Tonight, interactive artists are taking over an Internet Cafe and turning it into exhibition space, running artworks that function in regular browsers. Artists:
Erik Andersson, Cory Arcangel, Michael Bell-Smith, Charles Broskoski, Jon Cates, Aleksandra Domanovic, Doubble Happiness, Constant Dullaart, JODI, JK Keller, Greg Leuch, Olia Lialina & Dragan Espenschied, Duncan Malashock, Eva & Franco Mattes aka 0100101110101101.ORG, Aaron Meyers, Mark Napier, Katja Novitskova, Paper Rad, Jon Rafman, Ariel Rebel, Ryder Ripps, Evan Roth, Brad Troemel, Marius Watz
Aram Bartholl is curating; the event runs tonight on 90 Bowery in New York from 8-11p.
But this is doubly worth mentioning, because it’s fun watching Processing code maven Marius Watz take Processing.js for a spin:
As it turns out, the code for Abstract01 from 2003 (originally created for Abstraction Now) worked on the first attempt. After a few adjustments I now have one interactive and one “automatic” version running perfectly in Firefox and Chrome. I have to say I’m officially impressed with Processing.js, my hat off to John Resig and crew!
You can play with the code yourself, in automatic mode, or – more fun – by drawing these spindly, abstract shapes yourself.
http://mariuswatz.com/works/abstract01js/
Marius notes the OpenGL stuff is out of the question, but that’s changing fast. (Compatibility remains a problem, as WebGL features are available only in the latest browsers and are turned off by default. But if you want to do it, you can.)
It’s possible to literally copy and paste Processing code from the standard, Java-based IDE into a browser window and run it in the JavaScript-based Processing.js port. When you need access to hardware like the Arduino and powerful, specialized Java libraries, there’s Processing in Java. When you want to run visuals in the browser, there’s Processingjs.org.
And that’s the bottom line: with cross-platform, flexible tools, any device and any screen can be a canvas for an artist. Even an Internet cafe. (That’s the actual cafe below. It looks like the one in Grand Theft Auto’s Liberty City.)
