movement where others imitate his work to depict new current political and social ideas. The original poster boy has been a big supporter of the work catching on, there are currently at least 3 or 4 creating new work, one recently arrested.

Marc Dery & Culture Jamming

In his article on Culture Jamming, Marc Dery assumes the assertion that language is more important than image, and intellect more than emotion. He refers to television as having control over image and emotion, and implies that they are detrimental to human development. But there has to be a happy median. He blames TV executives, news organizations, and advertisers for the information streamed through our television sets. But just as much blame is set upon the people. Users accept the information and their actions even support it. Dery refers to it as a "one-way information pipeline that only transmits, never receives". But I think it does receive from the consumer in other ways. The system receives positive feedback in viewership and the advertisers receive it in the throngs of people who purchase products. This blaming of the media/information conglomerate seems more like a scapegoat to me than anything. Are people unwilling to admit their own misgivings and failures? Instead of the mass populous standing up and saying they screwed up and allowed it, there is a blaming of the system.

The intro of the article I think focuses too much on television and electronic media, and not enough on all corporations in general. Culture Jamming is an art form that mocks while bringing attention to untruths within the corporate marketing system. The media and marketing system today is immensely different than in 1995 when this article was written. How are culture jammers working today effected differently than in the article?

Below are some images of culture jamming within my neighborhood. They are simple statements that act as commentary on the world today.

Media Archaeology

I recently watched a video where someone was labeled a "Media Archaeologist". This started a spiral of me thinking of nothing but the whole concept of media archaeology. We often think of archeologists as people who study the distant past. The dictionary definition of an archaeologist is one who studies human history and pre-history through artifacts and physical remains. But can't history be seen as any time through this exact moment. A moment comes and goes, and then is history.

In our technological world, new media comes and goes. New devices are created, making what came before obsolete. Things we used everyday just 10 years ago are now impossible to find. How many people do you know that still own a vcr? A film camera? A tape player? In the past 20-30 years a whole new area has opened up for the study and preservation of obsolete media. This doesn't just include the players, but the content they played. There are films yet to be converted to a digital format, that may never be converted, and therefore never seen again. Bruce Sterling began the Dead Media Project in 1995 as a way to compile and remember forgotten technology, but by 2001 the project was essentially dead.

While searching out old media, I found some wonderful video's at Archive.org of Berkeley after a fire in 1923, the same year my house was built. It's interesting to look through and compare streets of today to yesterday and to understand the change that has taken place. It's things like this that we need to convert and save and share. We use books and video to learn and understand new ideas, but many of the images and literature currently used may not be accessible in the future except within archival institutions. The future builds upon the past, so understanding of the past may even help us to more accurately predict the future. Without access to documentation on the past, the progressive rate of change we have been accustomed to will rapidly stop.

Swapping Chance

Supplies:
Quarter
1 Die
Digital camera
Timer
Adobe Photoshop

The idea is to travel and take photos at selected intervals. The photos will ultimately show the path. You may travel via car, bike, or walking.

Dice roll determines the length of time you will travel in a straight direction. Set a timer and begin. When the timer goes off, take a picture of the object, place, or direction you are looking at that moment. Flip the coin, heads or tails determines whether you turn left or right at the next intersection. Roll the dice and repeat until you have at least 6 images.

-In photoshop, compile the images linearly, overlapping one over half of the image before.
-Generate a random number between 25 and 75. Reduce all of the images opacity to that number.
-Merge all visible layers.
-Generate another number between 50 and 100. Change the images saturation to that number.
-Crop image to exclude all negative space surrounding the images.

Opacity 50%
Saturation 87

Some more fun stuff:
I took another series of images looking up at the sky during my photo tour. I compiled them in the same way, but added posterization too. It would be really fun to see the entire class compile the same chance project, so see how different they all turn out. I enjoyed how the first turned out so had a little more fun with this 2nd image.

Opacity 50%
Posterization 13 (random)
Saturation 84 (random)

Shawn's original project:

Tech Shop: SF, Menlo Park, San Jose

Have you ever heard of the Tech Shop? There's one in San Francisco, Menlo Park, and San Jose. It's a pretty awesome place. It's a membership based workshop that you can join and have access to tons of tools and classes.

If you're constantly working on projects where you find you don't have the right tools, it's definitely the place for you. They'll even teach you how to use new machines. Here are a few of the tools and machines they have to use.

Laser Cutters
3D Scanner
Vacuum Forming Equipment
Injection Molding Equipment
Sewing & embroidery Machines
Wood tools/equipment
metal tools/equipment
Lots lots more!

Check it out. Tech Shop is an amazing resource!

Type Chance

Supplies:
1. Photoshop
2. http://watchout4snakes.com/creativitytools/RandomWord/RandomWordPlus.aspx
3. http://www.random.org/integers

Process: (download .doc with chart to fill in all the values here)
Make note of all information generated.

