Fog paintings and plasma-filled glass tubes are the results of Studio Swine‘s residency at Brooklyn creative hub A/D/O, where the designs are currently on display.

The Wave Particle Duplex installation, which opened to the public last week, showcases the work that Japanese architect Azusa Murakami and British artist Alexander Groves of Studio Swine have created during their six months at A/D/O.

Influenced by the duo’s experiences of New York City’s constantly changing environments, the kinetic artworks blend high-tech processes with natural phenomena.

The installation is setup within a closed, white cuboid volume in the A/D/O atrium. Visitors walk in through a doorway and along a dark, doglegged corridor before arriving in an entirely red room.

This space exhibits Dawn Particles: a series of four wall-mounted panels that hold blown-glass tubes containing plasma.

“Plasma is the fourth state of matter after solid, liquid and gas,” Murakami told Dezeen. “It’s the most abundant material in the visible universe. Lighting is plasma, the sun is plasma, the aurora borealis is plasma.”

The plasma is formed by krypton gas held in a low-pressure vacuum. Voltages controlled by algorithms are periodically pulsed through the tubes to create varying light effects.

“We’ve been through laborious processes to test lots of different gases, but krypton was the only one that gave this specific effect,” Murakami said.

The organic shapes of the glass also play a part in altering the shifts in light, with some areas appearing cloudy, and others bouncing the tiny bolts back and forth. The tubes also create a ringing sound as they resonate.

Through a curtain, the second space is decorated all in yellow. This room hosts two “fog paintings”, which Studio Swine created to emulate traditional landscape paintings but using contemporary tech.

“We’re really interested in how artists like Turner, or Thomas Cole from the Hudson River School, would use the sun and the effect through our atmosphere as a vehicle for transcendentally finding spirit in nature.”

Both are housed within clear acrylic vitrines and attached to the walls. In one, a motorised light moves in a wave motion behind a layer of different coloured gels, and another layer of fog.

The other features several light sources set behind dichroic glass cubes, which rotate to refract the light into ever-changing spectrum of colours. Fog also shrouds the components to further disperse the point of illumination.

“It’s somewhat akin to if you zoomed into a tiny molecular scale to water droplets in the sky when it’s splitting light to make a rainbow,” said Groves.

Building on their work with materials, like the New Spring installation that produced scent-filled bubbles, the duo described this new body of work as “ephemeral tech”.

“We love technology, but we love materials more,” Groves said. “We’re always interested in what’s the material interface that we have with technology.”

“We haven’t worked with light really before, but when we got into plasma, it was something we were really interested in because of the molecular behaviour,” he added.

Murakmi and Groves discuss their approach to the A/D/O residency in this movie filmed by Dezeen last year

Wave Particle Duplex will remain on show until 10 February 2019 at A/D/O, which was set up by car brand MINI as a space for the creative community.

Studio Swine is the third to undertake the Designer in Residence programme, following London architecture collective Assemble – which set up a clay-extruding factory – and New York designer Stephen Burks.

Dezeen also hosted a talk with Studio Swine at A/D/O in October 2018, in which the duo discussed the future of technology, art and design.

The post Studio Swine presents “ephemeral tech” installation Wave Particle Duplex at A/D/O appeared first on Dezeen.

Testing out the eVscope at the Kickstarter and Hardware Club CES after-party. 

Every year our Design & Tech team joins hundreds of past and future Kickstarter creators at the Consumer Electronics Show (CES). It’s where companies big and small show off recent and upcoming products, making it an ideal place to divine the future of tech—if you can cut through the chaos of 4,000 companies exhibiting various degrees of “innovation” to 180,000 attendees. To take a stab at it, we asked creators and collaborators from our community to share what they thought was significant at this year’s show and what we can expect to see more of in the year ahead.

High-tech toys will train tomorrow’s innovators

“This year at CES, the Las Vegas Convention Center’s North Hall was full of self-driving car companies, but you could feel the industry shift into conversations about mobility in general. There is still huge interest in self-driving car technology, but this year I saw many autonomous car companies offering simpler services, like delivering goods instead of transporting people. The companies seem to acknowledge that there’s still a lot more homework to do. That’s where Zümi can help: the programmable toy cars that we make (and have live on Kickstarter now) use TensorFlow and OpenCV to teach today’s students how to drive the future of automated transportation.”

—Hansol Hong, founder and CEO of Robolink

Zümi puts autonomous driving tech into a cute programmable robot. 

“We are starting to see new uses for drones in education. Everyone loves flying gadgets, and if that can also be a useful programming tool, then that’s a fun way for kids to learn. We are interested in creating a palm-sized drone that can be programmed to flash an LED, spin a propeller, hover autonomously, and set waypoints. Kids can learn a lot from a fully open-source platform, and that’s what we plan to build.”
—Vernon Kerswell, founder of Extreme Fliers

The old will be new again

“One of the most interesting things about CES this year was the use of modern technology to give retro devices a new lease on life. Polaroid showcased their new range of instant cameras (though I found it strange that they connect, via an app, to a device technically capable of taking far better photos). There were also stands for instant cameras from Kodak and Fuji, and the Diana Instant Square camera even made an appearance at the Kickstarter after-party. It’s happening with music, too: despite the huge number of connected speakers and hi-def sound systems, brands such as Victrola were showcasing new record players that, despite their classic appearance, come with Bluetooth connectivity.

CES 2019 was also the first time in years that I’ve played some of my favorite childhood computer games. The Retro-Bit Super Retro Trio Plus has three cartridge slots, allowing you to play NES, SNES, and Sega Genesis games on your new 4K TV. So, despite the seemingly obvious adoption of smart home assistants and 8K TVs, maybe some of the most exciting products to come out this year will combine new technology with nostalgic charm.”

