lufoart, Author at Lufo Art

Instant, the snapshot of a dream

April 20, 2022

Instant © Lufo Art, 2013 The artwork Instant was born in 2013 as a proposal for the contest Skywards Future Artists. According to the contest’s jury, the artwork did not match the requirements, so it was never took in consideration as a candidate. I was sure to have matched all the specifications, and ask them to clarify what was the problem about… but they never replied me back ????. Artwork’s concept With Instant I tried to made possible an impossible vision: the shadows reflected on the other side of where they are supposed to be, the hand ¿opening? ¿closing? around that… ¿building? ¿Device? that is ¿falling? ¿raising?… This artwork is the image of a dream, where everything is confusing and surrealistic, but at the same time totally possible and understandable (for who dreams it). Instant (process) © Lufo Art, 2013 Context and curiosities When I painted Instant, I was living in a university residence at the very centre of Córdoba, Argentina. The place was simply horrible: I shared room with three more persons, the “bedroom” was very small, maybe even less than 10 m2… The kitchen was something impossible to use and I don’t want to recall the traumatising memories in the bathrooms…. I remember there was the space for two bunk beds and a tiny corridor in the middle, nothing else. To one side, there was a window from which the beautiful eyes of L used to appear for some time… To the other side of the room, there was the door to a bathroom with double door, shared with another similar room with even more people…. … who knows, maybe when I drew Instant I was wishing just to get out of that place. René Magritte’s artwork In 2017, got such a big surprise when I visited the Musée Magritte in Bruxelles. I was walking among René’s wonderful paintings and enjoying his work when I found a poster project from 1938 that brought me back (or forward?) to 2013 and to Instant. Such a curious coincide, isn’t? Poster project for the Belgian textile workers’ union (La centrale des ouvriers textiles de Belgique) © René Magritte, 1938 What have you done with you artwork Luquitas? The original drawing finished at the hands of a person that used to do my days happier: A. I remember that I knew that she was going to pass through Córdoba’s bus main station for some and stop there before heading to her city again. When I knew it, I ran to the station to meet her, and I brought the drawing with me. Without even thinking it, I gave her the drawing, feeling that she was going to be someone who would appreciated it. I hope that I was not wrong although I never knew what was the final fate of Instant. In another occasions (after and before 2013), I drew spots from the city with A, sharing beautiful moments of expression and silence with her. I saw her a couple of years ago again, but sadly after that last meeting our connection “vanished” up to the point that we never talked again… Well, at least I have a wonderful digital version of Instant. Actually, I have used this digital version to create my very first NFT art gallery at OpenSea. Closing The artwork Instant has had many interpretations from friends and art lovers. There are no few persons that see explicit sexual components on it: a vagina, even a penis in the place of the thumb. Honestly, I am not aware of willing to include such expression but, in the end, how to be sure? Does it matter? I know that I wanted to mix several words: the reminiscences of the Sagrada Familia that I saw for the first time two years before this painting, the vernacular architecture of the Amalfi Coast from Italy, the expression of the eyes that enjoy what the mind is creating… What do you see in Instant? Write me below, don’t be shy! ???? Have the best day of your life! Tschüss Dr. Luquitas

