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Keynote talk given at the 2013 Cognitive Informatics conference in Montreal
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Hacking and Meta-Creativity
how open source, cheap electronics and onlinecommunities are making it easy to add high tech
gadgets to creative practice
David Gerhard
REACT: Research into Art and Creative Technologies
CTECH
Computer Science
Fine Arts
CTECH
The sea change• Creative practice is starting to include
traditionally “by the book” media
• Electronics, Mechatronics, Code
• Collision between established pro and self-taught amateur
• Making these tools easier to use is itself a creative act
• Hack
(meta)
3 root causes
• Cheaper, better, easier-to-get stuff
• Accessible fabbing
• Community, including FOSS/OSHW
Hack
A quick, clever, or unusual solution
(uninformed, sloppy, ...)
“Professional”
Stable, well-tested, predictable
creative?
Creativity = good?
“Creative Accounting”
Four stories of Metacreativity
•Electronics Prototyping
•Manufacturing
•Music
•Film
(look for the meta)
(look for the hacking)
1. Electronics Prototyping
for engineers only
Artists
Kinetic sculpture, wearables, interactive
exhibits....
$
(meta)
arduino designoomlout kit
Biggest problem of engineering design:
Designed by engineers
Designed for engineers
Arduino is a hack
No engineer needs the arduino
Circuit design as a creative practice
(meta)
CS207: Building Interactive
Gadgets
2. Manufacturing
Creating physical stuff
Industrial Prototyping
$1,000,000
$1200
Hack
(meta)
3. Music
Case Study: iPad Orchestra Class
Topics• History of Laptop Orchestras
• Improvisation and Experimental Sound Art
• New Media in Music
• What is an App? History and Structure of Mobile Applications
• Soundscape Composition and Found Sounds on Mobile Devices
• The iPad in Music Production
• New Media Musical Instruments and Interfaces
• Immersive Soundscapes
• iPad in Music Education
• The iPad in Interdisciplinary Arts
Virtuosity
Barrier to Entry
Music on the iPad is a hack
Case Study: Musix and the Rainboard
(meta meta?)
4. Film
The Crane Shot
Robotic Motion Control
Only in professional films
$$$$
there must be a better way
Ardupilot
Brains for helicopter
Aside: Wii Hacks
DIY drones: a hacked-together
helicopter
GoPro on an RC gimbal
Build a quadcopter from scratch:
creative
Use a scratch-build quadcopter for HD
video?
meta-creative
Hack → Consumer Product
Demo
$2000
$3000
4 stories
•Electronics Prototyping
•Manufacturing
•Music
•Film
Recurring Memes...
Meme:
Justin
“Just in time”
“Just enough”
Compare to traditional professional degrees:
“Just in case”
Professional vs amateur
Drawback of “Justin” thinking:
Don’t know what’s possible
Don’t know what’s been done
Which comes first:Ideas or Tech?
Cool Tech
Idea
What can I build with it?
Idea
Cool Tech
How do I make it happen?
Meme:
“ANYTHING IS POSSIBLE”
Meme: Technology removes constraints
3d printing: “you can build anything”
Arduino: “you can make any circuit”
Exercise: Let’s remove some constraints!
Write the next great novel....
GO!
tyranny of the blank page
One final thought
Creativity ≠ no rules
Creativity = breaking some rules in new ways
Go hack.
Learn just enough to be dangerous
Questions