MA Musings

Facebook groups.... logical place to look for collaborators really, but it's easy to forget the logical social media step because it seems too "easy" too "superficial".... however, after drawing a blank in academic institutions I felt I was running out of options... but within a day of joining and posting in "AI and ML" excited potential collaborators round the world are messaging with ideas of how to get new exciting creative  designs out of an AI! we shall see where this leads... but I am tentatively optomistic! Next mission is to create some data sets.... might have a look at Watson to see if there is anything ready made we can play with....

Today I've discovered a whole host of creative AI doing all sorts of exciting things....and a history of Robots in computational creativity that I had no idea existed. starting way back in 1970 with Aaron the painting Robot ... an AI designed by Harold Cohen  which used real paint and canvas to work on, to Sony's new "Flow" project - musical based algorithyms which attempt to understand and implement "creative style"  and subsequent webcomic Max Order which personifies and describes the journey of the algorithm to be free from "copying" and become an artist in its own right.. complete with interruptions from the programmers. On the Fashion front I've found project MUZE  - 2016, Googles not entirely successful attempt to create a fashion design AI, most creations in the gallery looking like unpleasant coloured jellyfish ensembles or 1980's shoulder padded playsuits... lets see if a mazon fares better .... potentially... they are ev

Todays draping exercises involved some complicated asymetric, folding of cloth, origami style, trying to re-create specific designs from the catwalk. I chose a Chalayan dress, which while deceptively simple an elegant in form proved an excellent puzzle to solve. I attempted the front in several ways, including steaming a curve into a bias faced edge... which while probably not the method used in the original gown, proved very effective in toile form... Chalayans work is deeply inventive, and turned up in the manus ex machina exhibition at the met.... his combination of new technologies in showpieces that are more sculpture than fashion inspire thoughts.... Discussion ensued as to what made creative pattern cutting creative, what was ordinary pattern cutting and where draping and flat cutting fitted.....

Machine Learning design Process Interesting case studies today, looking at using Anthropocene and wicked problems as a kicking off point for artistic practise. Also learned to do close reading on reading texts and check through citing properly, Inspired to really get going with a rough outline of where I'm heading thoughts wise, put everything down under sub headings and start thinking it through... I have lots of ideas, which I know are connected, but I need to think about how, and why. So far, Can an AI be creative? has led to, how has technology assisted creativity? on to what is creative pattern cutting anyway? on to aren't we just following rules like a computer program does? Termite mound and Gaudi Cathedral  Watched Dan Dennets RI lecture "if our brains are computers who writes the software" - excellent - his termite/Gaudi references sparked thoughts about bottom up and top down design, maybe T op Down design, (referencing Gaudi)  is closer to

Ociacia, V. (2016) Artificial Intelligence Went to the computer science dept at Hud for a brief conversation with Lee McCluskey about AI. Basically (very basically) there seems to be 2 ways to "train" an AI. Firstly, Data Driven - you give it vast quantities of Data (music scores, pictures,text etc) and it then extrapolates the next sequence of probable "thing" based on the information you've given it (a little like the IQ tests we did at school) - these are beginning to be available as in-browser softwear chat apps etc - I can probably find one to give pictures to... but it's not really "creative". Data Mining..... Second is theory driven you give it "the rules" around an idea or artefact, parameters distilled into logistical mathematical equations behind each decision. It then measures its result according to the rules in an ongoing iterative process until an acceptable result is reached. Neural networks.....

Begemott (2007) The Exchange of flowers Even if an AI can create a new piece of clothing could it be called "fashion"? Art and fashion are an outward expression of inner emotional experience and turmoil. Fashion relies on a cultural structure to give it credibility. fashion as a system... If fashion is a collaborative process then the AI becomes another collaborator not the sole architect.

Good enough to eat - my pizza slice using illustrator  And... because I don't think I'm working hard enough.... I'm also teaching myself illustrator.... followed the creative suites beginners tutorial today to make a pizza slice logo.... I reckon if I do one tutorial a day I should be fairly competent in a couple of months.... It is important for me to learn a vector based design program - mainly so I can create files for lazer cutting... It's tough not having used CAD as a design tool first time round at Uni, i feel like I'm having to learn all the new tools as well as doing the rest of the work. However, student discount rates mean it's now or never really!

