ITP – Page 2 – Natalie Fajardo

October 19, 2021 — No Comments

Sketch 4: Time dilation in >>> psych3d3lics !

I wanted to explore my personal experience of time within the consumption of psychedelics. It is a universal experience of percepting time extremely slowly although the mind at a regular pace, known as time dilation. Why is that so?

Time feels boundless and insular simultaneously. I feel like I have lived only 1 second and 20 lifetimes at the same time. Along with other factors making me feel this way - temporal distortion is a fundamental linked to our thinking during this experience. I am very lucky after each of my "trips" it is a reminder of gratefulness of the present with this time of 'self'.

Time dilation is the difference in the elapsed time as measured by TWO clocks, which in these case, is our perception and measured time. This idea touches the theory of relativity.

When we say "time is slowing down", it is because we are comparing it to our 'measured' subjective everyday clock. What if we are constantly living at faster momentum? What if we lived in the 'inbetween' of those two clocks. Rovelli's Order of Time explores the fluctuation and indeterminancy within time and how the past - present - future is blurred.

I created a camera effect on TouchDesigner illustrating the time between times. With a delayed effect I explore the idea of slowed down time compared to actual. Currently I use a webcam to show this effect but maybe can dive more into this with other imagery.

Published by natalie.r.fajardo in ITP, Time

October 14, 2021 — No Comments

Ableton: Techno Demo

I explored creating a techno track on Ableton to exercise my skills in the program.

I chose techno because both it's simplicity and the strength behind it's minimalism. Techno has a rich background I feel like a lot of people do not look into.

I just created a simple drum pattern using the 4AM Drum Pack.

Published by natalie.r.fajardo in Designing Club Culture, ITP

October 11, 2021 — No Comments

Sketch 3: Liminality in Commuting

Feelings of liminality has been strongly resonant to myself through my life. In terms of race, religion, gender identity, traveling, and of course life. We are in a liminal space or "in-between" constantly in some sort of aspect. The feeling of a 'beginning' and a 'destination' is immediately diminished as we are transitioning.

In Rovelli's Order of Time, time is the measure of change: if nothing changes, there is no time. Liminal space expresses the process of individual’s isolation from ordered chronological system and integration onto alternative one. I wanted to explore with this sketch a common form of a liminal space/time, commuting. Although we are still, something around us is moving.

Videos of transportation in some form. Living in a town 1.5-2 hours from the city, and having to commute daily before moving - I felt almost home in a liminal space. Everyday I rode in a 25 minute car ride and got dropped to an hour long ferry. To only walk for 15 minutes to a 15 minute train to campus. These liminal spaces and times were places for me, the opposite of what liminal means. Is my time perception different in these spaces?

Published by natalie.r.fajardo in ITP, Time

October 9, 2021 — No Comments

Folder Poetry Sketch

Assignment: Create a sketch of Folder Poem using only the terminal that describes a speculative liberatory living environment for you

Is it in a home with rooms? Is it in a forest, an ocean, in the clouds? How are systems of sexuality and gender facilitated, altered, or represented in the design of this space? Is there anyone with you? Is your family with you? What structures the social life of this living environment and how is that reflected in the architecture? What objects are in each room or space of this living environment? What thoughts are you having here and what kinds of conversations? What are the marks, traces, and records of the kind of life you lead here inside the space?

Folder Poetry - Repurposing the common practice of computer folder organization as a new kind of poetic form. By naming and nesting folders and files, we can create unfolding narratives, rhythmic prose, and choose-your-own-adventure poetry.

Published by natalie.r.fajardo in Cybernetics of Sex, ITP

October 5, 2021 — No Comments

Sketch 2: Lunar Blood Cycle

I have recently in the last year quit birth control after taking it for 10 years due to hormonal changes causing depression (ages 15-25). The initial reasoning to taking it was my irregular periods that led to me being extremely anemic. In this state was painful. My perception of time felt strung out. Taking birth control pills was a form of a clock for me, it was stability. Every time I wanted to quit - I would go back in this floating state. My body almost depended on it's regularity. Not only did I have to take it everyday, I had to take it everyday at the same time.

Throughout the ages, people have associated the moon with fertility and female energy, relating the menstrual and lunar cycle as they follow the same timeline.

I explored an idea of having a lunar cycle clock that also has a predicted menstrual cycle predicted by an accompany period tracker app.

Now being off birth control for about a year, my period is still irregular and does not link with the lunar cycle. Is my perception of time skewed because of this?

Published by natalie.r.fajardo in ITP, Time

September 21, 2021 — No Comments

Sketch 1: Memento Mori

“You could leave life right now. Let that determine what you do and say and think.” -Marcus Aurelius

Death will always be ahead of us. Not necessarily looking forward to death, but seeing it changes how we act, see, feel daily. Memento Mori can be seen as remembering death so that an individual can live the best life, living presently.

Literally, time to us is numbers, which is seen as "hard". But when someone asks us what happened during that 'time', we recall time as memories, sounds, people, eras, events, etc., relative experiences are seen as "soft". This is based off surrealist Salvador Dali's painting "Persistence of Memory".

Living in Washington state, time is so slow and learning how to take the timing and enjoy every single millisecond of it is just as rewarding. I am inspired by growing up around the forests and the growth of trees and nature as an indicator of time. Instead of trees 'counting down' to death, it counts up.

I drafted a mirror clock that spirals out in a meditative manner. Every ring, I hope the individual looking at the mirror reminisces one year and the next ring, the next year. Indicating time are unique individual subject experiences and memories.

