Ben Wa Tumblr

Ben Wa Tumblr
In an era where images can empower and enlighten with greater speed and impact than ever before, art and design can take on new and unexpected forms. My work is an exploration of the systems of meaning that underly visual expression. I build tools and experiences that harness the power of machines while affirming people's ability to empathize and consider, create rather than destroy.

--- Résumé
----
ben@lerchin.com
+1 971.225.3724
280 Boyer Ave
Walla Walla, WA 99362
USA
whitmancollegeart.org is the web presence of the Whitman College Art Department. This responsive, image-rich website runs on a Drupal back-end, allowing maintainers within the department to take control of all aspects of the site. Appropriate accent images throughout the site are drawn from a growing database of tagged photographs. Faculty portfolio pages and an archive of student thesis work have been established to serve as a record of achievement within the department.
Border Patrol February 2013 Web Site, Video
Border Patrol is the online manifestation of a video I produced in the Fall of 2012. The 12-hour-long video documents a ‘flight’ in Google Earth’s Flight Simulator mode along the border of the USA’s 48 contiguous states, beginning and ending just south of San Diego, CA. The section of the video displayed by the website at any given time corresponds to the time of day.
This work was realized in collaboration with my classmates Marcial Díaz Mejía, Anna Murveit, and Daniel Swain.
When drone warfare, omnipresent CCTV, and the subpoena of entire social graphs are commonplace, why should we need yet another surveillance camera?
In creating this work, we sought to challenge our college community to consider the rapid proliferation of surveillance in its many forms and the hidden norms of public space that these developments provoke.
Dating back at least to the introduction of currency, governmental technologies that seek to record their subjects’ actions have effected social change in unintentional and serendipitous ways. The first tax collector to record contributions as hash marks on a clay tablet could not, for example, have imagined the subsequent developments that would make possible the writing of The Illiad . Centuries later, the renovation of Paris was conducted with economic and military intentions, but paved the way for decades of literary and artistic dominance. Like other governmental technologies, writing and city planning generated new contexts within which humans could interact. They were the sites of new types of conversations and new culture. The government interventions that interest us now are those that make use of data collection technology—surveillance.
For our assessment of contemporary social relations at Whitman College, we needed to construct adequate facilities for data collection. Our means were limited, but for one day we were able to hoist a web-enabled camera 150 feet above Ankeny Field, a public space at Whitman used simply as a thoroughfare by some and as a spot for sports and leisure for others. The camera streamed live images of the view from directly above the field to the website whitmansky.com . The tethered weather balloon from which the camera hung was visible to all — a bold reminder that in this place someone is always watching.
The images collected remain available to browse. They constitute an recording of social relations among unidentified individuals throughout the day. They can also be seen as an archive of formal compositions generated by a small group of agents navigating a very complex system system of social codes.
Many of us already live in the realm of our own self-consciousness, wondering what it would be like to walk around with eyes in the back of our heads or as a flies on the wall. When digital and physical spaces merge, our notions of identity and self-awareness change in unpredictable ways.
This apparatus is a platform for augmented reality applications, including those that allow the wearer to see as his or her phone sees, creating a digital ‘out of body experience’. The whole system is wearable, and interfaces with video googles and a smartphone camera. Video from the camera streams over a wireless network to the goggles, where it fills the wearer’s field of view.
Drawing on the experience of the literary flâneur , this project attempts to curate 30 minutes of aimless web browsing, originally performed by myself and Kirsty McBride .
Web-scraping software collected images as we surfed, and this presentation emerged as we tried to make sense of the accumulated data. These images are displayed within a browsing application that injects random behavior into the navigation process. The hope is that by relinquishing complete control, the viewer can experience the serendipity and thrill of discovering uncharted territory.
Web Flaneur is viewable in any modern web browser. A current version of Google Chrome or Firefox is recommended.
Full Stop , Silence, and Replace All
These experimental typography applications make word-processor style formatting effects available during casual web browsing. “Full Stop” hides all semantic content on the page, revealing only punctuation and negative space. “Silence” also hides all content, instead showing only empty boxes where text or images would ordinarily appear. “Replace All” indiscriminately substitutes enthusiasm for meaningful language.
