NEW MEMBER WELCOME // Sam Tarakajian Pushes Creative And Technological Interaction To The Max

When we asked new 3rd Ward member Sam Tarakajian to tell us a little bit about himself, he gave us the short answer right away: "I'm a nerd who wishes he was Daft Punk."

Like the famed French electronic music duo, who are known for their extravagant multimedia live shows, Tarakajian isn't interested merely in music or sound, but the whole interconnected spectrum of audiovisual experience and interaction. "Like anyone I enjoy recording sound and composing music, taking pictures and making cool visuals, but more than anything I see beauty in order and process," he says. "I think in the design of systems that react, transform and generate there is tremendous room for expression, especially when those systems act in ways that defy our expectations."

Tarakajian works for Cycling '74, the company that makes Max, a popular  visual programming language that allows one to build an endless array of virtual tools and systems for music and other media. "Max is 'software that connects,' a graphical interface that lets you build complex systems by visually connecting simple parts," he says. "You can use it to design synthesizers, compose algorithmic music, build an instrument that you play with an EKG, create video that evolves in response to atmospheric pressure, or basically anything else."

Hit the jump for more about Tarakajian, including how he plans to make computers more like dogs.

When Tarakajian came to 3rd Ward he knew it was the right place. "When I got there I felt happy," he says. "There is never any shortage of creative people or creative activity at 3rd Ward. No matter what time of day you're there, someone is in the shop cutting teeth for his chair, getting his dog to sit under the table while he runs his business, or measuring out a giant chunk of fabric for a two-story t-shirt. When you walk in you slap yourself in the head and say 'Oh, that's right, I totally forgot: the world is interesting and beautiful.' That's a pretty great environment to work in, much better than the coffee shop, which doesn't even have free coffee."

What's Tarakajian up to at the moment? "Basically I'm trying to make computer devices more like dogs," he says. "The thing that's great about dogs is that when they see each other it's a big deal. They have a need, a compulsion to get in each others face, to bark and smell each other and more or less go completely nuts."

Computers are different. "Put two computers in a room and nothing happens," he explains. "Forever. This is really dumb. A lot of interesting artistic pieces involve getting multiple devices to work together. You might be using sensor data from an Arduino to control some process on your desktop, or maybe using an iPad to control an instance of Ableton Live. If you've ever worked on a project like this you know that you could spend half your time just explaining to your devices how to talk to each other."

So Tarakajian is working on an open-source library that will allow devices to more easily communicate with each other. "One day I will make it so that any device with some kind of network connection can say ''Sup other devices, here are some cool parameters you might want to control.' Any other device could then be all 'Oh, word? Well go ahead and make these adjustments.' The whole process will be wireless, require no setup and run in realtime."

Tarakajian's also looking for someone with experience as an iPad DJ. "I'd love to ask you/him/her a few questions about how you work your magic," he says. "It would help me tremendously in my current work." And if you're interested in learning Max, check out his tutorial series on Youtube or find him in person. "Literally nothing in the world would make me happier than to help you embark on a real-time, life-changing, multimedia odyssey," he says.

-- John Ruscher

'TIS THE SEASON // New Museum And MakerBot Team Up And Get In The Holiday Spirit

Photo from Bowery Boogie

A new window display recently popped up at the New Museum, and though it's definitely got a holiday theme, this isn't your typical nativity scene or artificial snow winter wonderland. Surrounding a pile of presents stacked in the shape of the museum are fluorescent aliens wearing Star Trek suits and Santa hats, riding atop a toy train and pulling Santa's sleigh in X-Wings.

The display comes from the folks at MakerBot, who teamed up with the New Museum last month to present the New Museum MakerBot Challenge, which invited designers to submit 3D designs that improve on existing design conventions. You can peruse some of the best entries on Thingiverse, and this Friday the winning design will be celebrated at the New Museum MakerBot Challenge launch party.

Usually we'd side with Nordstrom in waiting until after Thanksgiving to get in the holiday spirit, but we'll make an exception for something this awesome.

Check out more photos of the display on Bowery Boogie.

-- John Ruscher

MEMBER SHOW PROFILE // Get Comfy With Avgo, Michael Zick Doherty's Digitally Fabricated Chair

Avgo is not a typical chair. Nor is it a typical piece of woodwork, or a typical digital design.

Inspired by Ovalia, the iconic 1968 egg-shaped chair by Danish designer Henrik Thor-Larsen, 3rd Ward's Michael Zick Doherty and collaborator Nik Psaroudakis didn't use any screws and glue in their design for Avgo, opting instead for digitally fabricated slices that fit together like a puzzle. "It was designed entirely in a 3D modeling program and then converted by software into commands that are used to tell a CNC Router how to cut the forms out," Doherty says. "We also challenged ourselves to use the curves and angle of the joints to create a form that gave a strong sense of volumetric presence from 2D sliceforms. It was exhilarating to create such a complex form while playing to the limitations of the CNC machine we were using."

Avgo has been featured in the ITP Spring Show at NYU and on Core77, and you can see if for yourself this Friday, November 18 at the 3rd Ward Member Show.

Hit the jump to learn about some of Doherty's other awesome projects and check out some more photos of Avgo.

Avgo is just one of a wide range of amazing projects that Doherty's had a hand in, from the Open Hardware Scholarship-winning Bitponics to Windowfarms to some incredible innovations in mobile technology, and 3rd Ward has helped him both diversify and hone his skills. "I've always been a bit all over the place in terms of my craft," he says. "Being in some of the classes has really been great in forcing me to focus on learning a new skill in a set period of time. It's also just incredible to have all the resources at your fingertips. I'm always wishing I had more time to take advantage of what 3rd Ward has to offer. Teaching the interactive media class has been really amazing as well in that you really get to take a look at what you know from another perspective."

We probably don't have enough fingers to count all of the amazing things that Doherty has in the works, but he gave us a heads up on a couple of particularly exciting ones. "On the digital fabrication front myself and a couple partners will be launching something extra special that I can't say to much about yet, but if you're into creating the physical from the digital you should definitely follow @FabGuild on Twitter for our launch," he says. "I'm also doing research and development with a lab at EuroRSCG which is an agency in the city. My job is to come up project ideas that showcase new technologies. If you're interested in pushing the limits of technology, it's definitely worth checking out (http://madscience.eurorscg.com or @EuroNyMadSci)."

And now for more shots of Avgo:

-- John Ruscher