Life is sweeter than jewish wine

Neurotic Programming, final documentation

watch my Neurotic programming video documentation here

Neurotic Programming

Neurotic programming has been a long time in the working, but i finally got it right. All that is left now is to work out the presentation, get the video playing on my small television, build a smaller bread board and i’m all done with my first microcontroller piece. What you’ll see below is the diagram that i made for it when i first planned it, the schematic for the wiring and a video documenting how it works.

N.P. Update

While I was talking about the progress of my N.P. project this weekend in New York, Gideon suggested that perhaps I should use a linear actuator in place of the servo. This would allow for a faster on/off action and a more consistent turning on and off. So i’m going to order a couple now and see if it works. I also finished programming the entire section of the script that i’m using for the piece. I changed the code to instead of just print out the binary in the terminal window to actually send it to the microcontroller. in the arduino environment i wrote a simple code that should function to turn on and off and led based on the 0 or 1 being sent from processing. When i tested it, it was hard to evaluate the actual success. The led was definitely responding to something in the program in that it was turning on and off, but it was definitely not moving at the pace that the binary code was being transmitted.
In programming last week, Marc helped me put together a Max/Jitter patch that responds to the volume of Woody Allen speaking in the movie clip and sends a on or off based on the level. I tested that with the arduino led program and it worked much more smoothly in that it really did seem to correspond to the volume at which Woody was speaking. When he was speaking below .5 the light was off and when above .5 the light went on. However, i think that working off the volume is a bit too far of a stretch from the original concept and i would like to see it function with the binary code.

Update on N.P.

I’ve been working hard on my Neurotic Programming. This past week I had crits for it in both my tutorial class and my programming class and I feel like I have a pretty clear direction for it and that my technical skills just need to catch up. This weekend when Jeanne’s boyfriend Jake was in the studio and asked me what I was working on I described to him (with some expertise) the premise of my program and how it relates with the electronics that i was working with. I hadn’t realized at the moment and Jeanne pointed out to me the next day how impressive our progress has been thus far with these concepts and that she noticed it when i described my project. The first couple of tutorial classes we both felt really lost in making sense of any of it. Well, anyway, this is what i’ve got: I opened up my coffee machine, sawed off some unesecessary part and installed a servo inside of it. Attached to the servo is a small wire rod that connects to the inside of the on/off switch. when the servo is connected to my arduino board it runs through a forward/backward motion that switches the switch on and off. The next step is to synchronize it with my program which will be reading the Woody Allen text and converting that into the commands for the on/off. While i’ve worked out most of the program that converts the text to binary code it will be quite an ordeal to synchronize it manually to match the movie. The more desirable option is to convert the actual audio directly from the video. Which i am told is not entirely too difficult, it only requires that i learn MAX/MSP. Argh! So this week, i’m hoping to finish up the actual appliance and then dedicate myself entirely to the programming aspect (once i’ve made up my mind on which program to use).
When i spoke to Sarah this weekend i was frustratingly working out some issues with the servo and she commented that in the process of making my neurotic programming machine i am giving myself a neurosis. Yes, i think that may be true.

Diagram for Neurotic Programming

Diagram for the Existential Robot

Diagram for the Urban Cow Dilemma

Neurotic Programming

Neurotic Programming
Project Proposal
Nathaniel Katz

Concept Description
Neuroticism can be paralyzing. A simple yes or no decision, layered with neuroticism becomes a mental exercise that is both terrifying and innately human. A program performs a function, whether complex or simple; it’s either a 1 or a 0. In Neurotic Programming I take the text of Woody Allen, the master of neuroticism, and program it to convert the text to a set of binary numbers. These binary numbers will then be interpreted for the very simple function of on and off on a switch. Through this interpretation, the program will operate a coffee maker, which will be in a continuous state of on and off, a continuous state of neuroticism. By the end of the text a pot of coffee may or may not be brewed.

Technical Description
The piece will consist of a computer, two small monitors, an Arduino board and a hacked coffee maker installed within the shell of an old personal computer. One monitor will display the interpreted binary number from the Woody Allen text while the other monitor will show a scene from a Woody Allen movie. The coffee maker will be connected to the computer via the Arduino board and will operate based on the on/off commands being sent from the computer program.