The results convey a sense of visual and semantic structure that would not otherwise be easily discernable. The variability of results suggests the extent to which the web remains an evolving medium for design.
In a more polished form, I imagine these tools being used by students, designers, and developers as part of a structural exploration of type and information design.
These are proofs of concept, not finished products. But, the code is available if you’d like to play around with it. Should work well on any computer with Google Chrome. Just please read the included text before you dive in!
Laptop computer, webcam, Processing software
VIDGRID is an interactive video installation using the Processing
software development environment and a laptop computer. It divides the
frame of a live video fees into a series of smaller frames which
update at irregular intervals and with various visual filters applied.
Some aspects of the display are random. Others vary based on
mathematical patterns, user input, or environmental feedback.
The piece was first conceived and constructed to be presented in a
gallery setting. Another incarnation of the program, dubbed “Dabbles
in Code” debuted as a visual backdrop to a performance by the band
“Dabbles in Bloom” at Whitman College in April 2011.
Escape 01 December 2011 Steel frame, aluminum wire screen, sheet metal 32" x 32" x 32"
The basic unit of space in an engineered world, the box has the defining property of containment.
Physical, conceptual, and virtual boxes abound. Some two millennia of the architectural achievement in the Western tradition precede the perfection of the modern architectural box.
In a virtual world the task is reversed; we begin with a box.
//////////////////////////////////////////////
This work utilizes a physical property known as the Faraday Cage. The metal screens and conductive metal frame form an object that is (nearly) electrically impenetrable. Shocks, impulses, and radiation up to the Microwave spectrum are blocked or severely attenuated by its walls. Telecommunications devices such as cell phones, radios, and computers cannot transmit or receive signals to or from the outside world.
//////////////////////////////////////////////
Touch/sight interface for a social networking application on an augmented reality platform.
Screen captures and photos from a critique of QR FACE software
Laptop computer, webcam, Processing software
is a proof-of-concept Processing program which attempts to locate and identify faces from a live video stream. It was envisioned as a component in an augmented reality software application. Participants affix a computer-readable QR code sticker to their foreheads. The code it contains corresponds to a database of identities. The program uses facial recognition software to locate faces within the video frame and identifies them by means of the unique identifier encoded in the stickers.
Silver contact print from panoramic pinhole negative
Leporello accordion book. Linen cover; coffee and ink on paper.
El Nido Tieton is the web presence for El Nido, a small but lovely enclave of cabins for rent at the heart of the growing arts community in Tieton, WA. Guests are mostly weekend visitors and workshop participants from other areas of the Pacific Northwest, but also include artists and writers seeking an extended, distraction-free retreat.
Built on the Posterous platform, the site leverages a simple CMS and minimizes visual clutter. The focus is therefore on descriptive text and images of the property, which can be rotated seasonally. A prominent news feed encourages visitors to check back frequently for special events and subscribe to updates via social media. A classic typeface and simple aesthetic reflect the understated elegance of the cabins and their timeless surroundings.
Unfortunately, due to Twitter’s discontinuation of the Posterous platform, this site is no longer in operation.
Catalogue for Textiles Tieton: Fresh Thread , an exhibition sponsored by Tieton Arts and Humanities, WA
Photography and Layout. 16 pages. Laser printed and hand-bound by Marquand Editions | Tieton. Edition of approximately 100.

Y o u ’ l l n e v e r b e b o r e d a g a i n .
You are using an unsupported browser and things might not work as intended. Please make sure you're using the latest version of Chrome , Firefox , Safari , or Edge .

See, that’s what the app is perfect for.
Sounds perfect
Wahhhh, I don’t wanna

Posts

Following

Archive

1 note

Apr 23rd, 2022

Open in app
Facebook
Tweet

Reddit
Mail
Embed
Permalink

1 note

Jul 10th, 2022

Open in app
Facebook
Tweet

Reddit
Mail
Embed
Permalink

1,166 notes

Jul 10th, 2022

Open in app
Facebook
Tweet

Reddit
Mail
Embed
Permalink

9 notes

Jul 8th, 2022

Open in app
Facebook
Tweet

Reddit
Mail
Embed
Permalink

51 notes

Jul 8th, 2022

Open in app
Facebook
Tweet

Reddit
Mail
Embed
Permalink

1,015 notes

Jul 8th, 2022

Open in app
Facebook
Tweet

Reddit
Mail
Embed
Permalink

Hot Jerk Off
Ol Joes Collection
Unaware Giantess

Ben Wa Tumblr

Report Page