Reruns: Excerpts/Installation View from Stephen Surlin on Vimeo.
This is the documentation ofa video work I recently did titled “Reruns”. The work was featured in the gallery show Make It Work: Creativity In The Great Recession. The work can be described as:
C-Span footage of Paulson and Bernanke discussing the need for a bailout in 2008. Though I added a laugh track to the banal scene, exposing the “comedy” of this “situation”. The rerun aspect relates back to the idea of “tired” plot lines being played over and over on our television screens. The recent economic decisions, especially made by the federal reserve (a private corporation, not a government branch) seem to take place on a stage far removed from “every day life” yet effect it so greatly.
(Source: http://stephensurlin.com/2011/09/22/make-it-work-creativity-in-the-great-recession-exhibit/)
Creation Of The: “Victim Blaming T-Shirts” from Stephen Surlin on Vimeo.
Documentation of the creation of the text based piece “Victim Blaming T-Shirts” for my art exhibit in the International Visual Fringe Festival entitled, “Cool Story Bro.”
The exhibit takes place between July 15 – 30, 2011 @ 410 Pelissier St, Windsor, ON.
The festival is put on by Artcite Inc. (http://www.artcite.ca) a local Artist Run Centre in Windsor.
http://stephensurlin.com
Music:
Aphex Twin – Hy A Scullyas Lyf A Dhagrow
Rechargable LED Solar Powered Bag from Stephen Surlin on Vimeo.
This video outlines most of the steps taken to create the second version of the Rechargeable Solar Powered LED Lamp in which I outline my influence that came from my trip to Nigeria with ACRT (AIDs Crisis Response Team) and the research I did upon return. I was especially influenced by the books Design Like You Give A Damn and Design For The Other 90%. The first book is made by architecture for humanity which describes the purpose of the projects/book:
“The greatest humanitarian challenge we face today is that of providing shelter. Currently one in seven people lives in a slum or refugee camp, and more than three billion people—nearly half the world’s population—do not have access to clean water or adequate sanitation. The physical design of our homes, neighborhoods, and communities shapes every aspect of our lives. Yet too often architects are desperately needed in the places where they can least be afforded.”
The authors of Design For The Other 90%, Cooper-Hewitt, describes the meaning of their publication as:
“The majority of the world’s designers focus all their efforts on developing products and services exclusively for the richest 10% of the world’s customers. Nothing less than a revolution in design is needed to reach the other 90%.”
—Dr. Paul Polak, International Development Enterprises
The reading of these two books really got me thinking about the global impact of design and the social inequalities that exist which are rarely being exposed in as complex and explicit terms as they are in these publications. Even though the idea of helping the internationally “less fortunate” is in the mainstream media, it is not presented in a way that allows the “average” citizen to take direct action, other than sending money.
I have also had an interest in Open Source technology and ideologies. This includes component electronics like cheap and easily accessible LEDs and batteries. This also brougth me to the Arduino as I described in the Rechargeable Solar Powered LED Lamp project.
“All of this research also led me to use the Lilypad Arduino, which uses waterproof circuitry and conductive thread in order to create simple/repairable/waterproof/wearable circuits, which also encourage young children and women to get involved in electronics, especially in the type of “traditional” societies I was working in in Nigeria.”
I then began the work on the bag in order to improve on the design of the lamp in order to create the more versatile bag. The bag can be worn during the day to charge the battery and used during the night. Each element can also be removed and repaired if needed.
http://stephensurlin.com
Trying On Glasses from Stephen Surlin on Vimeo.
Tripod footage of me helping people find the glasses the need for reading and other activities when I went to Enugu State, Nigeria with ACRT (AIDS Crisis Response Team) to participate in various humanitarian activities. This mainly included health based support, like a travelling clinic.
The process of helping over 100 people find glasses, by talking to them and letting them try several pairs, was one of the main inspirations behind my work in creating sustainable design projects that bring light to people who need it.
When I returned home I began work in my Bachelor of Fine Arts – Visual Arts program to create rechargeable solar powered LED light sources. You can find more out about this at my website stephensurlin.com
Paramecium In Three Parts from Stephen Surlin on Vimeo.