Digital Media Art Project: Inspiration and Intention

April 6, 2022

Defining the Digital Media Art Project During the definitions of the Digital Media Art Project (PMAD) we were asked to define two important aspects: Inspiration and Intention. One way of doing this is following the three axis of the a/r/cographic scheme, that is, defining what we expect for our PMAD in terms of function (ranging from conformist to disruptive), skill (ranging from ineptitude to mastery) and aesthetics (ranging from indifferent to passionate). These three axis, let us remember, define a three-dimensional space in which we can position a PMAD according to the a/r/cographic methodology (de Veiga, 2019). Function First of all, I would like my PMAD to represent a different way of doing things. Meaning, that I point to have a disruptive rather than a conformist function. What is this disruption based on? Ironically (for a digital media art project), this disruption is based on the denial of digital technology. Well, not a full and frontal denial, but a temporary detachment: we take a step side, we reflect, and then we come back to be all our way within the digital medium. Let me explain myself better: this research is focused on the Hybrid Immersive Models (HIM). A HIM is a mixture of physical and digital media composed of: a spherical perspective drawing (an anamorphosis), a virtual environment, and a physical polyhedron (e.g. a sphere or a cube). Both the virtual environment and the physical polyhedron are created from the original drawing. In turn, the drawing can be physical or digital, but it has the primary characteristic of being created methodically by the draftsman, i.e. not obtained automatically by an algorithm, but thought out and constructed element by element through logical relations and deductions. Panoramas within the digital In the (purely) digital process, a panoramic picture can be created (for example) by the following workflows: Creation of a 3D model -> Automated generation of the panorama Collection of points with a laser scanner -> Positioning of the points within a 3D matrix -> Projection to an observation centre -> Automated generation of the panorama In both cases, the artist will most likely not understand how the panoramic image was generated. Although this is not something bad (we do need to know about microelectronics to use the computer!), one implication of this is that by the moment in which the trusted software goes out of circulation, the artist may find himself as a tool-dependent-artist. Panoramas within HIM On the other hand, on a HIM the panoramic image is created element by element, using a different way of thinking: whoever builds a panorama does it thinking about its components, relating, grouping, manipulating and understanding them. A guarantee of this is that what is not understood from a spherical perspective results evident in the virtual product. A HIM is a process that forces* logical thinking, spatial understanding and the correlation between a certain space and its representation. In other words, a HIM gathers the analogy between the model that the person has in the mind and the immersive visual result of its representation. If you want to learn more about handmade panoramas you can read this entry. This research aims to investigate how a HIM is thought, nurtured and positioned from and among the concepts of digital art itself. The very genesis of a HIM is associated with computer technology, since without the digital it would not be possible to create, visualise, or create the virtual environment or other essential components of a HIM. In other words, we are not dealing with the digitisation of an existing analogue process, but with a model that is native to both the physical and digital domains. *A small note: this “forcing” situation is actually during the first phase, like when one learns to drive a car. After the mechanism has been incorporated, one does not “think” about it as much, and one can release more of one’s “creative libertarian drive”. It is clear that not all of us are obliged to think, but not all of us are obliged not to think either. Skill As for the skill axis, I aim for the PMAD to cover the full length of the axis. That is to say, I expect to cover the needs and expectations of both those who fully understand how spherical perspectives work, as well as those who are seeing them for the first time. This is an ambitious goal, but a likely one, since what the artefact should have is an interactive form of visualisation that shows the correspondence between what happens in the flat drawing and the virtual environment. Therefore, a new user who “plays” at drawing will begin to understand the basic principles from the practice itself. Instead, the advanced user will know already what to do, and it will go to the maximum of what the PMAD can give. Aesthetics Finally, on the aesthetic axis, I am all fire and passion as artist, but I am also a slow burner one. Therefore, I would like the PMAD to be supported by a striking, colourful, electric, but smoothly paced visual experience, where images flow “at a human pace” (like walking through a forest) rather than “at a breakneck pace” (like trailers). In this sense, the interaction with the virtual environment will be fundamental, as it stimulates the person to “be within the art”. For this, I draw inspiration from projects that I have already mentioned in this post, such as “Sketching in Space”, which solve excellently well what I have in my head for my PMAD, although they do it with pure digital technology. Closing The PMAD that we are exploring (and discovering) begins to be less than a nebulous definition. Some objectives and definitions are becoming clearer, such as its function, aesthetic and skill intentions. This, plus the definitions presented at the MIPA (Methodology of Research and Artistic Practice) module, the roadmap to follow is beginning to take shape. Bibliography da Veiga, P. A. (2019). A/r/Cography: Art, Research and Communication. In Proceedings of the 9th International Conference on Digital and Interactive Arts. Association for Computing Machinery.…
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Digital Media Art Project: The Creative Process