Using the random word generator:
1. Generate 40 words (use random word type/complexity)
2. Generate 1 sentence

Using Random.org number generator. Generate the following numbers for each word
1. A number between 10 and 100. This will be the font size
2. A number between 0 and 3300, then round to the closest 0 or 50th. This will be the horizontal axis location of the word
3. A number between 0 and 2500 (round). This will be the vertical axis of the word
4. Generate 9 numbers between 0 and 255 (format 3 columns). These will be used to create 3 random text colors (within photoshop instructions below)
5. 2 numbers between 1 and 26. Find the corresponding letter within the alphabet for each. Look within the font list and find the font closest to those 2 letters (Ex: mine were 12 (L) & 17 (Q): so I used Lucida Sans)

In Photoshop: Create new 8 1/2 x 11 document. (11 width/ 8.5 height)
⁃ In Preferences: change the following
1. Units: Rulers: Pixels
2. Grid: Gridline every - 200 pixels, Subdivisions - 4
3. Show background grid: View > Show > Grid
⁃ Double click on the color square to open the
Color Picker.
1. Type the first 3 numbers generated into the R,G,B slots.
2. Click on "Add to Swatches": Name swatch "Color 1"
3. Repeat for colors 2 and 3.
4. Swatches will be added to the end of the "swatches" palette

When placing words.
1. even numbers horizontally
2. odd numbers vertically
3. Color numbers based on the color swatches added. Every 3rd number is the same color.
4. Font size based on the number generated between 10 and 100
5. place the word at the location created by the random axis numbers generated. (example: random numbers 2129 & 1383 rounded to 2150 & 1400)
⁃ you should have turned the grid on and ruler will be in pixels, so place
any part of the word at that intersection
6. Place the sentence created in a text box over the top of all the other words.
- Generate a random number between 25 and 75.
- Color the sentence black, with a transparency of the number given.

Shawn's Chance:

I had fun with this so I tried it again. This time the letters I got by chance were WO, so the closest font was "wingdings 3", a series of arrows. It's interesting to see how each time could turn out so incredibly different. This time I added a random background color (R-41, G-141, B-195)

GAFFTA

The Gray Area Foundation for the Arts, better known as GAFFTA, is a non-profit organization created for the promotion of digital media and digital culture here in San Francisco. The group is made up of artists, designers, composers, programmers, hackers, engineers, and even business and marketing professionals. They seek to blur the so-called ‘Gray Area’ between the arts and emerging technologies. In general, computer arts are not considered a fine art, but more of a craft or skill instead. The Gray Area Foundation has set up an arena to contradict the perceived place of computer arts within the fine arts world.

The four installations created an almost poetic cacophony that I could not just hear, but feel moving through my entire body. The mixture of sounds from all the pieces was almost like heavy rain hitting a tin roof. I immediately felt relaxed and comfortable, wanting to curl up with a good book and a hot cup of cocoa. Most of the pieces were less visually pleasing and emphasized the sound created more than the layout or composition of the work. Though there was inspiration for some pieces, it ultimately didn’t translate unless the viewer knew the context and read the idea about the piece mounted on the wall. It was obvious that he drew inspiration from the physical world. The use of mechanical objects to create art produced an environment for randomness. The sound each piece made could not be defined and precisely tuned by the artist, making the composition that of chance. Ultimately, Zimoun's pieces emphasized a poetry in both the movement and sound created.

The specific work by Zimoun impacted me less than just knowing who GAFFTA is and what they do. I'm personally more interested in GAFFTA for the classes and workshops they provide to bridge the gap between arts and technology. I would really love to take a class on processing or learn more about arduino boards, but they are just a little beyond my price range.

John Cage and Chance Operations

As a graphic design major, there is a strong emphasis on the design process. The process usually consists of research, study, ideation, proposal, reworking many times, end product. There is very little room for chance study, but John Cage's work is inspiration for figuring out how to work it into the process.

John Cage's chance compositions are generally chance within structure. The outcomes are often strange and uncomfortable, yet the ideas the spring from are interesting. I'm not personally attracted to the content in his work, but the use of chance as a conceptual or visualization process is intriguing. I see chance as more of a means to art without true meaning. John Cage uses the I-Ching as a reference for chance, the end result does not have any relationship to the meaning behind it. All of John Cage's pieces, though they may have names that imply there is a message, are purely abstract.

The Dadaists embraced chance operations. Jean Arp, a founding member of the Dada movement, used chance by dropping torn pieces of paper to create a composition.

Much of the work of Jackson Pollock was created through chance. Though he attempted to control movement of paint, the drips and splatters could never be completely controlled. The paint inspired the composition. What he referred to as "action painting", created chance outcomes based upon the action performed.

