#programming for visual artists

For this project, I chose to compile all the photos on tumblr in the six months leading to my first round of college midterms. I simply wanted to display a portfolio in an immersive way that didn’t feel forced (ie: a 12 inch tall book that you’re forced to hold and turn the pages to as the person who handed it to you eagerly awaits your approval). The easiest way to digest content for many in my generation is through experimentation. Rather than throwing my camera around, I chose to present my pictures with the frame of one of the earliest handheld game systems (the Nintendo Game Boy).

These photos came out to be a PDF that was 44 pages long that look something like this

photos were then made onto a single vertical image to create the Game Boy effect

the vertical strip then had all the white pixels removed (background included) to be replaced with content aware colors. making a virtually seamless image that were not presented to you in it’s original form (photohell.tumblr.com/archive).

pressing up and down on the arrow keys will move a standard up down animation of the photos

additional game boy screen colors can be unlocked by holding down keys on the numberpad (QWERTY keyboard)

sound easter eggs available in random key locations to prevent boredom

creating this effect

within this simple frame

Random(poety);

Amelia Carter, 2015

What stated out as a grand idea about the power - both real and perceived - of our word choices, and the sense of autonomy that we feel when we write, speak, think, or are creative, became a very simple poetry bot. Different keys are assigned different parts of speech - N for nouns, V for verbs, etc - even punctuation! As you type using these keys, random words are drawn to the screen, giving you limited control over the content of your poem, only the very basic form. As some of us may not remember all the parts of speech from when we learned them in elementary school, the help! button at the bottom of the screen contains a full index, as well as some helpful basic grammar reminders. 

Also as you type the line length changes, creating a different poem with every keystroke. Whenever you feel your poem is done, you can hit the enter key and a jpg labeled “myPoem” will be created in the processing folder. In a perfect system, perhaps even a web based one, you would have the option to share this jpg to your Twitter, Tumblr, or Facebook. 

unnamed soundsculpture from Daniel Franke on Vimeo.