—Richard Coleman, head of marketing at Minut

We’ll grapple with technology fatigue

The mui smart home control panel is designed to disappear when you don’t need it.

“I’ve noticed that several popular Kickstarter projects from the past year could be considered ‘anti-technology’ technology. From IRL Glasses, the screen-blocking sunglasses inspired by They Live, to mui, an elegant wooden block that helps you spend less time on screens in your home, our community loves projects that promise to quiet our digital lives. In the past year we’ve seen so many stories about how tech companies have willfully hacked our attention; in the year ahead I predict we’ll see more products that help us break that addiction. I was happy to see mui get an Innovation Award at CES 2019, and I couldn’t help but preorder one of Umay‘s screen-free, audio-free meditation devices that alleviates eye strain.”

—Katheryn Thayer, Design & Tech editor at Kickstarter

Interfaces will get more human

“As a CES first-timer, I was impressed by how many companies are getting creative with how they think about hardware and encouraging human interaction rather than device distractions. I love the way different brands were rethinking camera, album, and map apps as breakout devices that don’t distract you from engaging with your community. I was inspired by all the innovations empowering more natural interfaces between the physical and digital worlds, from Kodak’s new AR-enhanced film to Opkix wearable wireless cameras to various adaptations by onTracks and Velco to make GPS directions more intuitive through wearable devices and adapted bike handlebars.”

—Majenta Strongheart, staff designer at Supplyframe DesignLab

“Consumer hardware is the black diamond of startup challenges, so I’m always stoked to meet founders who can pull it off—they’re an inspiration. I think there’s a clear trend towards even more integration with software and delivering a holistic product experience. Some of the favorite things I tried this year were the new headset from Razer powered by haptics from Lofelt, as well as the Woojer haptic vest.”

—Florian Simmendinger, cofounder and CEO of Soundbrenner

Barking orders at your smart home will look rude

“On the truly intelligent home front, big companies like LG and Samsung are integrating sensors and voice assistants to understand what you’re actually doing at home and solving your problems before you even see them. Startups like Minut, with the Point sound-based alarm, and us over at Wynd, with Halo, are using sensors—not smart assistants—to control your home before you even have to worry about a problem. It looks like we’ll see more truly automated homes in the future, rather than ones you have to boss around.”

—Alex Cox, product manager at Wynd Software

Technology will become more invisible than ever

“You know that Arthur C. Clarke quote that goes, ‘Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic’? Well, if CES is any indication, I think 2019 is the year that a lot of our existing technologies will become so sufficiently advanced that they’re effectively invisible. It was happening left and right at CES this year. Impossible Foods unveiled a new veggie burger that looks, smells, and tastes almost exactly like real hamburger meat. The North Face showed off a new fabric that’s unremarkable to the naked eye, but, thanks to some nanoscale textile engineering, is more breathable and waterproof than Gore-Tex. I also saw AR glasses that look like regular glasses, speakers and TVs that don’t need AV receivers, and countless smart home devices that have ditched touch screen interfaces in favor of Alexa integration.”

—Drew Prindle, emerging technologies editor at Digital Trends

“Here’s me commentary on a couple of captivating world records.”..(Read…)

« Avec des amis, on a décidé de partir en randonnée dans les montagnes de l’Alpstein qui sont proches de ma ville natale. Je dois dire que je ne savais pas vraiment à quoi m’attendre », déclare Marina Weishaupt. Cette jeune photographe passionnée par la nature, les animaux et l’environnement est « la plus heureuse » lorsqu’elle explore « la beauté de notre planète », révèle-t-elle. Pour cette série vertigineuse et majestueuse, l’artiste s’est lancée dans une randonnée d’1h45, pour atteindre la télécabine située au sommet de ces montagnes qu’elle a découvertes avec plaisir.

« Au début, on était simplement heureux d’avoir réussi à atteindre le sommet parce qu’il faisait très chaud. On ne s’est pas rendu compte que le ciel bleu s’est lentement couvert de légers nuages pendant notre pause. Mais lorsque l’on s’est approchés du point de vue, on a constaté que le soleil et les nuages créaient une jolie atmosphère, alors que les rayons du soleil illuminaient le paysage. C’était un moment de pur hasard qui l’a rendu unique ».

Retrouvez ses images sur sa page Instagram : @marinaweishaupt

Feuxzy makes a case for the use of drones in swift-action danger-scenarios where human life is much too precious. Designed to monitor park, woods, and forests, the Feuxzy is shaped like a saucer and comes built with chemical sensors, thermal sensors, thermal cameras and AI that help it detect forest fires. Also built into the Feuxzy is a sonic fire extinguisher that shoot beams of low-frequency bass sounds between 30 and 60 Hz to disrupt the air around the fire, sending pressure through the air molecules to remove the oxygen from it and causing the fire to die down. Built with as many as five of these sonic extinguishers, Feuxzy can travel right into the heart of forest fires, fighting the flames from all sides, rather than working just at the periphery, the way a human firefighter would do.

Feuxzy measures 20 inches in diameter and 12 inches thick. Its shell is made out of composites and its energy source comes from ion lithium batteries (or a fuel cell) that power an electric turbofan located at its center. It isn’t clear how these batteries will fare in high-temperature scenarios, but I’m sure there’s always a design or engineering fix that can help these conceptual drones become a fire-fighting reality. Feuxzy’s roles aren’t, however, limited to just fire-fighting. They can patrol these large expanses of land, monitoring the flora and fauna as well as working to track down missing people.

Designers: Martin Rico & Adolfo Esquivel (Imaginactive)