Chance operations lend the outcomes more to the abstract side of art. The majority of the outcomes are purely un-represenational emotional images. Within graphic design, meaning is an important player. Chance may be a great tool for overcoming idea blocks, but have very little place in creating a final piece.

Augmented Reality

Recently I've been very interested in augmented reality. The new perceptions it can give you and the information accessible within the context your current environment is pretty neat.

Check out this video. Could you see this as possible within the next 10-20 years in the average household?



Obviously the advertising is a bit excessive, and I don't think the outlining of the arms is necessary. What I really like is the timer with the electric kettle and the virtual keyboard. You could search the tea's in your cabinet, choose what you want, and it would automatically dispense it. In this context, I see augmented reality as somewhat unnecessary, but it gives you insight into other uses. I can easily visualize a pair of regular looking sunglasses that have chips and clear screens where you can still see the world as it is, but an addition of information accessible and visualized through the glasses. Instead of pulling out your smart phone to look up local restaurants, it would pop up through the screen and give you arrows toward the correct direction.

Here is a video of an augmented reality video game. It uses a game board with a smart phone / portable game device and skittles as the markers. When you look at the board through the device a 3d world appears!

Wired & Programmed

The idea of being able to "plug in" to machines and alter human hardwire is not a new one.  It's in science fiction stories, movies, and even comics.  But it's always portrayed as an evil, as something to be afraid of, and something to fight.  I’d like to submit the idea that it's something to be wanted. Something that could change human awareness and psychology. To be able to improve upon and create something more desired has always been something humanity strives for.  We could alter past memories, improve memory, and add new data.  Instead of spending years to learn something, it could be downloaded into our "hard drives" in minutes. With more specific brain mapping, we could connect specific sectors to be accessible. Our entire subconscious could be altered in some way to fit the user’s desires.

"As We May Think"

In reading the Vannevar Bush article, "As We May Think", I was struck by his view on logic in the machine age. The computer was created as a quick means of calculation, replacing mans need for the logical processes needed for solving mathematical equations. Bush states, "Formal logic used to be a keen instrument in the hands of the teacher in his trying of students' souls. It is readily possible to construct a machine which will manipulate premises in accordance with formal logic." He refers to machines as equation solvers and soon to be equation transformers, which by todays standards, they already are. If we continue to rely on technology and machines for logic, man's logical sense and the use of it will begin to diminish.

Making predictions for the future is an incredibly difficult task. Vannevar Bush set high standards, predicting things that have come to be like the credit card and social networking. Thinking ahead 60 years is not in actuality a whole lot of time. If we think back 60 years on major events that have taken place, 1951-2011, most has been machine and technology driven. I think this seems to go in phases.

Technology is currently the main route used to look to the future and to idealize what it could be, but not all the future events will be related to Technology. Man may reach a point where technology is not the most important thing to put all your resources into. A point where many of the things we needed/wanted have been perfected. Obviously, it will continue, but i think in 60 years it will be growing at a much slower pace than it has in the last 60.

In 60 years, I believe scientists and engineers will have perfected the use of robotic or biologically grown organs. These are already used in some cases and experimented with in others. But in all likelihood in 60 years they will be used on a regular basis. Over time this, alone with other medical breakthroughs, would, and have to some extent already, effectively make "survival of the fittest" a moot point. The weak no longer die of illness. The infertile can bear children. The sick and dying will be easily cured and mended.

The other change over the next 60 years that I see as imminent is the use of animals grown for food. According to a report from the UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) titled "Livestock's Long Shadow", the livestock industry is degrading land, contributing to the greenhouse effect, polluting water resources, and destroying biodiversity. They call it "one of the top two or three most significant contributors to the most serious environmental problems at every scale." Outside of the devastating environmental conditions is the growing of human population and space needed to grow more efficient food sources. According to an Ecologist at Cornell, animal protein production requires more than eight times as much fossil-fuel energy than production of plant protein while yielding animal protein that is only 1.4 times more nutritious for humans than the comparable amount of plant protein. With continued population growth and limited land and resources, the livestock industry will inevitably need change.

Tissue Culture

Cool website I found on the "Tissue Culture and Art" project.


http://www.tca.uwa.edu.au/

This is their Manifesto:
The Tissue Culture & Art Project (TC&A) was set to explore the use of tissue technologies as a medium for artistic expression. We are investigating our relationships with the different gradients of life through the construction/growth of a new class of object/being – that of the Semi-Living. These are parts of complex organisms which are sustained alive outside of the body and coerced to grow in predetermined shapes. These evocative objects are a tangible example that brings into question deep rooted perceptions of life and identity, concept of self, and the position of the human in regard to other living beings and the environment. We are interested in the new discourses and new ethics/epistemologies that surround issues of partial life and the contestable future scenarios they are offering us.

Check it out!