The Line Drawing Project

Participatory Computer Generated Portraits Project

Line Portrait Project is a series of computer-code generated portraits that analyze the light and shadow within images, producing one-line portraits. Over a span of six months, the project engaged 367 participants, resulting in the creation of approximately 1000 unique line portraits. Participants were able to watch their portraits take shape in a single line, and as a gesture of gratitude, they could download their line portrait version. 

The most interesting aspect of the project to me lies in what unfolded after participants acquired their line portraits. Many of them shared how they ingeniously reinterpreted their line portraits, integrating them into diverse mediums such as posters, bookmarks, business cards, photographs, and social media profiles.  The project has become a tool for user-driven design and artistic expression for the public to generate and distribute.

Recognitions
Publication
New Texture New Media 2019 by CICA Press, Seoul, South Korea 

Exhibition
Evolving Graphic Design, Art Loft Gallary at the University of Wisconsin, Madison


Filed under  Interactive, Experimental, Co-Design, Creative Coding, Prints

Stories Become Data 

How Stories and Visual Narrative can be Collected as Data through Co-Creation Processes

Stories Become Data is an interactive digital platform that encourages active participation, inviting users to contribute their unique stories to a collective narrative through writing, drawing, and animation. This environment not only enables individuals to share their personal stories, but also provides a unique opportunity for participants to gain a more holistic understanding of our interconnectedness.

Rooted in creative expression and civic imagination, SBD weaves together the phases of conception, design, and construction, all while infusing an element of play, experimentation, and collaboration. By pushing the boundaries of digital storytelling and narrative-based data visualization, this project aims to introduce fresh perspectives, emphasizing the inherent value of exploration, serendipity, and collaboration in the realm of creative research.

Collaborative Drawings

Invited Participatory Community Events 2019 — 2020
— Texas State University, San Marcos, Texas
— San Marcos Public Library, San Marcos, Texas
— Beijing Language and Culture University (BLCU),  Beijing, China
— Austin Design Week, Austin, Texas
— Art Teleported organized by CICA Museum, Brooklyn, New York
— CAA (College Art Association) ARTexchange, Chicago, Illinois


Filed under Interactive, Co-Design, Experimental, Data Visualization

Memorable Life Events is an experimental web platform designed for the collection and sharing of personal stories related to ten significant life events, including birth, love, triumph, childhood, solitude, learning, defeat, breakup, harm, and death. Participants also have the flexibility to introduce new categories by selecting ‘other’. Notably, when a category is submitted more than five times, the system acknowledges it as a pivotal life event, assigning it a distinct color. The selection of colors is determined based on Color Symbolism, which assesses the positivity, mutural relevance, and negativity associated with each new category. This project encourages participants to contribute and discover the profound significance of these life events through storytelling. 


Filed under Interactive, Co-Design, Experimental, Data Visualization

Code_Decode

Computer Generated Portraiture

Code/Decode, a kinetic animated artwork, is an example of how technology reshaping the way we conceive, engage with, and perceive art, particularly in the realm of portraiture. The artwork is centered on creating software capable of deconstructing photographic portraits and enabling the computer to reconstruct these portraits. It relies on color detection as a parameter to generate particles that, in turn, interact with previously placed particles. 

What makes this artwork intriguing is the intricate relationship between the visual ambiguity experienced by viewers and the dynamic flux in the identities of the portrayed individuals. At first glance, it may resemble a color vision test of an array of harmonious color palettes. Some people might tilt their heads in an attempt to decipher what they are seeing, potentially walking away without a complete understanding of the images, until the afterimage or peripheral vision takes effect. As they continue to gaze at the images, a realization dawns — the images are, in their own way, observing the observer.
 

Filed under  Experimental, Creative Coding, Prints

The poster integrates principles of computer programming with the concept of a Voronoi diagram, a mathematical construct that partitions a plane into regions based on proximity to a given set of objects. Typically, these objects are a finite set of points in the plane, known as seeds, sites, or generators. Each seed corresponds to a distinct region comprising all points in the plane closer to that seed than to any other, known as voronoi cells. The program code was built to generate different compositions each time it runs. Instead of a single point (seed) within partitions, each region creates a corresponding region within their Voronoi cells.

Filed under  Experimental, Creative Coding, Prints