Immersive Atoms

Strange and Retro-Futuristic Creations at the Intersection of Art and Technology

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Inspiration

Immersive Atoms is an artist collective at UMD focused on creating Art with Technology. We came to Bitcamp intent on shaking things up and challenging the norms of a hackathon. Our work focused around four innovative mixed media projects which we then synthesized into a single composed work.

What it does

At the core 3 have three Retro CRT Televisions, envisioned and painted by Elise Nichols, a Graphic Artist at UMD.

Aaman Mengis produced a video compilation of Juxtaposed Retro Cartoons such as Scooby Doo and Tom & Jerry. Effect overlays and Timeline warping produce a eerie-nostalgic in accordance with the overall theme.

Elise Nichols produced a GIF playing with Vaporwave aesthetics and Retro Vibes.

Eleonora Sadikova used Python to create procedurally generated graphics using random seeding and geometric relations.

Bryce Peterson produced a sculpture entitled Moss Lung in conjunction with the project. The work takes naturally harvested moss and draws upon animist philosophy to embody the plant with breath and spirit. Watch mesmerized as the moss undulates and meditate in its solemnity.

How we built it

Bryce Peterson and Aaman Mengis hooked up Raspberry Pi's to the CRT's and used them to display original work produced by the group.

The Moss Lung sculpture was fabricated with moss harvested in the area. Two bladders hold water, and water is pumped between them with a 12V DC Water Pump. The Pump was controlled by a custom board with a MOSFET switching circuit and an Arduino.

Eleonora used the turtle graphics library in Python for her animations. Elise used Adobe Illustrator to produce her GIF. Aaman used Adobe Premiere to produce his video.

Challenges we ran into

Finding a way to output to the CRT's was challenging. Once we realized that the Raspberry Pi has a Composite Port, it was much more feasible, however finding a 3.5mm to RCA cable was a challenge. Locating the hardware we needed in general was an ongoing challenge. Aaman had some issues with setting up his Raspberry Pi which ate up a lot of time.

Fabricating the Moss Sculpture took a lot of creativity in sourcing materials. Bryce literally used Whoopie Cushions as bladders, between which a 12V pump operated. Water and dirt did get all over the place. We could easily win _ Messiest Hack _.

Accomplishments that we're proud of

Pulling together a Diverse team to create a unified piece of art was very satisfying and rewarding. We felt like the craziest people at Bitcamp and that was a good thing. We were proud to get our hands dirty and produce something as much for ourselves than any prize.

What we learned

We learned how to hack an Old TV and use them in future projects. For some of us this was our First Hackathon, so we learned how much was can accomplish in a Sleep Deprived weekend when we're all truly invested. We learned how to write code in Python, and how to design a water pump system. We learned new lessons in how to just make it happen.

What's next for Immersive Atoms

We are having a huge Exhibition April 26th-29 at Rm. 3306 Art Soc!!! This piece will be in the show, along with other incredible Art x Tech work by UMD students. As we move forward we are going to continue building this incredible community around the intersection of Art and Technology, and keep building and hacking together.

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