March 17, 2022

The creative process is an essential part within the developments of a digital media art project. For those readers who are first landing here, I recommend you to check first this previous post where I briefly introduce this project (that it has no name yet ????). The methodology that I am following is called a/r/cography (da Veiga, 2019), and it is structured with the following (non-linear) steps (Figure 1): Figure 1: The stem of the a/r/cography rhizome © Pedro Alves da Veiga, 2019 Two stages of the creative process I will develop the 7 steps of a/r/cography in two parts: I – Concept and design This stage includes the first five steps, namely: Inspiration, Trigger, Intention, Conceptualization and Prototyping. This stage focuses the pairs narrative/development, interaction/evolution and experience/fruition. II – Implementation This phase includes steps 6 (Testing) and 7 (Intervention), and it focuses into testing with a restricted audience, error detection, and correction. The restricted testing aims to prove and improve the artefact pre-public presentation. Conceptual, technical and funcional aspects in a work of digital media art Let’s quickly remember some words from what should the artefact do?: “to fully appreciate a spherical anamorphosis it is necessary to transmit the correspondence between the “normal view” (seen in VR), and the distorted drawing”. A spherical anamorphosis is a way of immersive drawing, so let’s try to see what digital art has done in this regard, and how that affects the creative process. I will analyse some existing examples of digital media art projects that focus on immersive drawing. The aim of this analysis is the identification of their conceptual, technical and funcional aspects. Then, I will locate these case studies within the 3D space of intention/intervention proposed within a/r/cography (Figure 2). Figure 2: Three-dimensional space of intention/intervention © Pedro Alves da Veiga, 2019 3D DRAWING Within the current repertoire of artefacts for immersive drawing, we find examples applying methods and theories based on polyhedral projection surfaces, as an alternative to the single plane of classical perspective. Such applications have been solved both physically and digitally and in that regard Oliver Grau (2003, p. 349) divides immersive artefacts in two groups: “large-scale spaces of illusion that fully integrate the human body (e.g., rooms with 360º frescoes, the panorama, Stereopticon, Cinéorama, Planetarium, Omnimax and IMAX cinemas, or the CAVEs) and apparatuses that are positioned immediately in front of the eyes (e.g., peepshows, stereoscopes, stereoscopic television, Sensorama, or HMDs). Most of these immersive artefacts mainly allow just the immersive fruition of a certain content. Nevertheless, what I would like to focus are artefacts that should allow: first, the creation of an immersive drawing, second, the interactive immersive fruition and visualisation of such a drawing, and third, an instant stream back of such a fruition. CavePainting and Sketching in Space Some of the digital artefacts that achieve these goals are recent CAVE-based projects promoting the so-called 3D sketching. For instance, CavePainting (Keefe et al., 2001) and Sketching in Space (Israel et al., 2009, 2010). Both projects have been exploring CAVEs implementation within early conceptual design. https://vimeo.com/54140979 These proposals explore a paper-detached sketching tool, analysing the impact of drawing inside an IVE (Immersive Visual Environment) and using ad-hoc tools. The aimed workflow is to go directly from the designer’s thoughts to a digital model: “3D sketching has the potential to develop towards a new tool that supports creative work and extends the human understanding of the expressive potential in digital space” (Israel et al., 2009, p. 11). These proposals are presented as a viewer-centred perspective artefact, which implies “a mythical camera positioned along an axis extended perpendicular from the center of the screen. Viewer-centered perspective simulates the perspective view from the location of the viewer. To maintain correct perspective, a sensor that continuously reports the viewer’s position to the simulation is commonly used” (Cruz-Neira et al., 1992, p. 65). This characteristic of recreating the right perspective from the simulation accordingly to the observer’s position, highlights either the pre-existence of a 3D digital model, or an automated computing of the image. Therefore, this means that, technically, the artefact works: mapping the movement of the tools within the CAVE device, creating a 3D model, streaming back instantly the image onto the CAVE’s walls accordingly to the user’s position. Thus, we can consider CavePainting and Sketching in Space within the greener zone of the 3D intention/intervention space since: first, they stimulate the artist towards an impressive aesthetical experience, second, they can be used by both neophyte and expert users, and third, their functioning looks fluid and intuitive. Figure 3: 3D space of intention/intervention for CavePainting and Sketching in Space Fluid Drawing Another interesting example of immersive drawing is Fluid Sketching (Eroglu et al., 2018). This project is IVE-based and follows the same logic than the previous projects, that is, it creating 3D models on-the-fly. The main difference is that in this case the 3D models behave like fluids: “Fluid Sketching refers to works of art based on the aesthetics of fluid motion, such as smoke photography, ink injection into water, and paper marbling”. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JNvx2Md7xKY Fluid Sketching has been very well solved in their technical aspects of setup and implementation (Eroglu et al., 2018, sec. III, IV). The intention of testing Fluid Sketching is well connected with the output of the test intervention. Users’ feedback gives a clear panorama about what the artefact is like. The overall reading of the project shows that many details of this artefact have been successfully covered. Indeed, the users’ feedback does not point to basic functional features, but mainly to advanced features and functionalities, like color selection, previews, save and interaction with preload models, etc. However, as pointed out by some of the interviewed artists that tried the artefact, Fluid Sketching might actually be a bit overwhelming due to its specificity on fluid-based tools: “There are so many parameters, I can barely keep them in my mind” (Eroglu et al., 2018, p. 6). Some of the future features asked by the artists during the feedback survey is the possibility of a “preview mode to inspect emitted particles without altering the piece of art” (Eroglu et al., 2018, p. 7). Finally,…
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Image for a digital media art project: drawings result from the live painting session at the Godot Art Bistrot, Avellino, Italy © Lucas Fabian Olivero, 2017

