Eyewriter: Bringing Hope and Digital Graffiti
The verdict is still out on whether graffiti is art or public eyesore, but that’s neither here or there. According to Engadget and Jailbreak, there’s an ambitious project underway being conducted by a group of graffiti artists, designers and techies from around the world including members of F.A.T. (Free Art & Technology), GRL (Graffiti Research Lab), OF (openFrameworks) and TEG (The Ebeling Group). Their goal? Create a way for artists that are paralyzed like Tony Quam a.k.a. TEMPTONE to continue to create the art he loves without use of his arms and legs. Quan was diagnosed with ALS or Lou Gehrig’s Disease in 2003.
Using an open source project, the artists have come up with the Eyewriter. A total DIY deal, Eyewriter is comprised of some cheap sunglasses, copper wire, wire ties, LEDs, and a micro CCD camera connected to software that lets the world see TEMPT’s creativity via computer screen. Don’t let the crazy-looking diagram fool you, the work is sound as proven in video where TEMPTONE uses the device to write his name with his eyes. In addition the talented taggers also created a mobile unit that allows for laser tagging of sorts. As TEMPT draws, the info is set to the mobile unit where it’s projected on to various buildings.
It’s a low-cost gadget that is still in the early stages of development, but the posts on F.A.T. best speak to the potential of the Eyewriter and the hope it can bring:
“It was Easter and there was an actual miracle. Because at the end of the day, it was Tony who helped all of us: he helped us to know hope, showed us what it means to be strong, to be a survivor, to be a graffiti writer, to be alive. It was his father, mother, brother and crew who showed us the meaning of the word family. It was the Ebelings who showed us what it means to have a vision. It was through Tony’s eyes that we finally saw what graffiti was really all about.”
TEMPT + EYEWRITER August 12, 2009 from james powderly on Vimeo.
Category: Design, web 2.0 | Tags: ALS. Tony Quan, art, Eyewriter, Free Art & Technology, graffiti, Graffiti Research Lab, Lou Gehrig's Disease, openFrameworks, tagging, TEMPTONE, The Ebeling Group
About the Author Sherri is a freelance writer that has a love of all things fun and geeky including gadgets, gaming, anime, and comics. When she isn't writing or out on the town living it up, she loves doing 10-12 hour marathon sessions on her Xbox 360 or one of her older consoles. It's not an addiction, it's a way of life!
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