Oceanic Scales was featured as a part of the Algae Society exhibition at the MOXI / The Wolf Museum of Exploration + Innovation in Santa Barbara (California) from April through July 2019. The Algae Society: Bio Art Design Lab celebrates algae as an unsung hero of the planet and invites guests to learn about how[…]
The Mobile Coaction Lab (MCL) is coming along nicely, thanks to the hard work of IMFA graduate student Reed Hayden and his wide range of wood craft and boat building experience. We’ve built the entire lab from native Maine fir and cedar, on top of an aluminum frame, to keep it light. We’re getting ready to take[…]
We had a great time setting up the latest evolution of Oceanic Scales at the Museum of Art & History in Santa Cruz California for the month of October, leading up to their annual GLOW festival. This installation featured our second outcropping form set up in the middle of the space and home to a new[…]
Here’s a wonderful overview video of Oceanic Scales that was produced from the UCSC DANM program, during my time as one of their graduate students, where Oceanic Scales began as a part of my thesis work.
We were proud to be show Oceanic Scales as a part of the Soundwave Festival in San Francisco at Alterspace in the SOMA district, during August and September of 2014. Here’s a link to more details: http://www.soundwavesf.com/6/july26/ Project creator Gene Felice also presented Oceanic Scales at an artist talk on Saturday, August 2nd. Here’s a link for more[…]
The Oceanic Scales & Openlab teams were very excited to be participating this year in in Soundwave ((6)) WATER, opening with a sneak preview at the Cal Academy this Thursday evening, July 10th from 6 to 10pm. We set up in the African Safari hall, right across from the Penguins display. Here are some photos of[…]
We had an amazing day on Saturday as a part of the Monterey Bay Sanctuary Celebration. It was a beautiful day to be 1/2 a mile out into the bay, right above the Sea Lions, Whales and Otters. The Oceanic Scales team was in full force with everyone pitching in to make this special showing[…]
Here are some initial images from the showing of Oceanic Scales at the DANM 2014 MFA Thesis show, in the Digital Art Research Center’s Light Lab space. So much thanks goes to the entire Oceanic Scales team that put all their hard work and creativity into making this show possible! This first gallery of photos[…]
We finished up our first full scale Outcropping made from recycled cardboard and bamboo plywood this past week and also installed our spagnum moss walls planted with native succulents, Dudleya Caspitosa on it’s back. Here are a few pictures of the process as we laid it all out and put it together including some of[…]
This is the newest configuration of Oceanic Scales, with our “Outcroppings” style, three part installation + central control column. This new design is inspired by Frank Gehry’s easy edge furniture, combined with modern methods for slicing 3D forms via laser cutting. These 3D visualizations illustrate how we are planning to set up the debut installation[…]
This is a new design that has evolved from the last “wall unit” prototype. This form is inspired by the eroded structures of the rock outcroppings that litter the central coast of California. They are also inspired by Frank Gehry’s “Easy Edges” furniture design technique. By salvaging used cardboard from local furniture stores, we’ve found[…]
After a lot of hard work this quarter, we’ve finished prototype #2 of the Oceanic Scales system. This “wall unit” is made of local / sustainably sourced bamboo plywood, incrusted with PLA 3D printed and pine resin cast “Machinic Diatoms” and water molecule forms. When no one interacts with the system it slips into an[…]
As a series of experiments for possible components of Oceanic Scales, these forms have evolved into projects of their own. They are made of natural and biodegradeable materials such as locally milled bamboo plywood. Their images are captured from sources as far ranging as maps of the ocean floor to microscopy photographs of diatom surfaces to magnifications of the[…]
As a series of experiments for possible components of Oceanic Scales, these forms have evolved into projects of their own. They are made of natural and biodegradeable materials such as silk and locally harvested kelp. Their formsare inspired by the endless geometries of ocean phytoplankton such as diatoms, dinoflaggelates and coccoliths.
We had a great time setting up our work-in-progress at the Zero 1 Garage in San Jose for OpenLab’s “Bring It” week-long event. Special thanks to Jennifer Parker and Jaime Austin for making this opportunity happen. We got some great feedback on our project and our screening of Proteus was great to see on the[…]
Jim Velzy at the UCSC Greenhouse has been doing an amazing job with the succulents for our project. These Dudleya Caespitosa aka “Live Forevers” were originally intended for a green roof design for our outside structure but have now been worked into the wall structures of the installation. The photos above are from the beginning[…]
Special thanks to Alan Cross & Ryan Billante at PROTOinc Architecture for their incredible architectural & engineering guidance and official drawings for our new outdoor structure. Their time and creativity was a wonderful gift to Oceanic Scales and will be used to take us to the next level of fabrication and installation.
Though I’m not on any structural design team, I’ve been giving a lot of thought to the design of the center column, since that piece in particular must house some of the most complex electronic and mechanical components in the whole system: the bronze ring controls, the pendulums that animate the phytoplankton forms, and all[…]
Many thanks to the OpenLab and Oceanic Scales team for an amazing amount of dedication and hard work leading up to our first demonstration of our prototype system at the UCSC Art dept. open studios event this past Friday. Our fabricators did an amazing job on the 5th scale model and Jasen turned the original[…]
So the past couple of weeks have been on fast forward. Our quest to finish our functional prototypes is coming close to it’s end. Over a 1000 soldered LED lines, hand made optical encoders, 3D Printed and Pine Resin cast Machinic Diatoms, surround sound audio systems powered by Pure Data and a Raspberry Pi and[…]