Digital Media Art Project: The Starting Point

February 23, 2022

This is the first entry aim to document the evolution of my digital media art project. This project is part of the PhD program in Digital Media Art “DMAD” that I’m currently following. Consequently, I will use this digital journal to collect milestones, inspirations, concepts, intentions, advancements, technologies, improvements, etc. The entries will go forward and back, diving through key concepts. However, they will do it not in a crazy and uncontrolled path, but following the art and communication based research methodology a/r/cography (da Veiga, 2019, p. 335). So, I start explaining the research background and the very first inspiration for the project development. Background My research in the field of Digital Art is very new. However, I have previously researched in the field of drawing, focusing in immersive perspectives with applications in design, architecture and engineering (check here a list with my full research). In fact, between 2017 and 2021 I completed a first research PhD in which I developed techniques for handmade immersive drawings. Such drawings have the particularity that can be converted into VR environments. Important milestones of this research were the first systematic definitions of cubical perspective (Olivero et al., 2019, Araújo et al., 2020). The goal was achieved with the help of my advisors Adriana Rossi and António Bandeira Araújo. Although it keeps going ahead, the investigation settled a transition point almost one year ago with the issuing of “Hybrid Immersive Models from Cubical Perspective Drawings” on March 2021 (Olivero, 2021) (Figure 1). Figure 1: Studies about immersive perspective a) Cubical perspective b) Equirectangular perspective c) Geometrical proportions of the project (c) Immersive navigation (e, f) © Lucas Fabian Olivero On the artistic practice My interest for immersive drawings started during 2017. Back then, I shared classroom giving lessons with Bruno Sucurado in Italy. Meanwhile, Bruno was already practicing these kind of illustrations and introduced me to the equirectangular perspective (Olivero & Sucurado, 2019). So, I got interested in the technique, learned some basic principles, and started to practice it. After that, I was invited to a cycle of live music presentations at the Godot Art Bistrot, Avellino, Italy (Olivero, 2017). As a result, I started to test spherical anamorphosis within live drawing sessions: I attended a total of four events and produced one equirectangular drawing for each of them (Figure 2). https://lufo.art/wp-content/uploads/2022/03/WhatsApp-Video-2017-09-22-at-01.14.31.mp4 Preparing for the drawing session © Lucas Fabian Olivero, 2017 The exhibition of Hybrid Immersive Models Visitors watching the VR results Figure 3: “HIMmaterial: exploring new hybrid media for immersive drawing and collage” at ARTECH 2019, Braga, Portugal, 2019 Closing Currently, the use of spherical anamorphosis within digital art exhibitions requires a big intellectual effort (both from the artist and the visitors), great oral communication skills, and the presence of the artist for a peer-to-peer communication. Consequently, such a setup limits both the artist and the artworks. However, with the current theoretical developments existing for spherical perspectives in the field of drawing it should possible to find a straightforward way for appreciating these exhibitions. In other words, this digital media art project should bring a new way of experimenting spherical anamorphosis that might release the artist and the audience and, therefore, improve the artworks, the exhibition, and the experience of the audience. Bibliography Araújo, A. B., Olivero, L. F., & Antinozzi, S. (2019). HIMmaterial: Exploring new hybrid media for immersive drawing and collage. In P. Arantes, V. J. Sá, P. A. Da Veiga, & F. M. Adérito (Eds.), Proceedings of ACM ARTECH conference (ARTECH2019) (pp. 247–251). ACM Press. https://www.doi.org/10.1145/3359852.3359950 Araújo, A. B., Olivero, L. F., & Rossi, A. (2020). A Descriptive Geometry Construction of VR panoramas in Cubical Spherical Perspective. Diségno, 6, 35–46. https://doi.org/10.26375/disegno.6.2020.06 da Veiga, P. A. (2019). A/r/Cography: Art, Research and Communication. In Proceedings of the 9th International Conference on Digital and Interactive Arts. Association for Computing Machinery. https://doi.org/10.1145/3359852.3359859 Olivero, L. F. (2017, October 3). Live art painting sessions [Art Exhibition]. Godot Bistrot, Avellino Italy. Olivero, L. F. (2018a, January 21). 360 Points of View [Art Exhibition]. Eco Bistrot, Salerno, Italy. Olivero, L. F. (2018b, October 3). 360 Points of View [Art Exhibition]. Passo Duomo, Salerno, Italy. Olivero, L. F. (2021). Hybrid Immersive Models from Cubical Perspective Drawings—Modelli Ibridi Immersivi da Disegni in Prospettiva Cubica [PhD Thesis]. University of Campania “Luigi Vanvitelli.” Olivero, L. F., Rossi, A., & Barba, S. (2019). A codification of cubical projection for the generation of immersive models. Diségno, 4, 53–63. https://www.doi.org/10.26375/disegno.4.2019.07 Olivero, L. F., & Sucurado, B. (2019). Analogical immersion: Discovering spherical sketches between subjectivity and objectivity. ESTOA. Revista de la Facultad de Arquitectura y Urbanismo de la Universidad de Cuenca, 8(16), 47–59. https://www.doi.org/10.18537/est.v008.n016.a04

