Codes & Modes: Extra Credit

On Thursday, March 16^th I attended the opening reception for Codes and Modes in the glass café of Hunter College. Although I was unable to attend the three days of the symposium I did enjoy the atmosphere and knowledge shared on Thursday night. As we sat down we noticed the television screen in the front corner of the room. After a brief introduction the speaker acknowledged the screen and asked to text “Csmart” to 270-02 followed by anything we wanted to be displayed on the screen for the audience to see. The screen was flooded with responses. Later it served the purpose of answering questions presented by the speaker followed by an image related to the words we responded with. This interactive instillation is a prime example of the innovative new art and new media advancements we have made between film, virtual reality, augmented reality, machine learning, and other experimental media.

One of the observations that I made was the diversity within the room between ages and cultures. Martin Lucas too mentioned the importance and significance of media bringing us together as well as the impact that can be created through media. From what I understand, this symposium has been going on for years now. I find it magnificent to be able to hold a symposium of such diversity and array of speakers and media creators that can share their ideas, work, and passion with anyone who has an interest in media here at Hunter College.

Sound walk

Everyday I walk through Central Park, it allows me to unwind and clear my mind from the noise of the busy NYC streets. As I enter the park the sounds of the streets are still fresh in my mind and heard loud and clear. I hear children swinging on swings, giggling, and yelling to one another. I hear bikes speeding by as I make my way further into the park. Once I make my way through the Castle and into the trails I hear less speech and noise and more of the natural sounds of birds and rustling of leaves. I hear shoes crushing the wet pavement from the melted snow. As I walk past the lake I hear ducks bobbing in the water and the birds chirping. Some chirps are longer than others. One of the chirps sounds like an echo.   

At this point the city noise has been forgotten and can barely be heard until I once again reach an area full of tourists taking pictures. I hear skateboards hitting the paved floor once, twice, again and again. People are speaking different languages that I can not understand and laughing. I can hear a motor like sound of the food truck I walk by. It is loud and stands out in the natural sounds of the park and the speech. The wind blows across my face and past my ears whispering "woosh."

As I walk to the East side of the park, the faded sounds of honking and screeching return and slowly get louder. I hear the local bus's motor come towards me and fade away as the bus zooms by. The screeches of cars stopping fill my head and break the calm mind I obtained in the park.

Assignment1: Defining a Space

Project1:Defining A Space from Ellie Perez on Vimeo.