Artist talk at the "Machine Wilderness" ISEA 2012 conference in Albuquerque, New Mexico USA. Connecting projects of the past to my current day artistic practice, being the creation of dynamic interactive augmented reality installations.

1. Sander Veenhof
TOUCHSCREENS FOR PLANTS
AND AUGMENTED LIFE
ISEA2012 Albuquerque “Machine Wilderness”

2. Unfortunately,
missing title & typo
in ISEA2012 schedule:

3. +
background: computer science + art academy

4. exploring the endless possibilities within programmable virtual worlds

5. virtual “street art” within ABNAMRO HQ in Second Life anno 2008

6. creating large scale interactive sculptures

7. NOTHING IS IMPOSSIBLE

8. SEEKING NEW CHALLENGES

9. challenge: bringing digital technology and nature together

10. plant growth as website-traffic statistics per continent

11. automated greenhouse at Stichting KiK in Kolderveen, NL

12. graduation project: “publicity plant” living on social media & google

13. the result ...

14. visiting the Hortus Botanicus plant doctor for feedback & advice

15. HIS CONCLUSION:
PLANTS ARE NOT ABLE TO HANDLE A 24/7 ECONOMY
(THE ONGOING ON AND OFF SWITCHING OF THE LAMP)
MY CONCLUSION:

16. “DIY, plant!”

17. 17
developing a DIY interface to let a plant survive autonomously

18. infra-red based multi-touch screen for plants
18

19. 19
detection of leaves touching the screen

20. identifying various interface variations, in order to find20the best one

21. evolutionary interface design instead of requiring plant change

22. paralel exploration of interface variations for speeding up 22 research
the

23. plant installed at Verbeeke Foundation Belgium23

24. Unfortunately, the second hand computer running the touchscreen
crashed after just 1 day. The plant had no chance of survival.
24

25. giving up on plants. Next merger of digital technology and nature: fish!

26. kids and adults enjoying the “Mind the Fish” installation

27. enhancing animal life with digital technology - next species: a rabbit

28. a rabbit was turned into a live augmented reality animation using a
bluescreen
the live animation of the rabbit could be viewed in augmented reality

29. people took
rabbit Tibb
around the world,
virtually

30. not many
rabbits can
say they’ve
visited Hawaii,
New York and
many more
cities
around the
world.

31. Tibb is not the only
virtual animal around.
This is Don Pigeon, put
on San Marco square by
Victor de Vries.
Don’t bother
photographing those old
buildings,
they have been
documented by
thousands of others.
Snap a unique picture by
shooting yourself
standing next to Don
Pigeon.

32. the city of Eindhoven is full of virtual animals since PULS 2010

33. 33
photo opportunity with virtual rhinoceros

34. there’s no way to stop the virtual manifestations in our public space

35. this does not only apply to public spaces, but to any kind35 space
of

36. uninvited augmented reality exhibition in the MoMA New York
organised by Mark Skwarek en Sander Veenhof, co-founders of Manifest.AR
36

37. a parallel virtual show, discoverable through a smartphone only

38. additional artworks on each of the 6 floors

39. Tamiko Thiel

40. Extending the museum with a virtual
7th floor

41. virtual pavilions by several artist groups at the 2011 Venice Biennial

42. who says virtual art isn’t real because it isn’t tangible?

43. virtual hallucinating toad colony by Will Pappenheimer

44. My contribution to the Venice Biennial: a flyer.
A statement I fully disagree with, obviously. I see AR as a
great medium, providing new dimensions for artistic

46. “BiggAR” - worlds’ biggest virtual artwork
consisting of 7.463.185.678 CUBES floating in the skies around the earth

48. BiggAR in the sky during the ISEA2012 opening speeches

49. FROM STATIC CUBES IN THE SKY TO
“LIVING” CUBE ORGANISMS ON THE GROUND

50. classic “Game of Life”
virtual life simulator
50

51. AUGME
NTED R
E
OF “GA ALITY VERSIO
ME OF N
LIFE”
GROUP
FORMIN OF CUB
G AN “O ES
RGANIS
M”

52. ORGAN
GROWIN ISM HAS BEEN
G AND
EXPAND
ING

54. IN FRONT OF THE ALBUQUERQUE MUSEUM
A WHITE AND YELLOW ORGANISM BATTLE
FOR OCCUPANCY OF THE VIRTUAL SPACE

55. SNDRV.NL / ISEA2012