La fórmula para vivir eternamente

November 10, 2021

El texto “La fórmula para vivir eternamente” fue publicado originalmente en Facebook el 10/11/2021. Hoy, 28/06/2023, lo comparto nuevamente desde mi sitio web. Hice algunas actualizaciones para mejorar la legibilidad, agregué más fotos, y una versión en inglés para llegar a un público más amplio. Con este texto, celebré 8 años viviendo en Europa. “La fórmula para vivir eternamente” es el primer capítulo aniversario que transcribo a mi sitio web, aunque tengo una serie de textos similares de aniversarios anteriores que me gustaría traer aquí también. Espero continuar esta serie en los próximos años, juntarlos con los anteriores y ponerlos todos juntos en la misma página. Espero que leerlo sea tanto de vuestro agrado como fue para mi escribirlo. Lufo La fórmula para vivir eternamente Hace exactamente 8 años un avión de Alitalia aterrizaba en Roma. Había despegado el día 9/11/2013 desde Ezeiza, y en alguno de los tantos asientos estaba yo, con muchos sueños y poco equipaje. Traía mis acuarelas y mi pincel con agua, regalo de amigos y amigas italianos. Tenía todas las intenciones de usarlas… y vaya si lo hice (y lo sigo haciendo). Lo que también hice fue el control de migraciones en Fiumicino. Acto seguido me compré un café que degusté como si jamás en mi vida hubiera tomado café antes. Luego me tomé un vuelo de cabotaje hacia Nápoles, y en Capodichino me esperaban Salvatore y Simona. Estos dos adorables seres se habían hecho un momento para ir a buscarme a pesar de ser domingo. Antes de encarar hacia Fisciano (donde habría de quedarme para estudiar), hicimos una parada técnica en el Decathlon. Allí, me compré las mismas zapatillas que se compró Salvatore. Compré confiando en su criterio, como tantas otras veces hice y sin dudas seguiré haciendo. Pagué 7 € por ellas, y probablemente hoy sigan saliendo lo mismo… Probablemente, todavía se encuentre el mismísimo modelo y color en la misma estantería. Eso sí que no cambió, pero en mi vida… ¿Qué no cambió en mi vida desde entonces? Conociendo a la muerte Cada año que pasó ha sido más y más intenso. La carga emocional de estos años me enseñó a valorar cada instante de VIDA. Algo doloroso y muy intenso de estos últimos años fue tener que sentarme tan seguido a tomar café con la muerte. Había saludado por última vez al nono Héctor allá por el 2002. Aún recuerdo que su quietud y mi mente no se ponían de acuerdo: yo lo veía respirar, pero no, no respiraba. En 2008, una pequeña en la familia se nos iba con apenas unos meses, dejándonos una cantidad inmensa de cosas para repensar y resignificar. En 2010 con la nona Ilda fue un poco diferente… Quizás… Quizás porque ella nos había hablado tanto y con tanta tranquilidad de la muerte que lo tomé más natural. No fue una herida, fue una suerte de cambio de estado previamente pactado. En 2012 le toco a Nancy, y todavía la escucho y la veo viajando y divirtiéndose. Desde entonces, y a pesar de que “ella viene siempre detrás”, la huesuda no me anduvo cerca. Sin embargo, esta señorita se desquitó con una serie más bien intensa: Vito Cardone En el 2019 vino a buscar a una persona que fue clave en mi vida, Vito Cardone. Se lo cargó sin recelo, sin prisas ni pausas, sólo después de que Vito se cansara de dar cátedra de dibujo, de política, de literatura… Por suerte Vito no vivió la pandemia, no le tocó aprender a usar Zoom, Teams y todas esas cosas… Vito no dio conferencias con máscaras quirúrgicas, ni se tuvo que poner en el patético dilema (in)Shakespeariano del siglo XXI del “vax o no vax”… Vito… Ese Vito me dio la oportunidad de contar mis historias por primera vez en una conferencia en 2012. Además, me pidió dos dibujos apenas llegué a Italia en 2013, uno de Villa Rufolo y otro del auditorio de Niemeyer y los publicó en su libro Viaggiatori d’architettura in Italia. Con ese mismo Vito compartí libros, historias, y momentos entre Nápoles, Roma y Salerno. Vito. Golpe durísimo que no hablé con nadie abiertamente. Ni que tampoco nadie me preguntó, quizás porque muy pocos tenían idea de lo que Vito representó en mi vida. La única persona que lo sabe en profundidad tuvo tu propia cuota de dolor también. Quizás fue una suerte de “entendimiento mutuo”. A Vito no lo vi. No lo quise ver. Me lo quise llevar vivo en la memoria. Y efectivamente allí está todavía, escribiendo mails hasta las 21 en el campus de Fisciano… O comiendo en alguna taberna de Nápoles… Allí está todavía, compartiendo congresos en España y en Italia, dando conferencias magistrales sobre la vida y obra de Gaspard Monge y el Grand Tour. Allí está, vivo. Damaris Balland Para inaugurar el 2021, la parca me mostró su lado más imprevisible con el episodio más intenso que viví hasta ahora. Espero que se haya degustado lo suficiente. Esta señora de huesos y tela me hizo una jugarreta especial. Me agarró desprevenido, con la guardia bajísima, o con la atención muy hacia otro lado. Dante lo explica perfectamente: es en los jardines es donde somos más vulnerables porque es donde más nos relajamos y bajamos la guardia. El 01/01/2021, a la parca se le dio por fumarse un pucho nada más y nada menos que con Damaris. Damaris. Esa flaca suiza que amé intensamente y que me dio todo y más… Damaris, esa persona que aprendió a liberar los demonios de los otros como una hechicera. Ella que tanto ayudó a liberar a otros intentó hasta el último momento liberarse de sus propios traumas… pero no pudo. Damaris. Murió Damaris. … O de alguna manera, terminó de morir, porque cuando la conocí era ya un rejunte de cristales rotos, acaso imposibles de reunir. Y no digo esto para liberarme de la culpa en este número donde cada uno carga su fardo. No, lo digo porque a veces…
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Sketch of Gulbenkian's auditorium. Celebration of Calouste Gulbenkian Day. 19 July 2019. © Lufo Art

