On April 19th, 2008 I met Graeme King near the Black Cat nightclub after he had just started his 24 hours on 14th Street project. His goal was to take pictures of people for 24 hours and exhibit the photographs at his Art-O-Matic exhibit space.

I had just finished the VJ setup upstairs in the main room of the Black Cat and was about to head home to change clothes before the evening. Although I didn’t blog about it at the time, that evening I VJed alongside DJ Rekha from New York City. DJ Rehka is a London-born musician who DJs her own blend of contemporary bhangra hip-hop fusion and has been credited with pioneering bhangra music in North America. Her first album, DJ Rekha Presents Basement Bhangra, was released in October 2007 on Koch Records, fuses the South Asian genre of bhangra music with international hip-hop and drum beats. It was quite a lot of fun! Click here to download an MP3 from her CD.

Graeme’s photograph of me is unique because he caught me wearing an article of clothing that has been blogged about and even written about in the Washington Post. Look at the sidebar photograph to see another view of the shirt (the photograph was taken nearly one year earlier). Although you can only see the top of the graphic in Graeme’s photograph, it features the close-up detail from Ball of Destruction, which is a map I created in September of 2005 that features a woman textured by aerial photography of the area around White House holding a globe of Hurricane Katrina with a devastated New Orleans in the background.

For the show I wore a shirt that I had recently ordered from France that says “Jeux de mains, Jeux de vilains” which is definitely not something that says Bhangra, but I didn’t know I’d be VJing when I was getting ready for the night. The phrase literally translates to “Hand Games, Evil Hands,” but the proverb has multiple different meanings. From what I understand, the phrase was first was coined during the French Revolution by rich nobles who played Jeu de paume (the precursor to tennis) with rackets & gloves while the poor (the villains according to the nobility) played with their bare hands. Now it’s a traditional proverb adults use when children are playing too rough. It also has a sexual connotation, but I’ll let you figure that out yourself.

Enough about the clothing, check out Graeme’s time-lapse video of his Art-O-Matic installation. His exhibit space is on the south end of the 6th floor. The picture of me above is featured about 27 seconds into the video:

Comments Off || || Posted One Year Ago: LOLMaps by Nikolas R. Schiller

5/21/2008 || 10:22 am
Hirshhorn Quilt

: rendered at 18,000 X 12,000 :

Following up on my new procedural idea from last week, I made this derivative map without publishing the intermediate maps. The unseen steps involve the rendering of a pre-Hirshhorn Quilt, sampling a portion of that quilt, and projecting the imagery again to create the map above. The result, as with all derivative maps, is a more symmetrical, arabesque map. This technique will be used again.

View the Google Map of the Hirshhorn Museum on the National Mall in Ward 2 of Washington, DC.

: detail :

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4/12/2008 || 5:42 pm
Geovisual QR Code

: saved at 6,000 x 6,000 :

QR Code is a two-dimensional bar code created by Japanese corporation Denso-Wave in 1994. The “QR” is stands for “Quick Response,” and it operates very similar to traditional bar codes, but allows for more customization. QR Codes are common in Japan where they are currently the most popular type of two dimensional code. In recent weeks I’ve read about some very interesting uses of the code and decided to make something with it.
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4/9/2008 || 12:30 pm
The first Artomatic prints have arrived

Federal Triangle Quilt #3 with Chinese signature

Using some of the funds from my DC Commission on the Arts & Humanities 2008 Young Artist Grant, I purchased the first set of prints that will be shown at next month’s Art-O-Matic exhibition.

One of Kodak’s newest products is their fleece blanket, which is 100% polyester, machine washable, and frankly, are a very good deal at about $45 each. I’ve been waiting a long time to print my maps on large media cost-effectively and fortunately the size of these blankets match the aspect ratio of my maps (3:2) so I can upload my 9,000 x 6,000-sized maps (one half the original rendering size) without any extra image manipulation. Or so I thought.
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Comments Off || || Posted One Year Ago: Capitol Hill Mandala, first draft

3/13/2008 || 2:56 pm
White House Peace

: rendered at 18,000 X 12,000 :.