I have discovered my area of interest has a name! Computational Creativity. It's still a pretty new area obviously. but there have been a couple of conferences and there are some good papers on it that I shall now wade through! Mainly people seem to be interested in Music and Creative Writing with a couple of forrays into Sculpture... This IBM piece is particularly interesting and has potential for inspiring some structural pattern cutting... It was co-created by an AI IBM's "Watson"... Iv'e also contact several researchers and professors in this area hoping we may be able to talk about their work...

Todays Prof. Rowan took us into the world of digital data, it's usefulness as a resource and some ways of displaying it creatively, as well as it's potential for bias and corruption. Pre-lecture we watched a video on Aaron Swartz (The hacker of Jstore) Big data = the collection of information from multiple databases. (a sophisticated archive?) Datafication = processing the data to analyse it We are constantly creating data in this digital age, from social media accounts Twitter, Facebook etc, where our information on likes and dislikes can be gathered and sold to marketeers, datafication of moods and relationships... or used to predict trends; to CCTV and GPS which could be used for security, crime solution or easier navigation. We explored cultural differences between modes of social media interactions (chinese audio messaging app) How can we analyse diferent social media tools? how are they used? Why? What gratification do people get back from them? Connectivity, S

Well apparantly some machine learning is already being incorporated into 3D pattern softwear design TUKA   " The software combines sophisticated algorithms based on artificial intelligence together with manual manipulations to help the operator get the optimum utilization of materials. Users get a temporary working area to visualize and place pieces more efficiently." by company I don't think that that sort of automated shifting of panels and pieces to find the most efficient solution is necessarily what we think of when AI is mentioned... but it is interesting - particularly in the context of our concept module on zero waste...

Read "Zero waste" in preparation. Used 1/2 scale mannequin to create an asymetic zero waste dress by taking a rectangle of paper, marking abitary lines and curves on it, cutting them then assembling into a garment, deciding on the fly what sort of pattern piece each shape would make best. Very random, very free - not possible to design a garment first, has to be designed as you go along. interesting. Draped the Dior "Bar" jacket as a replica on the stand. Talked about iconic parts of the design. looked at adaptations and new versions of the design by others. challenged to create a design recognisable as this jacket but also incorporating the designs of amazing architect Zaha Hadid for next class.

Professor Rowans second seminar today looking at Archives, what are they, how can they be used. How to engage with them in different and new ways. Looked at several case studies of artists using archives in different ways. from reconstructing lace fragments digitally to creating stories from ephemera. Interesting paper on Costume shop hire as archive.... value increased if a famous person wears it? Nature of a "turn" - a resurfacing idea or theme that appears again and again how does our study change the nature of the archive. Relevance and importance of items may be different to a creative than a historian An archive has a retrieval system and is not open to public. A museum is open to public with items on display. work in archives can often be an interdisciplinary practise. Must look for archives of technological advances.... revisit catalogue of robots from the Science museum exhibit Magda and I went to  exhibitions/robots

An exploration of the development of a pattern cutting process with reference to AI and machine learning  What is creativevpattern Cutting? Solving of a technical problem Through creative expression or expression of a creative thought through technical means? Can a thinking machine ever move beyond the bounds of its programming and be truly, freely creative? As cutters, can we? Nature of creativity, Inspiration Boundaries Construction Constriction Working beyond what is "possible" Shape repetition  Proportion Aesthetics What are the learned variables a cutter takes for granted?  Grainline, Fabric drape, recognisable shape, reinforced wear points, body movement and articulation, comfort, how can these be incorporated into an AI learning experience. Can you then move beyond that programming” with a creative problem solving pattern leap utilising “robotics”  - eg from many complex pattern pieces to moulded corsetry in Victorian En

Books Read "Japan fashion now" and "the cutting edge" I'm looking at how unusual designers have formed cohesive collections while still playing with very extreme concepts..... "I am interested in the space between the body and the clothes so that the body can feel entirely at ease because each persons body shape is so different. this space creates an individual for it also gives the wearer freedom of movement for body AND SPIRIT" Issey Miyake ( note to self - Philip Pullmans Daemons from the Northern Lights trilogy - spirits? what makes an AI spirit? does an AI have a soul?) Hiroaki Ohya - Wizard of Jeanz collection - books that turn into pieces of clothing ShinChiro Arakawa - Canvasses collection - presenting clothes as art in frames yoshiki Hishinuma - developed thermo fabrics so no cutting was involved just the reshaping of cloth into extreme shapes.. (I'm sure there's a victorian corset that was moulded) Rei Kawakubo - oversiz