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Dr Woohoo

Dr Woohoo

Bio

Dr. Woohoo (translation: Serious Fun), is a New Mexico based artist and developer creating . Woohoo creates art that fuse the intelligence of algorithms, the creative expressiveness of natural, organic media with behaviors found in natural systems.

Woohoo's projects typically flow from the abstract to the practical. To generate his artwork, he cyclically moves between creating his own color and brush applications and plug-ins that attempt to capture his emotions and artistic vision, while emulating natural media.

Woohoo's artwork can be found online, on tv, prints, canvas, silk kimonos, as kinetic sculptures and soon as glass sculptures.

As a simple rule, he chooses to integrate rather than duplicate features that already exist in the creative applications (Photoshop, Illustrator, After Effects, Maya and Painter) that he uses.

This aÄ la carte approach allows Woohoo to mix-n-match any feature from these applications along with his own bag of tricks and sculpt them into his own set of uber-creative application(s) with the aid of openFrameworks.

From a creative perspective, this allows him to extend his creative capabilities. From a practical perspective, it turns out that the processes and tools created for Generative Art are a perfect match for automating and adding to the intelligence of the creative process and workflow giving the artist an infinite amount of possibilities, while focusing in on variations that are relevant to that persons preferences.

Session

Cybernetic Art Revisited

"Cybernetics" originally came from a Greek word meaning "the art of steering" and became widespread in modern times due to Norbert Wiener's 1948 book "Cybernetics".

Cybernetics examines the flow of communication throughout the interconnected pieces of a machine, relying on the feedback loop to make real-time adjustments based on changes within the environment.

"The visual effects of electronic feedback became a focus of artistic research in the late 1960s, when video equipment first reached the consumer market. Steina and Woody Vasulka, for example, used "all manner and combination of audio and video signals to generate electronic feedback in their respective of corresponding media."" - Wikipedia & Edward A. Shanken, "From Cybernetics to Telematics: The Art, Pedagogy, and Theory of Roy Ascott".

With the rapid advancements in: the processing power of modern day computers; the portability of our laptops via the miniaturization of the components; the embedded webcams and microphones; the simplification of code for artists via toolkits like openFrameworks; physical computing simplified via the Arduino platform, the ability to create increasingly complex art experiences begs for Cybernetic Art to be revisited.

Back home in New Mexico, Dr. Woohoo is busy experimenting with the intent of sharing with you the results of his studies in regards to Art + Cybernetics. Woohoo is currently working with a ZCam to recognize gestures; the Vicon motion-capture system to record the movements of a dancer using the Laban method; creating mini-bots that will be driven via algorithms + computer vision that's running within openFrameworks; connecting the dots with the audio analysis of a child's voice via a microphone and a 3d printer via Maya and finally Woohoo's working on a video installation that will be projected on the exterior of the Santa Fe Complex for the projected lights show in July that is being co-curated by Orlando Leibovitz & Woody Vasulka, who founded The Kitchen along with his wife Steina.

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