!blog - corey menscher

As previously promised, here’s a video of the The Naked Pixel in its flesh-colored glory…

The Naked Pixel is a Processing application that uses a Color Kinetics iColor Tile programmable RGB LED panel, just like my PComp Final. Instead of being built into a structure, however, this time it is hanging on a wall. I used Daniel Shiffman’s UDP library to talk send color information to the iColor Tile, as well as a Macbook Pro’s built-in iSight camera.

The iColor Tile is a “Naked Pixel”. It acts as a single physical 24″ x 24″ pixel of uniform color. The Naked Pixel sequentially displays an individual pixel of somewhat risque images of women and men in various states of undress. Each pixel’s color is displayed for about a second before Processing moves onto the next. This creates a varying pattern of colors that cycle in a beautiful and pleasing sequence. However, the pixel itself can be undressed. By turning out the lights, the host computer’s iSight camera detects the lack of light and “strips” the pixel of its own color. The Naked Pixel goes to Black & White, and the pixel’s most basic element…the binary representation of its color…is displayed instead.

This piece explores the boundaries of social norms. What is acceptable to view in public? Why is it generally taboo to hang large images of naked people just anywhere, whereas we can view the individual colors that comprise the very same images individually over time? Is the Naked Pixel offensive in some way? And why isn’t “undressing” the pixel unacceptable as well?

I’ll post pictures of the project running soon, but in the meantime, here’s the code!

NewsDroppa - Droppin’ the news with a hint of autumn…

After reading “The Cathedral and the Bazaar” by Eric S. Raymond, I am wondering where else we can apply the open source mentality to change the rules of complex projects? By this I mean in what industries and markets can we harness the power of self-motivated communities to do a better job than the longstanding processes that currently exist…and are blatantly inefficient and unproductive?

One that comes to mind is in construction and architectural. There is a recent project called Architecture for Humanity(http://www.architectureforhumanity.org/network/index.html), which aims to provide open solutions for affordable housing and infrastructure. The target audience are municipalities in developing countries that can benefit from previously-developed solutions. But what about those of developed nations? Why does the construction industry maintain such a tight grip on resources? Why don’t skilled tradesmen want to participate in jobs that they can take pride in? In what other ways can we harness communities to physically build structures and spaces without succumbing to the inherent inefficiencies of an industry that maintains a tight control on skilled labor?