3D model in Tinkercad An abacus is a counting frame, or a calculating tool that was in use in Europe, China and Russia, centuries before the adoption of the written Hindu–Arabic numeral system. Abacuses are often constructed as a frame with beads sliding on wires. They have been used in pre-schools and elementary schools as an aid in teaching the numeral system and arithmetic. The beads are usually divided into tens. BigRep 3D printer For the MathTalk/MathScape placemaking project, I created a 3D model (top image) consisting of three abacus cases. The first case o ..read more

Magic Music Visuals demo This week I posted an Instructable titled “The Sound of Data Science” and it includes step-by-step instructions to convert U.S. Census data into visualizations and 3D models. I decided to take it further and experiment with other datasets. I joined Kaggle, an online community of data scientists and machine learning practitioners. I found “The Complete Pokemon Dataset” that includes a CSV file and enough data (41 columns) to make for a good music visualization. The CSV data file from Kaggle The Pokemon dataset contains information on more than 800 Pokemon from all seven ..read more

Preparing to create the NSynth Super machine. NSynth (Neural Synthesizer) is a machine learning or “AI” algorithm from Google and collaborators that uses a deep neural network to learn the characteristics of sounds, and then creates a completely new sound based on them. More than simply mixing sounds it actually creates an entirely new sound using the acoustic qualities of the original sounds. Here’s a video about the project: Making music using new sounds generated with machine learningI’m now in the process of creating the NSynth Super machine over at Autodesk. The area is microelec ..read more

The Open NSynth Super project Artificial intelligence (AI) can be used to deploy technologies that classify and coerce specific populations. AI can also be used create new projects by producing novel combinations of familiar ideas, exploring the potential of conceptual spaces, and by making transformations that enable the generation of previously impossible ideas. In an essay I wrote for the new book Captivating Technology: Race, Carceral Technoscience, and Liberatory Imagination in Everyday Life, I explore how this technology can be used to create art, not suppress or oppress people. D ..read more

Combining text from “Song of Solomon” and Toni Morrison’s portrait If you want to fly you have to give up the shit that weighs you down. ― Toni Morrison, Song of Solomon In honor of the author who has been most impactful on my work, I’m recalling the 2017 visual essay I wrote for Liquid Blackness. The essay juxtaposes algorithmic art with images evoked by Toni Morrison in Song of Solomon and in Kendrick Lamar’s music video for “Alright.” I used Deep Dream, which uses algorithms that learn from and make predictions on data. The use of algorithms, in this project, moved me beyond prior c ..read more

Onyx is iterating on a full prototype Late artist Rammellzee, an early hip-hop and Afrofuturism pioneer, developed a complex, subversive theory that traces the origins of a subjugated past in the West to the very building blocks of language—letters that are “armed to contradict their sight and phonetic value” (Stanchfield 2006). Rammellzee riffed on graffiti and the creation of things such as “garbage gods” and “letter racers.” His Computator persona (see below) consisted of buttons or screws that triggered sounds that traveled through a keyboard and belt to four mid-range speakers and twee ..read more

Overton Loyd As a kid I used to dig into my father’s large stash of records and discovered Parliament/Funkadelic (P-Funk). I was intrigued by the art on the covers, especially the colors and the representation of black people. However, I was too young to understand many of the words or concepts embedded in the illustrations (and that might have been a good thing). Decades later, I would write about the P-Funk mythology in essays: In the Motor Booty Affair , Starchild’ s nemesis Sir Nose D’ Voidoffunk (Devoid of Funk) is defeated and made to dance the Aqua Boogie. On the song Deep, the ci ..read more

The text is from Toni Morrison’s “Song of Solomon” The writer, in perpetual graphic knocking together of his identity, also presents a body, only apparent from the trace left by the writing, also presents a body, only apparent from the trace left by the writing. But what is of prime interest here is the definition of the signature as the ‘visible trace of a corporal gesture…’Francois Chastanet, Pixaçao: Sao Paulo Signature Mark making is a term used to describe the different lines, patterns, and textures artists create ​in a piece of art. It applies to any art material on any surface, no ..read more

Nettrice R. Gaskins, “Music visualization of Cosmic Slop,” 2015. Geometric formations are important in techno-vernacular production; circles represent unity, kinship, community and cyclic movement. Modules can repeat patterns at ever-diminishing scales. Artists use modules to explore the geometric properties of heritage artifacts. Playing Funkadelic’s “Cosmic Slop” in music visualizer software generate cosmogramic effects. In my book, I refer to this process as conceptual remixing, which refers to fiddling, tinkering and by extension making creative and resourceful use of whatever material ..read more

From Diarrablu’s Ndar collection In today’s STEAM universe makers, artists, crafts people, designers, and performers are using computation, math and other subjects to create things. Senegalese fashion designer Diarra Bousso majored in mathematics before entering fashion and her brand/flagship Diarrablu is part math lab and clothing store. The mission of Diarrablu is to celebrate Africa’s rich cultural legacy through a thoughtful merger between algorithms and tradition. Bousso states, I love Art and Design but ultimately my first love in Math. It’s the only universal language I could conn ..read more