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Sosolimited Co Founder Gives Art And Technology Workshop

Sosolimited co-founder gives art and technology workshop Renee Barrow | Posted: Tuesday, October 15, 2013 6:47 pm Justin Manor, co-founder of technology and art studio Sosolimited visited the University Tuesday in an attempt to help bridge the gap between technology and art. Manor was brought to the University by the Center for Computation and Technology. One of the company’s well-known projects, ReConstitution 2012, breaks down the presidential debates and creates statistics from the candidates’ words. Manor’s workshop aimed to teach others how to do this and create their own typographic representations. “They are creating new experiences for digesting media content,” said Derick Ostrenko, assistant professor in the School of Art and Center for Computation and Technology faculty member. On Tuesday, Manor demonstrated the company’s new platform, Semantic Sabotage, a tool that allows users to remix YouTube videos as they please. Sosolimited’s other work provides an artistic and unorthodox way to rethink public speaking, said digital arts junior Shane Mikelonis. “It shows how prepared people are before they speak,” said digital art junior Marco Munguia. “It represents how people act when they are debating.” Manor demonstrated an example of the platform using President Barack Obama’s response to the Boston Marathon bombings by highlighting words associated with negative and positive emotion, such as “terror” and “heroism.” The platform helps people understand his speaking style, Manor said. “So much media we consume comes prepackaged,” Manor said. “We aim to create systems to deconstruct that.” Sosolimited has offices in San Diego and Boston and was founded in 2003 by a group of friends from Massachusetts Institute of Technology. The company’s work consists of engaging typography, videography, computer vision, sensor technologies and sound design. After getting its start working in nightclubs, it has evolved into working with live speaker events, Manor said. The company contributed to projects for the 2012 London Olympics, Center for Strategic and International Studies and the past three U.S. Presidential debates. Sosolimited has also participated in interactive projects for Google, Honda, HBO, IBM and VICE. Interactive art requires technology that is growing in popularity, Mikelonis said. Manor will follow up with a lecture at 2 p.m. today in the Louisiana Digital Media Center Theater.