Making

This page is about making: research and creative projects that I pursued over the past years and which also helped me understand new technologies and concepts.

Platform for Design Research | Software

Data Foundry

Data Foundry is a new data infrastructure for design research that debuted at ID Eindhoven in 2019. We started this project to enable all design researchers (both students and staff) to collect, store, process and export data. I’m leading the design and development of this web application development project with one full-time programmer and a design TA. more

OOCSI

OOCSI, short for “Out of Control for Semantic Interactivity”, is a simple, easy-to-use connection fabric that allows designers to easily create distributed systems. OOCSI allows designers to work with connectivity in an intuitive, low-threshold way, and also benefit from a “high ceiling” in terms of advanced features that will take them directly into the domain of systems design–if they wish to follow. more

PULP

PULP is a software for authoring interactive screen-based experiences on the web or on mobile platforms. Unlike other, similar tools (and there are quite some), PULP is based on a new language. This language allows to express concepts of interaction directly in relation to visual elements that are interacted with and upon. The software package is available for Mac, Windows and Linux. [more]

Creative projects

These are projects that involve my creative side, using code and software to push into directions that are under-valued or just interest me. That open, yes.

Coding Art book (2021 and 2023, by Apress/Springer)

The Coding Art book is a novel form of teaching creatives about coding as a way to extend their expressivity in practice. What is new (and unlike other books on the market) is that we center the book around a creative process, not around technical matter. The book is a joint project with Yu Zhang since the end of 2018. A Japanese edition was published in summer 2023 and the second edition of “Coding Art” is out now. Find more information on the [book website].

Creative programming liveProjects (2021, by Manning)

The creative coding liveProjects by Manning are hands-on creative projects for more technical learners. We guide through several audio-visual mini-projects using Processing or P5.js. The liveProjects are a joint project with Yu Zhang and will be out on the Manning liveProject platform in February 2021. There are more liveProjects coming later this year. ✨

More projects shortly…

Music

Bassfrucht + Foramel

Bassfrucht is a playground for all kinds of artistic ideas and spleens. Founded together with Ansgar Silies, Bassfrucht evolved from being started as a jazz band to experimental electronic music, art and performances. [more]

Some years ago, the Bassfrucht collective decided to start a label on the Internet: Foramel. For those who do not know about net labels, this is basically a website that provides access to (free) music, released in the mp3 format (only). There might be better definitions of what net audio is about, but this one matches our ideas. Foramel features dreamy, story-telling electronic music, often with a twist. So far, there are about 14 releases to enjoy.

Laser concerts

A collaboration of NachtmannSilies (laser) and Bassfrucht (electronic live music). The performances mostly span between 30 and 60 minutes and especially the laser works interact extensively with location and setting. Together with the music performance a unique experience is created that is both fascinating and immersive. Laserconcerts is unlike common laser shows, we take an abstract, minimal approach to work with the capabilities of laser technology. [more]

Smokey Joe

Live music from the German countryside, performed by 7 musicians (voc, 2 x tr, tb, git, bs, dr). This band started in the late nineties and continued from then on with almost the same set of members until now. We have played all kinds of venues from festivals in the summer to clubs in the colder months. The music can be described as a mixture between punk, ska and rock influences. I play the drums. Find it here.

Past projects

There are also projects, which are not really active at the moment, find them here.