This was a work I did in my BioArt class at the University of Windsor (http://www.incubatorartlab.com) that involved interactivity and performance. The basis for my interaction with the biological (living or at one time was living) element is through the program Max/MSP/Jitter, especially the OpenCV.jit computer vision libraries, in order to track movement and other data through a camera. During the performance I am changing play speed, creating loops that play forward and reverse and adjusting thresholds that determine what aspects are being detected.
From there I sourced found footage of paramecium filmed through a microscope. Paramecium are a very good organism to track because I used the jit.centroids function in order to detect centers of mass within circles, and the cellular shape of these paramecium work well.
The audio is produced by observing the movement of certain centroids. This movement sends MIDI note information to a VST synth in the program Logic on my computer. The sound is sent through my DJ mixer where I am adding effects and changing levels of two tracks.
The programming I did in order to translate the notes creates a chromatic scale that creates compositions similar to the works of the Second Viennese School of composers like Schoenberg, Berg and Weburn. I am very interested in the works of these composers, especially Alban Berg.
Check out the program here:
uwindsor.ca/takingaction/bioart-lab-a-space-to-blend-love-of-science-and-creativity
Histographic Self Portrait from Stephen Surlin on Vimeo.
This was a project in development for my senior level drawing course with Iain Baxter& at the University Of Windsor. The project was to create a self portrait.
I have had a recent interest in Max/MSP/Jitter and thought to use the histograph abilities, taken from a live camera. I used ‘face detect’ from Open.CV to detect a person, which starts the rapid flow of colours as the screen projects the histograph one colour band at a time. The face detects also allows only one person to start the projection, if two or more faces are detected the projection will stop.
Music:
Boards Of Canada – 747
Experimental Music Performance with Arduino and Max5 from Stephen Surlin on Vimeo.
This is an experimental set I did at Phog Lounge in Windsor, ON. I had several piezo discs attached to an Arduino which was interfaced with Max/MSP/Jitter and then sent MIDI information to Logic in order to trigger VSTs live.
The piezo sensors were used to trigger a sequencer that chooses notes based on pressure. I would also select the quantization (1/16, 1/8, 1/32, etc.) in order to trigger sounds. Because the piezos were attached to wood, they’re reaction to vibration was unpredictable, responding to various vibration and pressure, making the result be more improvisational.
(X)tet Performance from Stephen Surlin on Vimeo.
(X)tet is the name of the performance group who banded together for a interdisciplinary collaboration between the school of Visual Arts’ Digital Media class and the senior level students at the School of Music at the University of Windsor.
I have been working a lot with the program Max/MSP/Jitter and wanted to create a live sampling/looping performance application that also displayed several channels of the recorded video/sound. Because of this variable quality, the group chose the name (X)tet to represent the variable number of members within the group.
(X)tet consists of:
Stephen Surlin
Martin Schiller
Sinan Khalaf
Lucas Straszak
Performed @ Lambton Tower, Studio A
University of Windsor
On, Canada
2010
Waddle & Daub from Stephen Surlin on Vimeo.
This is time-lapse documentation of the waddle and daub process which is described below. The project was for the course Green Corridor (www.greencorrior.ca) at the University of Windsor in Ontario. The waddle & daub is needed to create “sound walls” that can muffle the sound of the NAFTA super highway, Huron Church Road, that is right behind my school and is also the busiest border crossing in Canada with millions of trucks traversing the border each year.
The construction of the sound wall needed to address the amount of sound that can be absorbed or
reflected by each building method. The density of the material is important, especially to reduce the
amount of low-frequency noise.
Based on the research inspired by Tug Collective we were able to focus on low-impact and sustainable
design. The publications, Design Like You Give A Damn and Design For The Other 90%. These
publications focus on the use of local materials and building techniques. These ideologies mixed with
the use of the pallets will hopefully begin a dialogue with the public and concepts that correspond with
global trade, shelter, the use of materials and the correlation between design and the state of citizens
around the world, all concepts that are becoming more and more important as “Free Trade” and
globalization continue to bring distant places into an interlocking network.
