Archive for October, 2010
Peter Traub – Digital Arts Remote Lecture
October 27th, 2010 by christo“Pamoja Mtaani” – Kenyan Computer Game teaches Aids awareness
October 27th, 2010 by christo
Mandy de Wall reports that Warner Bros Nairobi have initiated a 3D computer game project which will teach Kenyan youth about AIDs and AIDs prevention through an action-packed computer game. Written by a 22-year Kenyan writer called Mark Kaigwa (above), the game, whose title translates as “Together in the Hood” is “steeped in Kenyan culture and engages local youth in a gripping multiplayer format while educating them”. The language of the game is a local slang call “Sheng”, a composite of Swahili, English and local vernaculars; and the soundtrack is enlivened with music from local hiphop starts such as Jua Cali, Redsan, Prezzo and Amaniscript. Read more
Out of the Body – preliminary technical trials
October 26th, 2010 by christo“Out of the Body” is an exciting new collaboration between students studying Interactive Media and Music students studying Composition in The Wits School of Arts. Under the direction of Composition Lecturer, Jonathan Crossley, the music students have used their bodies as sources of sound samples – recording physical processes, even swallowing miniature microphones – which they have then worked into electronic compositions. At the same time, the Interactive Media students, working with Lecturer Tegan Bristow, have designed interfaces which allow the compositions to be performed in unexpected and innovative ways. The works will be publically performed on Sunday 7 November at 21:00 in the Wits Amphitheatre. On Monday 26 October, the two groups of students got together to test drive their collaborations. Two of the seven collaborative projects were captured on camera by Christo Doherty
Music student, Zarchia Zacheus, uses the contortions of her mouth to shape the performance of her electronic composition, using a camera-based motion detection system designed by Interactive Media postgrad Michael de Jager.
Composer Nicolas Williams test drives the “Drawdio”: a pencil-based music controller, built by Michael de Jager.
A close-up of the back-end of the “Drawdio”.
Free Max/Msp Introductory Workshop
October 15th, 2010 by Tegan
Andrew Spitz will be running a free introductory Max/MSP workshop on Saturday the 6th of November. No prior programming knowledge is required. All welcome :-)
Thinking of starting at 10.30am and going on until 5.30pm (with time to play on your own little projects). Space is limited to 20, to save your spot click here.
What is Max/MSP?
Max/MSP is a graphical programming environment, making it very easy to code quickly. All you have to do is connect little boxes together and you have yourself a programme. It’s a great for artists!
With Max/MSP you can get your computer to do pretty much anything you want. You can create music instruments, software to remind you to email your mom, or build an interactive video effects processor triggered by movement. If you are into physical computing (using microcontrollers such as an Arduino) you can bring in external sensory data into your computer, process it, and spit it back out as something else, allowing you to turn this data into pretty much anything you can dream of.
Objectives
We will go from the absolute basics of creating a patch to building your own little programmes.
Topics
Max – it is the environment you use to create your patches – it’s the brains behind your programme and is the key to MSP and Jitter. It really helps to learn this first, so most of our time will be spent learning Max.
MSP – It’s a set of objects that deal with audio signal processing. We will touch the very basics of MSP
Jitter – It’s a set of objects that deals with video and matrix data processing. We will also just skim over it.
what should you bring?
- Laptop if you have (let us know if you need as we have 14 computers available)
- If you’re bringing your own laptop, have Max/MSP/Jitter installed (30 day demo available from http://cycling74.com)
- Headphones
Hope to see you there!
Andrew~
blog: {sound + design}
Q&A site: Social Sound Design
Lectureship in Game Design
October 6th, 2010 by Tegan
Digital Arts is a strongly interdisciplinary division in The Wits School of Arts which offers postgraduate programmes in Digital Animation and Interactive Media and also undergraduate courses in Stop Motion Animation and Net.Art. Digital Arts is currently developing an undergraduate Game Design programme in collaboration with The Wits School of Electrical and Information Engineering. The successful candidate for this new post will be expected to bring a passionate engagement with game design/game play into research and teaching in this new collaborative programme.
The successful applicant will be a person able to develop and teach undergraduate game design courses and digital media courses. You should have a proven interest and professional experience in at least one of the following areas: Game Design; Narrative or Interactive Theory; Level Design; Experimental Games; or Game Theory.
Qualifications: A Masters degree or appropriate equivalent academic qualification. (Candidates with an appropriate Bachelor’s degree with at least three years of professional experience in Game Design may be considered; but will be expected to register for a Masters degree during their probation period.)
A passion for game play and for developing the possibilities of games in an arts/experimental/activist context is essential but you will also need to engage with the emerging video games industry in South Africa.
Duties: Teach both production techniques and theory to undergraduate classes. Supervise postgraduate research projects and/or initiate and manage collaborative projects; and assist with course administration.
For further information contact Professor Christo Doherty, Head of Digital Arts, christo.doherty (at) wits.ac.za or visit www.wits.ac.za
Remuneration: Dependent on qualifications and experience
To apply: Submit a letter of motivation and detailed curriculum vitae with names and e-mail addresses of three academic referees as well as certified copies of degrees/diplomas, supporting documentation and identity document to: Ms Margaret Deyi Humanities Margaret. Deyi (at) wits.ac.za, Human Resources Office, University of the Witwatersrand, Private Bag 3, Wits 2050, South Africa.
Closing date: 6 November 2010
