Introducing KATSU

Theo: A short introduction: KATSU, a long time collaborator with FAT and GRL has joined FAT as an Artist in Residence. KATSU has had long had a unique approach to graffiti and hacking urban environments. This post is a short introduction to some of his existing work. Expect to see a bunch of new hybrid work during this A.I.R that extends in all directions.
How many have left a mark that can be seen from space?

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Begin Katsu:
I’m a graffiti writer/vandal/slimer working in New York City. I’ve been involved in graffiti for over 15 years.  I love graffiti and feel that it’s time to really change shit up. Traditional graffiti methods are powerful but the combination of graff and tech can be absolutely LETHAL.

My goals as KATSU are to motivate vandals and accumulate FT’s.

I have turned graffiti into a game for myself where the objective is to gain “FT’s” or “FameTokens tm.” in the most effective ways possible. Any and all FT’s are good for business so placing my name in people’s lives, and in unique ways is the main objective.

Because I’m new to F.A.T. I figured I should show off some of the things I’ve made. I’m very excited to meet the crew and get grinding on some sick ideas.

Powers video – homage to eames powers of 10 film.  shortlisted for guggenheim show

Mochaccino – “world’s largest graffiti exhibition”?  sounds perfect to me.

Picasso – barely made it out of this one.

Obama’s crib – had my friend waiting on a suzuki gsxr to get me the fuck out of there

Fire Safety – kids need new toys

Fire Hazard – my new toy

Kinect Russian Roulette Prototype

Kinect Russian Roulette is a speed project by Theo Watson, which allows you to play Russian Roulette with just your hand and a Kinect.

The project was made in 3 hours at the Art Hack Day at 319 Scholes and is made with openFrameworks 007 and ofxKinect.

This project is tongue and cheek and is not endorsed by anyone or any brand. Just a ridiculous idea which needed to be made :)

Code ( very messy ) will be posted to github.

Links:
Theo Watson: theowatson.com
Art Hack Day: http://319scholes.org/art-hack-day
openFrameworks: openframeworks.cc

Mittens Romney – Browser Extension

This a browser extension which turns all instances of Mitt Romney to Mittens Romney on web pages. ( Mitt is short for Mittens!!!! )

I’m convinced that nobody in the US would accept having a president named Mittens, so I am releasing a tool to highlight his real ( and rather cute ) name.

Screen shot of the installed extension:

A huffington post article made that bit more silly:

An example google search (before & after installing Mittens):

Install Mittens:
What are you waiting for? Get Mittens Now!

Click to install Mittens Chrome Extension

Download and Install Mittens Safari Extension ( then double click to install )

Click to install Mittens Firefox Extension ( 1.0.1 – New! )

Note: Firefox version was automatically made with this tool and isn’t working on google search results. Working on getting it working 100%. Update: Thanks to Greg Leuch – we have a much better 1.0.1 Firefox version, with google search result integration.

You can grab the code or contribute to the project on github:
https://github.com/ofTheo/mittens/

Credits:
Made by Theo Watson.
Thanks to Greg Leuch for Shaved Biever which the Chrome version is based off of.
Icon is from the header from this cat heavy Mittens Romney site.

Summer Mix 2011

Summer Mix by Theo Watson for FFFFFAT.
Hope you enjoy!

Download it here:
SummerMix2011.zip

Listen online here.

Tracklist:
Summer Mix 2011
1 – JamieXX – Far/Nearer
2 – Metronomy – The Look
3 – Ugly Lovely – Kiss The Sky (Explosions In The Sky Vs Redman & Methodman)
4 – Alexander – Truth Feat The RZA
5 – Beruit – East Harlem
6 – Lana Del Rey – Video Games
7 – Mumford And Sons – Home
8 – Cassius – I Love You So
9 – M83 – MidnightCity
10 – ASAP Rocky – Peso
11 – Minnesota – HoldUp
12 – Joker And Buggsy – 4am
13 – Glasser – Tremel (Jamie XX Remix)
14 – Jamie Woon – Echoes
15 – Sbtrkt – Trials Of The Past
16 – The Tallest Man On Earth – Weather Of A Killing Kind
17 – Woodkid – Iron
18 – Wiley -Wise Man And His Words
19 – The Jealous Guys – Genesis
20 – ASAP Rocky – Wassup
21 – Blackbird Blackbird – Avalanche (Star Slinger Remix)
22 – Unknown Artist – Unknown Track
23 – Clams Casino – Wizard
24 – Hudson Mohawke – Octan

Previously:
Theo Watson – Winter Mix 2011
Theo Watson – Autumn Mix 2010
Theo Watson – Summer Mix 2010
Theo Watson – Spring Mix 2010
Theo Watson – 2009 Mix

Winter Mix 2011

Winter (mini) Mix by Theo Watson.
A smaller but really nice selection. Hope you enjoy!

