#13 Presentation & Ideas for the Future
The last step in this semeseter’s process (or penultimate, depending on what next week’s blog post wants to be about) is focused on where this project sits in my life, in this MFA that I’m pursuing, and in the next semester.
Creating the final presentation is a great chance to look back on where I started and everything I’ve had the opportunity to get back into as part of this project, and I’m so grateful. I’d long since fallen away from modelmaking, woodworking, props design and even the simple Sketchup-based 3D modeling I used to do. And in a different direction, I’m also glad to have the chance to dive into a bit of Ancient Greek & Roman literature, art and technology.
There’s also a lot left to look forward to on this project – 3D Printing and learning how to use a CNC, small electronics and possibly programming with an Arduino and, eventually, some creating some kind of interactive multimedia design component to tie it all together. That last “eventually,” however, is where the issue lies. Laying out the next semester’s worth of work, a possible set of milestones could be:
Finish wooden telescope body
Learn how to use CNC and create paddle carrier
Assemble and test electronics outside of machine
Assemble and test electronics inside machine
Add “interactive media” element
Assuming I see this through in it’s current form, I’d only get to the interactive media content near the end of the semester. Even if I combine the first two milestones, I’d still only get one “revision” of whatever it is this telescope is supposed to do. It would still be fun, but I think it makes sense to be more selective about what I spend my time learning and doing.
First, I want to build something in Isadora. This is software I’m familiar with, but still have plenty to learn about, especially when it comes to physical interactive controls. That’s the second focus I want to prioritize – I’ve looked into three interactive human-interface devices this past semester (Makey Makey, Arduino and I-CubeX) and want to spend some solid time implementing at least one of them as an interactive control, nominally to an Isadora project. And third, to tie it all together, I’d love to find a way to work collaboratively with other people. The current project is pretty isolating, and if my sprints were more on a “how do I tell this story” track, I know I’d get better (conceptual and technical) feedback from those in the MFA cohort, and so too would it be an avenue to reach out to others outside. If, for example, I stick with this Roman satire story I’ve been toying with, I know plenty of experts in classical literature that could weigh in. I may be a little inspired by Mark’s R&D direction here, and it’s something I’d like to be a part of this.
Based on that, the most straightforward options would be either to reorganize the milestones to work on the electronics first, and accept the risk that the physical aspect of the telescope might not be finished. Taking that a step further, I can also take steps to simplify the telescope and maximize the time spent on the media element, hopefully still using the telescope body itself.
I’m still compiling options that are a departure from the telescope project entirely, and the first one that comes to mind would be a projection mapping project, or a series of them (on Clark buildings, landscape, somewhere in MACD maybe, or even other places nearby). I’ve done some smaller versions, and plenty on theatre sets, but never anything interactive. And on that topic, I’m also curious about any performance projects going on that might want an interactive media component – theatre, dance, music, and there’s this musician I know we’ve talked about some fun music video ideas in the past.
