To date, LAR has conducted a series of experiments involving two different aspects of animation:
The first series of experiments concerns investigating the spatial and temporal parameters in the animation and how an alteration in those parameters can result in novel aesthetic, narrational, and functional elements in animation. The second series of experiments concerns how different data elements can result in animated aesthetic forms. Specifically, we investigated how environmental variables such as weather data can be “transformed” into animated aesthetic elements. The results from the abovementioned series of experiments are used to inform the theoretical framework of projects conducted in the lab and to inform about different practices that LAR will use.
By using 3D digital reconstructions of pre-cinema, animation optical devices, we experiment with the way narratives are formed under specific conditions and parameters that we control. Such parameters are the camera’s position within the digital structure and the point of view under which the animation unfolds. 3D reconstructions of pre-cinema toys allow us to experiment freely with the camera and the movement of the frames, without the obstacles we would face through an actual, material reconstruction of pre-cinema toys. Additionally, we use animation sequences, already existed in pre-cinema optical devices and motion research.
Project 2: The Weather Project
The Weather Project investigates how “random” variables can create animated forms and spaces. The Weather Project is an experimental animation application that uses weather-sensitive programming that processes real-time weather data (wind, temperature, rain, humidity, barometric pressure) to generate an animation. The project uses Processing 3 programming language to animate data extracted from a .json file uploaded on the internet by a weather station.
The purpose of the project is to convey an indoor impression of the forest. At the same time, this impression of the forest will be altered by subtle changes in weather conditions, giving the impression that a small, subtle change in the weather can have a significant impact. It will transfer the change in weather from the actual forest to the indoors (conceptual) “forest” while also magnifying the implications of the actual weather change. The project will be an installation based on new media and mainly digital media. As explained, the main part of the artwork will consist of a cube 1.5 meters long and wide and 2 meters high. The cube’s material will consist of either thread (string) or strips (depending on how the material works best). At the same time, a projector will be used, which will project light, which will be generated through the processing of weather data from a weather station. In particular, the weather station will store weather data (temperature, wind speed and direction, atmospheric pressure, and dew point) in a cloud service on the internet. Subsequently, a computer in the art gallery will receive the weather data in .json form and analyze it with the help of Processing 3 software, converting it into light colors to be projected in the main work.