Zach Poff

Jan 18: Day of action against SOPA / PIPA

admin — Wed, 18 Jan 2012 14:04:01 +0000

The US Senate’s PROTECT IP Act (and the House’s SOPA bill) is a short-sighted attempt to fight internet “piracy” by preventing free speech online. If passed, this could really restrict the online lives of ordinary people. I’m taking my site offline on Jan 18th as part of a worldwide protest.

PROTECT IP / SOPA Breaks The Internet from Fight for the Future on Vimeo.

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Doing My Part

admin — Sat, 07 Jan 2012 03:39:47 +0000

“Google-bombing” makes the news every few years. (remember “Miserable Failure”?) Now that Rick Santorum tied for first in the Iowa Republican Caucus it’s time to do my part. Google updated the ranking algorithm to fight google-bombs in 2007, but nobody told Dan Savage, so Santorum is getting some internet love in 2012.

Software Update: Chroma Key Live

admin — Tue, 08 Nov 2011 21:48:48 +0000

My real-time green screen software Chroma Key Live just got a new feature: The live camera image can now be scaled and positioned, so you can put Fay Wray in King Kong’s hand without thinking too much about it (or enlarge the scaled-down image from a 5DmkII HDMI feed.)

Upcoming Show: Sferics & Aural Ecosystem

admin — Wed, 14 Sep 2011 04:33:57 +0000

I’m working with frequent collaborator N.B.Aldrich to finish a new piece called Sferics, to be installed along with Aural Ecosystem at the Center for Maine Contemporary Art in Rockport, ME.

Sferics is a 20 channel light environment where a network of high-power LEDs respond to lightning strikes from hundreds of miles around. A pair of VLF radio receivers provide lightning data to custom hardware/software that transforms each strike into an opportunity to change the intensity of one of the lights.

Sferics will hang above Aural Ecosystem (a light-sensitive sound environment that evolves according to a genetic algorithm) and we expect the changing illumination will affect the life cycles of its sculptures.

On view Oct 1 – Dec 11, 2011
Opening Oct 1 from 4-6PM @ Center for Maine Contemporary Art
Hours: Tues–Sat, 10 am to 5 pm;
Sun, 1–5 pm. Closed Mondays.
162 Russell Ave, PO Box 147
Rockport, ME 04856
207.236.2875
info@cmcanow.org

BLACKOUT Group Show

admin — Wed, 14 Sep 2011 03:51:32 +0000

A posting from the “better late than never” department:

BLACKOUT was a group show on July 15th at Port d’Or in Brooklyn. All the work made noise, and the lights were turned off. I was out of the country but I contributed 5 circuit-bent chant boxes that responded to the light from visitors’ flashlights and cell phones.

The other artists were Antek Walczak http://www.houseofgaga.com/06_Antek_Walczak.php, Rachel Higgins http://www.rachelhiggins.com/shows.htm and Sophia Naess http://www.sophynaess.com/.

Transmission Arts: Artists & Airwaves

admin — Wed, 14 Sep 2011 03:30:40 +0000

I’m honored to have my work included in the new book Transmission Arts: Artists & Airwaves, edited by Galen Joseph-Hunter (of free103point9).

It’s an exhaustive reference that includes 150 profiles of artists from 1880 to the present whose work spans performance & composition, installation, radio & tv, and public works & network projects.

My piece “Radio Silence” is nestled between Canadian Radio producer Andrew O’Conner and UK-based Janek Schaefer. Seems like good company to me.

Software Update: Live Video Delay 2011-08-17

admin — Thu, 18 Aug 2011 03:26:42 +0000

Live Video Delay now has a slider to crossfade between the live and delayed video signals, so you can mix the past and the present!

Software Update: Frame Subtractor 02

admin — Sun, 07 Aug 2011 11:17:07 +0000

Frame Subtractor removes non-moving background information from video files.

Today I updated it to support arbitrary resolutions, and improved the rendering process. Details here.

New Software: Network Audio Transmitter

admin — Wed, 27 Apr 2011 17:29:38 +0000

A student recently asked how to make a high-quality audio link from the basement of a building to an upper floor. It’s too long to run a cable, and a suitable radio link would be complicated. The building does have an ethernet network, so I created some free applications (using MAX/MSP) to stream live uncompressed audio over a local network.

It’s a complex solution to a simple problem, but computers/networks seem to be more plentiful than hundreds of feet of XLR cable!

Fun With Induction

admin — Thu, 31 Mar 2011 17:07:32 +0000

I’ve been playing with a pair of DIY inductive pickups recently, listening to the electromagnetic emissions of everyday objects.

More info (and pix/sounds): Inductive Pickup Experiments.