Calouste Gulbenkian Day – 150 years of Gulbenkian Foundation

July 20, 2019

The “Calouste Gulbenkian Day” was celebrated on 19 July 2019, an act framed in the 150 years’ celebrations of the Calouste Foundation. The celebration included a playing by their Orchestra, directed by Nuno Coelho.This “Tal Lucas” was there, drawing, and this is the written report of the experience. Meanwhile, I remember that I discovered the beauty of this place on the 1st of July, 2018. That Sunday, I was celebrating my birthday, just 33 years old! I had landed in Lisbon and took the Linha Vermelha towards the city centre. Hence, I left the tube at São Sebastião and then I saw was the Fundação. I was so glad to be walking through such a beautiful garden…! Since then, I attended many events, always keeping a fresh fascination for the auditorium and their different and varied presentations. First act, action! Before the orchestra played, there was the ceremony of the Gulbenkian Prizes awards. In particular, one of the distinctions was for Amin Maalouf, enlightening his great carrier and activity. Honestly, the whole thing seemed a bit long for me. Maybe, it’s because I feel some allergy to formality acts. Yet, I must recognise that the mission and vision of the prizes made the prelude worthy. The Portuguese President was there in person to read his speech (does he write it or someone else do it for him?). The first part was in French and the second in Portuguese. He pronounced phrases like “by the force of reason, rather than reason by force”, and pointed out to the Agenda 2030‘s goals. In the meantime, I was drawing and doing one, two… many among infinite lines. Yet, the drawing went longer than the initial speeches, and it was not ended even when the first part of the orchestra finished. Second act After the formalities, they passed to the Orchestra. All of sudden the stage’s curtains were opened, revealing a beautiful view of the garden, as the background of an unusual and natural theatre. Then, clarinet soloist Horácio Ferreira, one of the special guest of the night, was ready to play. At some point, Horácio plus the other two clarinets of the band “escaped” from the stage. They appeared from behind, playing between stands and from different places in the theatre. They played and walked slowly towards the main stage, in a inusual musical dialogue with the orchestra. One of them appeared next to me, so I took the opportunity to “immortalise him” with green color. Why? Well, a bit because his movements were “Martians”, a bit for graphic balance, but mainly because I had no other colours (I must be honest ?). The player’s contrast remind me of the satyr with the flute near Positano that I saw in 2011. One detail: I captured a screen that was near the curtains when I started with the drawing. During the first act, the screen was used to project videos of the projects supported by the Foundation. When the curtain opened and the garden appeared, the screen was gone! So, I had to improvise a hybrid image that kept emphasised with the colours that I had at hand. Pan God (or Satyr, or, Faun). Positano, July 2011. CC Lucas Fabian Olivero Closing Finally, this is the result after the Calouste Gulbenkian Day. The drawing was made in one of the most cheap A5 blocks, bought in the Danish shop by excellence for those kind of things. Sketch of Gulbenkian’s auditorium. Celebration of Calouste Gulbenkian Day. 19 July 2019. © Lufo Art

Ciencia de sentimientos es un poema escrito por Lufo para N. Estas líneas expresan un acto de amor, esa hermosa desesperación uno SIENTE

