Excellent presentation by Don Miller and Dino Lionetti at make: philly
Last Sunday, January the 20th, I attended my first Make: Philly meeting at the University of the Arts. I’m not sure I can relay the concept as articulately as they do, so I’ll share it in their own words.
From the about section of makephilly.com
“MakePhilly was founded in the winter of 2005 to provide a casual forum for creative individuals in the Philly area to meet, exchange ideas, learn and build things together…
Each meeting of MakePhilly provides structured activity so informal community can happen in the margins. Each meeting is characterized by three main ingredients: an “Open Make” segment allowing attendees to share a project with the group, a subject matter presentation by a member or outside speaker, and a Maker Challenge — a building activity”
Themed around a DIY concept, Make: Philly organizes workshops and presentations for a wide variety of subjects. The presentation last Sunday?
INTRO TO NES GRAPHICS.
(photo by Michael Korostelev)
Despite having a familiarity with the work of guests Don (No Carrier) and Dino (Cheap Dinosaurs), I was pleasantly surprised with the event.
Don shared a powerpoint presentation, along with neat little pass-alongs, to talk about the PPU (the picture processing unit) of the Nintendo Entertainment System. Although a lot of the tech-talk was a bit over my head, he had a great way of explaining things and keeping it all interesting for a non tech-savvy individual like myself.
Don’s artwork is based around video projections for live music events, in which he codes his own software for the NES and projects the visual output from a set of consoles. With a set of Nintendo controllers in his hand, he manipulates his visuals (a mix of glitched imagery ripped from games, tessellations, and original art), with the Nintendo as his medium.
The presentation culminated in a combined performance between Don and Dino, where Dino performed original music composed on a gameboy through lsdj, while Don did his thing. The leap from ‘this is how the visuals on this system work and how I’ve learned to mess with them’, to ‘ok this is what I do at my performances’ made for an impressive and breathtaking display.
What did the DIY and participatory aspect of the event involve?
(photo by Michael Korostelev)
Guests were encouraged to bring their own laptops, and cd’s containing emulators, game roms, and tools to alter the in-game images were passed around. Don got his start by ‘toying around’ in a similar manner, and wanted to share that experience with the audience.
With a limited set of time, participants altered the image pattern tables in copies of super mario brothers and bomberman. Several shared their final product for everyone on the big screen, loaded off their laptops and into an actual NES console. There were some interestingly glitched-out looking results, as well as one game in which bomberman was replaced with a pac-man sprite, and the enemies as ghosts.
Although future meetings may not cater as specifically to my video game nerdery, I left with an inspired feeling to learn. I plan on attending future Make: Philly events, and if you’re in the area, I’d encourage you to check one out too.
For more information-
Here’s some photos of Mr. Miller’s live work at previous events of mine. Click the images to see full size-
(june 2007, newtown CT, for Cheap Dinosaurs)
(more cheap dinosaurs)
(june 2007, newtown CT, for Anamanaguchi)
(june 2007, newtown CT, for Animal Style)
4 years ago(june 2007, wallingford CT, for the parasprinter)
