Electric Finger

Electric Finger: an experiment in touch surface drawing

Our fingers are electric. They emit electromagnetic frequencies that allow us to interact with touch screen technologies. It’s called “finger capacitance” and it’s this conductive property of our fingers that makes capacitive touch sensing possible. Mobile devices, such as my iPod Touch, are designed to respond to the taps and caresses of my fingertips, providing access to necessary but mundane information or allowing for moments of unique creative exploration. For decades, it has been possible to draw with a computer using a mouse or stylus, but now we can carry electronic sketchbooks in our pockets with the tools for mark making at the ends of our arms.

TRACEY: Drawing and Visual Research, Loughborough University School of Art & Design, Loughborough, Leicestershire, UK

More Art In Your Pocket

Rhizome | Art In Your Pocket: iPhone and iPod Touch App Art

As the niche genre of software art expands beyond the web and into mobile devices, media artists are finding ways to integrate their work into a new form of business model. Instead of giving away your work for free on the web, Apple's iPhone and iTouch devices provide an ample platform for distribution (through the Apple App Store) and hardware support for novel ways to experience screen-based work. Since the App Store was unveiled last year, the over 30,000 available applications have taken the form of everything from mock cigarette lighters (Zippo's App) to mobile flutes (Ocarina) to utilitarian apps such as Urban Spoon (Restaurant finder) to social networking in physical spaces (Loopt). Noticing this trend, media artists who once found their free and limitless distribution platform through a desktop computer browser are now turning their attention and creative efforts toward the mobile space of the iPhone.

Art in Your Pocket

Rhizome | Art in Your Pocket 2: Media Art for the iPhone and iPod Touch Graduates To The Next Level

As the iPhone and iPod Touch become more saturated into a population of people who never would have used their phones for anything other than making calls, it seems as if the chance for artists to create new work for the devices is becoming more commonplace and accepted. Even commenters in the AppStore have good things to say about art showing up in this context. One person said this of Snibbe's Antograph, "These apps are amazing and point the direction for the future of art, science, and technology. Soon these "ants" will be making music, operating on people, and stopping oil well leaks. What a great time to be alive." Another commenter hinted at the seemingly non-purpose of the Vanitas app, but how the design was still compelling enough for multiple visits, "Make no mistake, Vanitas is not a game even though it's made by a "game" company. There is no goal, no discernible narrative so - what is it? It's interactive entertainment. I found it terribly addicting." Maybe these forms of contemplative apps made by artists is exactly what is needed to change the driving force of the App Store and the ways in which mobile apps are marketed in the first place. Despite the rhetoric of Apple controlling access to its store and the apps featured there, overall, the mobile platform of the iPhone has begun to enable artists to get inspired to both revisit their old screen-based work and discover new forms of interactivity that these new platforms now enable.

By Jonah Brucker-Cohen

iProcessing

iProcessing

iProcessing is an open programming framework to help people develop native iPhone applications using the Processing language. It is an integration of the Processing.js library and a Javascript application framework for iPhone. The iProcessing download consists of a set of example XCode projects that demonstrate many of the Basic Examples from the Processing web site (originally written by Casey Reas and Ben Fry unless otherwise stated) as well a number that demonstrate the use of various iPhone features such as multitouch, accelerometer, orientation, location, sound play/record, app state saving and so on. It is in development and is currently used by Luckybite and other designers and students for prototyping. You are welcome to use it and if you have any comments feel free to email us here. It is unknown as to whether apps created using the framework will be approved if submitted to the App Store. The software is provided "as is" and without warranty of any kind. iProcessing was created by Tom Hulbert at Luckybite in 2009.

iPhone Art Pool on Flickr

Lily Pads
Originally uploaded by suziq54241

Flickr: The Brushes Gallery – iPhone Art Pool

Great examples of what is possible with the Brushes app. It would be interesting to know how many of these paintings are actually done on top of photos. Some are obviously not.

Storytelling Pictures

I have uploaded photos of the Tactical Nomadic Storytelling Demo to Flickr.

Mobile Drawings = Drawing on the Mobile

I have started an experiment of making drawings with free applications for my iPod Touch. This ties into a larger “Return to Drawing”* experiment as the mobile component. The plan is to draw a few pictures on the Touch every week and document the process/progress on Flickr.

My iPod drawings on Flickr

*I’ll post more about starting to draw again on performing the art...