Download it here:
WinterMix2011.zip

Tracklist:
1 – Kid Cudi – She came along (feat. Sharam)
2 – The Rural Alberta Advantage – Stamp
3 – Heartless Bastards – The Mountain
4 – Beatie Wolfe – Make It Up (Live)
5 – Adele – Rolling In The Deep (Jamie xx Shuffle)
6 – Two Inch Punch – Luv U Up (Demo)
7 – Gold Panda – Marriage (Star Slinger remix)
8 – Starkey – Paradise (Verb Remix)
9 – Darkstar – Dear Heartbeat
10 – James Blake – I Never Learnt To Share
11 – Nicolas Jaar – Aphex Twin + Notorious B.I.G Mashup
12 – Dragon King x La Roux – The Final Kill

Previously:
Theo Watson – Autumn Mix 2010
Theo Watson – Summer Mix 2010
Theo Watson – Spring Mix 2010
Theo Watson – 2009 Mix

Eyewriter 2.0 + Robot Arm = Livewriter

For the 2010 Cinekid festival we took the GML loving RoboTagger one step further by directly connecting it to the new and improved Eyewriter 2.0 system, allowing children visiting the festival to write their name with their eyes and have it drawn by a giant, bright orange robot arm onto paper which they could take home with them.

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The system allowed them to both draw with their eyes and type with a keyboard. The keyboard was by far the most popular with the kids and it would send the letters they made to the robot using a typeface designed by paralysed graffiti artist Tempt1, made with the original Eyewriter system.

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Here is the full alphabet of Tempt1′s typeface ( grab a gml version ). Notice the EW signature in the corner :)

This is the Eyewriter 2.0 hardware. Now a glasses free design which is more more accurate, using a hacked PS3 Eye camera with two external LED clusters to make reference glints in the eye.

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Open Source:

Both the Eyewriter code and the Livewriter code are open source projects, made with openFrameworks. You can follow them on Github: Eyewriter Main Repo and Cinekid Livewriter Repo.

Credits:

Livewriter @ Cinekid:
Theo Watson, Golan Levin and Gijs Van Wee, Jan Van Laar ( Polynorm )
Based on the GML Robotagger by Golan Levin and Evan Roth

Eyewriter 2.0 Crew:
Zachary Lieberman, Ito Takayuki, Golan Levin, Kyle McDonald

Eyewriter Team:
Tempt1, Evan Roth, Chris Sugrue, Zachary Lieberman, Theo Watson and James Powderly.

Big thanks to:
Clint Beharry, Rui pereira, Lucas Werthein, Paul Ferragut, The Eyewriter Collab, Parsons The New School For Design, ABB and Polynorm.

Extras Special Thanks to Joost Broersen from Cinekid for making this happen!

Big thanks to Gijs Van Wee and Jan Van Laar from Polynorm who designed the hardware and software for the Livewriter and a big thanks to ABB for supplying us with the robot. Also big thanks to Golan for sharing his robot code and for inspiring the project!

Here is Jan making some late night additions to the robot.
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Gijs admiring his spring loaded marker pressure system, designed to give a conistant pressure to the marker.
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Made with openFrameworks :)
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About Eyewriter:
eyewriter-quad

The EyeWriter project is an ongoing collaborative research effort to empower people who are suffering from ALS with creative technologies. It is a low-cost eye-tracking apparatus & custom software that allows graffiti writers and artists with paralysis resulting from Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis to draw using only their eyes.

To find out more about the Eyewriter project vist the main Eyewriter site: http://www.eyewriter.org/

Autumn Mix 2010

Autumn ( or Fall if you prefer ) Mix by Theo Watson.
Hope you enjoy!

Download it here:
AutumnMix2010-TheoWatson.zip

Listen online here

Tracklist:
1 – Flying Into Tokyo – Magnetic Man
2 – Glock Nines (Ratatat Remix) – Beanie Sigel & Jay-Z
3 – Mushababy – My Sick Uncle
4 – To Something – Ghostpoet Ft. Rox
5 – Runaway – Kanye West feat. Pusha T
6 – You Got The Love (The XX Remix) – Florence And The Machine
7 – Maniac ft. Cage – KiD CuDi
8 – Young Blood – The Naked And Famous
9 – 1000 Kisses Deep (Beatie Wolfe Remix) – Leonard Cohen
10 – I’m Going Down (Bruce Springsteen Cover) – Vampire Weekend
11 – Money Box (Jamie xx Remix) – Eliza Doolittle
12 – Late Night Tip – Three 6 Mafia
13 – Do For Love(Vodka & MIlk Remix) – Tupac
14 – Sunshine (Feat. M.I.A.) – Rye Rye
15 – Don’t Stop! – Child Rebel Soldier
16 – So Appalled (feat. RZA, Jay-Z, Pusha T, Swizz Beatz & Cyhi the Prynce) – Kanye West
17 – In For The Kill (Skream’s Let’s Get Ravey Remix) – La Roux
18 – Could This Be Real ( Joker Remix ) – Sub Focus
19 – Quest – Nosaj Thing
20 – Dutch Flowerz – Skream
21 – Refuse – Dza
22 – Pass Out – Tinie Tempah
23 – Soft Shock (Them Jeans Acoustic Remix) – Yeah Yeah Yeahs
24 – Animal (Miike Snow cover) – Sky Ferreira
25 – Excuses (The Morning Benders cover) – Andy Fitch & Brian Russo
26 – San Francisco – Ted Hawkins

Previously:
Theo Watson – Spring Mix 2010
Theo Watson – Summer Mix 2010
Theo Watson – 2009 Mix

Summer Mix 2010

Some tracks I have been enjoying the last few months.

Grab it here: SummerMix2010

Listen online here

UPDATE: New Autumn Mix

Tracklist after the break.
(more…)

Author Archive

This is the archive for Theo Watson.

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