Published by natalie.r.fajardo in ITP, Time

September 13, 2021 — No Comments

Music IxD: Framework + First Ableton Demo

Bill Verplank's IxD Framework (Link)

Based on my last post's interactive concept of a room's music and visuals controlled by a single user, I have rethought that idea within this framework.

Idea: Motion sensor and type of music affects lasers, interface controls music

Metaphor: Motion affects atmosphere

Display: Room, foggy with light set up

Error: Light in room is too dim to detect motion

Scenario: In size of room (at-home or in larger venue space)

Task: Controlling music and lights

Control: Screen interface, Motion sensor

Composing a demo with Ableton Live

With being already unfamiliar with Ableton Live and in general creating music - I had to experiment a lot with timing and types of sounds. I watched several YouTube tutorials on creating Techno-oriented songs.

Interaction: User appears, arms down, hasn't touched inteface

Response: Bassline starts

Interaction: User raises arms, two synths start.

Response: Synths play

Interaction: Move right arm

Response: BPM of track changes

Interaction: Move left arm

Response: Synths play

Published by natalie.r.fajardo in ITP, Music Interaction Design

September 13, 2021 — No Comments

Performance Practice Response (Week 1 Designing Club Culture)

In response to "Performance Practice as a Site of Opposition" from Let's Get it On: the Politics of Black Performance; bell hooks, Catherine Ugwu

Space of sound and politics

Techno is black. House is black.

An example, of just a bit of what I've experienced of the summer of 2020 were consistent protesting in Capitol Hill Seattle - which consists of repetitive chants. Here a protest happening in Detroit during the BLM movement with chants 'no justice no peace no racist ass police' over a techno track.

https://twitter.com/madiidanae/status/1269100581840392192?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1269100581840392192%7Ctwgr%5E%7Ctwcon%5Es1_c10&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fpitchfork.com%2Fnews%2Ffrom-techno-to-go-go-how-music-is-moving-protests-around-the-world%2F

Published by natalie.r.fajardo in Designing Club Culture, ITP

May 6, 2021 — No Comments

Machine Learning for PComp: Final Project Proposal

Dance to the rhythm using your own webcam.

For my final project I am combining this with my Music Interaction Design final project.

In this rhythm game, PoseNet is utilized to hit repetitive beats while playing a drum kit. Players use their bodies as a controller to hit upcoming shapes laid out on the live video capture screen on beat with their wrists. The score is computed by how well they time their dance to the beats being presented. The players explore the relationship between the movements of their bodies, sound, and rhythm. Augmented reality with a webcam creates an accessible way to explore all of these. The project is the start of a game of which has hopes of having more song choices, various levels, and more intricate functionality.

My first step was to create the interface with sounds. Then with PoseNet using the Left and Right Wrist.

https://editor.p5js.org/natayie/present/E_IQ4p14O

I then coded the Arduino LED lights according to each side and when the side is 'hit'. I came to initial problems with the p5 code as the outByte was sending too much information too fast, and I solved it with frameCount.

int ledPinDown = 2;
int ledPinRight = 3;
int ledPinLeft = 4;
int ledPinUp = 5;

void setup() {
  pinMode(ledPinDown, OUTPUT);  // sets the pin as output
  pinMode(ledPinRight, OUTPUT);
  pinMode(ledPinLeft, OUTPUT);
  pinMode(ledPinUp, OUTPUT);
  Serial.begin(9600);        // initialize serial communications
}
 
void loop() {
 if (Serial.available() > 0) { // if there's serial data available
   int inByte = Serial.read();   // read it
   if (inByte == 1) {
     digitalWrite(ledPinDown, HIGH);  // use it to turn on the LED DOWN
     digitalWrite(ledPinRight, LOW);
     digitalWrite(ledPinLeft, LOW);
     digitalWrite(ledPinUp, LOW);
   } else if (inByte == 2) {
     digitalWrite(ledPinRight, HIGH);  // use it to turn on the LED RIGHT
     digitalWrite(ledPinDown, LOW);
     digitalWrite(ledPinLeft, LOW);
     digitalWrite(ledPinUp, LOW);
   } else if (inByte == 3) {
     digitalWrite(ledPinLeft, HIGH);  // use it to turn on the LED LEFT
     digitalWrite(ledPinDown, LOW);
     digitalWrite(ledPinRight, LOW);
     digitalWrite(ledPinUp, LOW);
   } else if (inByte == 4) {
     digitalWrite(ledPinUp, HIGH); // use it to turn on the LED UP
     digitalWrite(ledPinRight, LOW);  
     digitalWrite(ledPinDown, LOW);
     digitalWrite(ledPinLeft, LOW);
   } else {
     digitalWrite(ledPinUp, LOW); // sets all LEDs OFF
     digitalWrite(ledPinRight, LOW);  
     digitalWrite(ledPinDown, LOW);
     digitalWrite(ledPinLeft, LOW);
   }
   delay(400);                // waits
 }
}

Next Steps:

Finish the rhythm game
Connect to larger, tube LEDs
Stylize interface

Published by natalie.r.fajardo in ITP, ML for PComp, Music Interaction Design

May 5, 2021 — No Comments

Motor Date-o-Meter (Wk 6 Fab)

I was inspired by retro nostalgic toy, control panels, and busy boards during enclosures project. For our enclosures assignment I made a physical daily mood quizlet.

After this project, I started brainstorming more of the similar idea running off inside jokes with my friends or popular culture and am inspired to make a photo series.