The Urban Cow Dilemma

The Urban Cow Dilemma
Project Proposal
Nathaniel Katz

Concept Description
While traveling in India I kept asking myself this question: Given an assumed consciousness, whether I would prefer to be a cow that lives in the crowded polluted city with the knowledge that I am revered and loved by all and (barring accident) will live out my full life span; or whether it would be preferable to live in the outdoors and enjoy that fleeting freedom with the knowledge that I will be butchered shortly to be used for beef.
In the Urban Cow Dilemma, I will purchase two cows from a beef raising farm nearby. The cows will then “live” in the gallery for one month (the duration of the performance). I will as a result become a farmer for the duration of the month and care for the cows daily. The cows will be separated from each other by a wall and each cow will experience their one month differently. Both cows will have a webcam set up in their room and visitors can remotely log in and check on the situation and well-being of the cows. For cow A, aside from having online visitors watch her, the visitors can also video chat with her with their images projected onto a large visible wall in the room. Visitors will be encouraged to shower the cow with positive loving words. Cow A’s experience will be that of human/digital love. Cow B meanwhile will have no direct human/digital experience, instead she will have continuous live projection from the actual farm where she was purchased from. Her experience will be that of digital freedom and commraderie with her fellow cows, all of whom will be butchered in the near future.
Throughout the month a team of “experts” will evaluate the mental, emotional and physical conditions of the cows to determine the impact of their experience.
By living in the gallery the cows will become art and as a result will be of value. The cows will be auctioned on e-bay toward the end of the month so that the person who will purchase them will own a work of art and will have rescued the cows from inevitable butchering.
Growing up, my father was a dairy farmer and I spent many days in his company and in the company of cows. Through this time I inevitably developed a soft spot for cows and a belief in an inherent intelligence or consciousness of their situation. My interest in cows was further awakened while teaching at the Putney school in Vermont during the past two summers. The school has a working farm on campus and the students are encouraged to take part in the daily chores as well as go and draw and paint the animals. Finally, the previously mentioned experience in India brought about the question of consciousness of condition in cow intelligence and by association human intelligence.

Conceptual Research
1. Jannis Kounellis, Untitled, 1969. Twelve live horses. Exhibition in underground garage, Rome.
2. Joseph Beuys’ coyote performance
3. Hans Hacke raised chicks for the duration of an exhibit as a meditation on time.
4. Rauschenberg, Elgin Tie
5. Richard Serra, Live Animal Habitat
6. Luis Benedit
7. Timm Ulrichs
8. Yayoi Kusama
9. Eduardo kac (both the bird piece and Alba)
10. Janine Antonini cow photos

Concern about PETA, animal rights, etc.

Technical Description
1. Permissions from Public Safety and PETA inspection need to be arranged.
2. The gallery will have to be prepared to host two cows for one month:
a. Laying hay on the floor
b. Preparing the space for cow waste
c. Buying the appropriate amount of food.
d. Creating a barrier section for visitors to view the piece
3. Webcams will be installed in both cow rooms
4. A website will be set up for visitors to log in and watch the cows.
5. iChat account will be created for cow A-Human interaction
6. Webcam will be installed in the cow farm and set up to broadcast during daylight hours for cow B.
7. Projectors will be installed in both cow rooms.

The Existential Robot

Project Proposal
Nathaniel Katz

The Existential Robot:
A robotic installation that uses the collected works of Jean Paul Sartre to explore issues of productivity and the function of robots in contemporary culture.

The installation consists of a robot and a corresponding computer monitor that will document the processing of the robot. The robot will be programmed with the collected works of Jean Paul Sartre. The program will process through the works of Sartre continuously hundreds of times per minute looking for cues for activity and/or data to process, however each time will return with the inaction associated with the existential condition.

Robots are designed with the idea of productivity, ease and processing. In industry, science and medicine as well as in fictionalized imaginings of robots they are always performing tasks that are too difficult, exact or lengthy for humans. This work challenges the robot to contemplate the human condition and is thus rendered inactive.