Ciencia de sentimientos: el perfil alar de tu ojo

February 28, 2019

Ciencia de sentimientos ternura con razón un leve palpitar viento sin arena. Somos piel somos un cuerpo único palpitamos el mismo corazón estremecimiento carmesí. Lo que hacemos somos hago un hogar en cada rincón de tu cuerpo en cada extensión de tu pelo. Te vibro volamos la curva de tus labios la silueta de tus sombras. Desesperación alaridos sin ahogo agitación completa desvanecimiento de menta. Ternura con razón ciencia de sentimientos quiero ser en vos todo lo que me trajo el viento. Poema dedicado a N La ciencia de sentimientos en una imagen Además de palabras, he decidido usar “Explotar en Colores” para ilustrar esta “Ciencia de sentimientos”. A fin de cuentas, una imagen dice más que mil palabras, no? El dibujo fue realizado en un pequeño cuaderno de notas y tiene apenas 172 x 136 mm. Ahora bien, recuerdo que estaba en la ciudad de Salerno el día que lo hice. En particular, esperando el eterno bus 1 en la famosa “Piazza Malta” o “XXIV Maggio”. El bus 1 pasaba uno por cada hora, si, uno cada hora. Llovía torrencialmente y por tal inocuo motivo uno de los buses no había pasado, lo cual me había extendido bastante la espera. De todas formas, no era extraño que una cosa así aconteciera. En realidad, era tan común que muchas veces volví caminando los 30 minutos en empinada pendiente hasta mi departamento. Sin embargo, tener la computadora en la mochila no hacía un buen combo con la fuerte lluvia y viento que arrecían a la ciudad. En aquellos momentos hacía mi primer doctorado en Aversa. Aversa, una ciudad que siempre encontré horripilante, pero que me había abrió las puertas para investigar en lo que más me gusta: el dibujo. Sea como sea, ir y volver desde Salerno a Aversa era toda una aventura. Es más, ese día llevaba más de 2 horas “volviendo”, entre trenes y colectivos. Estaba cansado, con frío, sólo quería estar en el calor de mi hogar. Sin embargo, no podía por lo nefasto del funcionamiento del transporte público. Explotar en Colores © Lufo Art, 2018, Italy, Salerno Rebelión Como resultado, en un momento dado me llené de un fuerte sentimiento de rebelión. Sentí pánico mirando la gente que estaba en la parada. Cada uno estaba enfrascado en su propio teléfono celular y yo los miraba, pero nadie me devolvía la mirada porque simplemente nadie se daba cuenta. Mientras tanto, yo escuchaba Estelares, y las letras de sus canciones alimentaba mi deseo de querer irme de esa ciudad, de ese contexto, de ese momento, de terminar el doctorado y volver a mi amada Berlín. Ya que no podía apurar al tiempo, saqué mi cuaderno y comencé a tratar de plasmar esa sensación. Era un momento de explosión, de querer zamarrear a la gente a mi alrededor. Quería que despierten y se miren a la cara, que se dieran cuenta de que estaban vivos, y de que eran los protagonistas directos de la rebelión de su propio cambio, de esa lucha contra lo esclavo del sistema de transporte público que toman todos los días de su vida… Quería zamarrear a la gente, si, pero sólo podía hacer mi parte, completar el doctorado e irme. Delineé algunas pocas personas, quizás las más estáticas, y le agregué fragmentos de la banda sonora que me acompañaba, algo que me gusta mucho hacer. Eso si, para explotar artísticamente, para dejarse quemar íntegramente por un sentimiento en una ínfima fracción de tiempo, no es suficiente con una microfibra. Es necesario un medio más fluido, más libre, que tenga casi una voluntad propia y no sea tan contenido. Por lo tanto, busqué en mi mochila mi cajita de acuarelas y comencé a plasmar los colores que se me vinieran al momento. Palabras a la salida Finalmente, como resultado de concentrarme en el dibujo casi pierdo el colectivo. Por lo visto, yo tampoco estaba tan despierto después de todo. Quizás, la conexión entre el dibujo y el poema no sea clara. Quizás, hasta parezca antagónica: por un lado un momento de amor y ternura, y por el otro un momento de furia y rebelión. La conexión está en que en esos momentos de mil demonios, lo que me hizo sonreír y sobrellevar las cosas de forma mas ligera, fue recordar el amor… y de eso N sabe muy bien de lo que hablo… Seguramente también habrás tenido momentos de tanto contraste. ¿Recordás alguno? Dejame tu comentario Tschüss! Lufo

Image for a digital media art project: HIMmaterial, art exhibition at ARTECH 2019, Braga, Portugal