After we moved through several stages of research we came to a method referred to as wattle and daub,
a medieval building method used to build houses in regions across Europe. Wattle refers to the weaving
of branch like materials between posts, this structure is then covered in daub, which is a mixture of
clay, sand, straw and water. This mixture is then mixed with shovels and by walking all over it, as it
was done back in the 1500s, then straw is added to the mixture in order to make it strong and sticky
enough to put it on the waddle.
The project was done by
Stephen Surlin
Kevin Kaputsiak
In association with the Tug Collective:
Gaelyn Aguilar
Gustavo Aguilar
Abstract Parts from Stephen Surlin on Vimeo.
This short film/animation is made from footage of a screw recorded through a microscope, magnified 400x, and then sent through a Max/MSP/Jitter patch, which uses Computer Vision (OpenCV.jit) to add rythmic lines that reference the form of the screw and the music of Philip Glass.
I made the recording of the screw in the BioArt Lab with a USB camera mounted on a microscope at the University of Windsor where I am enrolled in Visual Arts.
Music:
Kronos Quartet, Philip Glass
String Quartet #3,
“Mishima” – 5. Blood Oath
Final Presentation for Digital Media: A Project On Interactivity from Stephen Surlin on Vimeo.
This is a video of my final presentation in my class Digital Media at the University of Windsor. I have an Arduino with a distance and light sensor, along with four piezo discs on MDF board attached to Max/MSP/Jitter. I presented the project in three parts, first: I played some music with a VST which is triggered by the distance and piezo sensor with the light sensor changing volume. Then I worked with loops using the same sensors. Then I used OpenCV to track points on the screen to change playback speed and volume mapped to the x, y axes.
Street Dreams from Stephen Surlin on Vimeo.
This is a piece that was done in collaboration with Eric K. Boucher, one of Windsor’s best cinematographers. The film is based on the exhibition I curated for the Windsor International Fringe Festival in the summer of 2009. I was given an empty commercial space and was given the opportunity to fill it with art.
The exhibit was entitled “Street Dreams”, the title was inspired by the artists I had in mind for the show: Jason Deary, Daniel “Denial” Bombardier, Michelle “Citynoise” Soulliere, Josh Babcock and Myself. All of these artists employ aesthetics that are reminiscent of the ideological or imaginary “streets” of Windsor. The concept of dreams comes from the play on words of the popular saying “sweet dreams” and the connection to the imagined, the removed and actual images of what the “streets” mean and look like to each individual artist. It was an amazing experience.
Three’s Company: Time-Based Art & Painting Collaboration from Stephen Surlin on Vimeo.
This video was made for my final project in painting, which was a collaboration between two classes at my University: Painting & Time-Based. The video centers around me and two classmates: Hiba Abdallah and Holly Bondy, creating a single painting based on the theme of ‘childhood’.
We all had two opportunities to paint on the canvas in whatever way we wanted, though the process quickly became incoherent, as we thought it would. So only in the end did we agree on a unanimous decision for the final work.
The Water In Me: An Infographic from Stephen Surlin on Vimeo.
This is an infographic project focusing on water and the way it’s used around me and the way I consume it. The style is inspired by the GOOD.is infographic section.
This film was made for my digital media class at the University of Windsor.
Catastrophe 2: The Prequel from Stephen Surlin on Vimeo.
This is a video work based on the play “Catastrophe” by Samuel Beckett. This work is considered one of his most overtly political pieces. I started with that idea and worked with the idea of power dynamics and the performance of self and the construction of other people performance/actions.
I also used the concept of Walter Cronkite announcing the death of Martin Luther King Jr., an event that affects me, especially that of “Black leader” assassinations, and the constructed performance of news/news-anchors.
Coaxial Diet from Stephen Surlin on Vimeo.
A film I worked on for the 2008 Windsor Film Festival. My mainresponsibility was the sound. I did the sound design and mixing for the film. It was a great experience working with some of Windsor’s most talented film makers, considering as well that we had to make the film from scratch in 48 hors and had to include Duct Tape and the words “nothing is shocking to me.”
Killing Us Softly from Stephen Surlin on Vimeo.
A video piece I did on the bnak of the dtroit river on the West side of Windsor, Ontario. I created and manipulated the soundtrack in Ableton Live. The original work was presented as a performance where I used a large MIDI controller to tweak parameters as the video inspired me to do so. Here is a reocrded version of the piece.