VR art based on handmade drawings and their innovation

December 31, 2018

VR handmade drawings: enlarging the view I mentioned the VR art based on handmade drawings on my home page. But, what is it exactly a VR (or 360) drawing? Why am I so interested on them? I’ll try to explain a bit about it in this article. Although, I must warn you: we will need more than one post! When we do a “classical perspective”, we use what we call a drawing plane. In that plane we re-present in 2D, the points and lines that compose a specific scene of a 3D environment. If we do a parallelism with photography, we always capture an image within the boundaries of the film or the sensor, right? In the same way, the drawing plane limits our composition. But, what if we want to expand our vision and capture the full panorama around us? Here is where VR drawings come to help us. A VR drawing represents all around the observer’s point of view. Not just a limited window. Digital VR art: a full 360-degree panorama made in ink and watercolour © Lufo Art, 2017 Photographic panoramas The representation of a full panorama is something well-known in the field of photography. The way to solve a wider picture is to stitch many individual pictures taken with different angles, thus covering a bigger field of view (FOV). The bigger is the angle that the camera captures, the less is the quantity of shots we need to cover a certain FOV. Currently, the technology gives us the possibility to take a 360º per 360º picture with just one shot. These cameras, such as the “Insta360” camera, use many “fisheye” lenses at once. Once the panorama has been generated, we can navigate it and perceive it in an immersive manner. We create such an immersion by putting a surface around the observer, and then covering it with the panorama. The two most used surfaces are the sphere and the cube. Therefore, we can say that in a full panoramic representation the drawing plane changes to a spherical or a cubical surface. Equirectangular projection The equirectangular projection is one way of mapping the surface of a sphere. This means, it is a way of flattening a 3D shape into a 2D image. We use the equirectangular format, for instance, to represent the world. In a world map, we can easily notice big distortions, specially in the poles. In fact, Antarctica, Russia and Canada have a shape more elongated in the map than in the reality. This deformation has been analysed and studied through indicators such as the Tissot’s indicatrix. Now, look closer to the equirectangular picture that I took in Lisbon. In this full panorama you can see odd curves and weird building shapes. Yet, if we build a sphere and cover it with the panorama, all lines will look as they should. An equirectangular photography from my ex room in Lisbon © Lufo Art, 2019 Cubical projection The cubical projection (AKA “cubemap”) is one way of mapping the surface of a cube. It is used, for instance, to generate scenes in video games (see skybox). In contrast with the equirectangular format, straight lines are represented as straight segments and not as curves anymore. Furthermore, although there is some kind of deformation, it is “more known” to our eye. Indeed, on each face of the cube we have a classical perspective. On another perspective, we could say they are six individual pictures framed in a squared sensor. But, all that glitters is not gold they said. As everything in this world, the use of the cube has also some cons. For instance, it has the big disadvantage of being a discontinued map. Focus on the image of my ex room in the cubical format. You will notice that is not that intuitive to connect the upper part of the righter face with the upper part of the middle-up face. Another disadvantage is the odd way that lines break when they cross from one face to another. Take for instance the buildings on the picture: they converge to some point on the righter face, they are more or less straight on the centre-right face, and then they converge again to some another point on the centre-left face… Still they are representing the same block of buildings! Cubical panorama from my ex room in Lisbon © Lufo Art, 2019 On drawing practice So, we just saw that the equirectangular and the cubical projections are used for photographic panoramas. But, what if we want to draw a building, show it through its outline, instead of using the billion colour points automatically captured by the camera? What if we want to do a panorama of a surreal world that does not exist? Good news mate, we can do it! We can generate our VR art by drawing either in the equirectangular or in the cubical format (further on we will explore other projections as well). Once the drawing is ready, we will fold it digitally onto the 3D sphere or cube, and then we will be able to navigate our artwork … from within! This way, we can create artworks reusing a technology mainly developed for photography and video games. We will use their tools to navigate and share our art, such as the VR plugin for panoramas embedded in Facebook. Anamorphosis We saw that both projections have either odd deformations or weird ways of breaking. In both cases, these particularities make all the sense once we cover the correspondent 3D shape with the drawing, and then we place the observer in the central point of it. From that point, you will see every represented shape perfectly reconstructed, and you will notice neither curves nor breaks. In more rigorous terms, an anamorphosis is a set of two steps: a projection onto a sphere, and a cartographic operation of flattening that sphere. For a far better and more detailed explanation, you can check this work by António Araújo, who has been my mentor since 2018, PhD advisor and a wonderful friend. António has a large and very detailed research specifically dedicated to spherical anamorphosis that you can check here. Let’s use an example to understand better what an anamorphosis is. Pay attention to the original artwork “Elizabete, hat, fruit or flute“: Elizabete: Hat, Fruit or Flute? Equirectangular drawing in watercolours and ink ©…
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Author: lufoart