Similar to the Shanghai Map, this map uses Chinese characters as a decorative element. The source aerial photography of the White House was censored by the government before it was released to the public. I documented this about a year ago with my Lost Series project “The White House is off-limits to the public.” Unlike the Shanghai Map, I made a tessellation using the words for PEACE instead of placing the glyphs at the bottom. I was, however, thinking of revisiting this map in the near future and adding more text. As it is now, I think it’s somewhat plain, and deserves something else. I’m not sure what that ‘else’ is yet.

View the Google Map (which shows older imagery) of the White House.

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3/12/2008 || 2:44 pm
Union Station Quilt #3

: rendered at 18,000 X 12,000 :.

I find it quite interesting being able to see the difference between spatial scales when comparing the two previous Union Station maps. Since this map uses .16 meters per pixel aerial photography and the previous two maps use imagery that was .3 meters per pixel, you can quite easily see how much less I am now showing of the area around Union Station. Specifically, this map only shows the U.S. Postal Museum, Union Station, the Thurgood Marshal Federal Building, and the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.View the Google Map of Union Station in downtown Washington, DC.

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3/9/2008 || 9:10 pm
Scott Circle Quilt #2

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Read more about Scott Circle in my previous entry

View the Google Map of Scott Circle in downtown Washington, DC.

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3/8/2008 || 1:32 pm
Scott Circle Quilt

: rendered at 18,000 X 12,000 :

I am in the process of making hexagon quilt projection maps of all the major traffic circles in Washington, DC. I have most of the circles covered and intend on continuing this project as I acquire new imagery of Washington, DC. Of important note is that Dupont, Logan, Washington, and Scott circles all lie with the area that is censored in Google Maps. Also, this is one of the first maps that I’ve made in a few years that features National Geographic’s headquarters. I will probably make a derivative map dedicated to National Geographic.

View the Google Map of Scott Circle in downtown Washington, DC.

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3/2/2008 || 11:43 am
Washington + Dupont Circle Quilt

: rendered at 18,000 X 12,000 :

I decided to switch things up a bit with today’s rendering. I have become very efficient with most of the processes used to create my maps, which both makes them standardized and sometimes a bit too similar to each other (while paradoxically being different geographies). This map and probably the next few maps are going to be slightly different.

In order to have the most recent maps of Logan Circle, Dupont Circle, and Washington Circle look similar to each other, I would take the first derivative tessellation and overlay it on top of the tessellation that I was constructing. By adjusting the transparency, I can overlay the circles directly on top of each other which makes the subsequent map look nearly identical.

Normally, I simply delete the original tessellation when I have the two lined up perfectly, however in today’s map I chose to not delete the other map. Instead, I adjusted the transparency of Dupont Circle to 51% to show both geographies at once. The result is something that I wasn’t expecting, but am quite pleased with the results. I can see myself using this process again. It’s like a double exposure…

View the Google Map of Washington Circle in the Foggy Bottom neighborhood of Washington, DC.

View the Google Map of Dupont Circle in Washington, DC.

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2/29/2008 || 11:46 am
Washington Circle Quilt #2

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By using the exact same tessellation process, I was hoping that this derivative map would look similar to Dupont Circle Quilt 2005 #2 and Logan Circle Quilt #2. Alas, I must have not used the EXACT tessellation process because the circle looks slightly different, but I am still pleased with the result. I intend on making maps of the rest of the circles in Washington, DC.

View the Google Map of Washington Circle in the Foggy Bottom neighborhood of Washington, DC.

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2/26/2008 || 3:36 pm
Washington Circle Quilt

: rendered at 18,000 X 12,000 :

View the Google Map of Washington Circle in the Foggy Bottom neighborhood of Washington, DC.

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2/11/2008 || 2:23 pm
Poor Map Design: 5 Guys Famous Burgers & Fries

Inverted scan of 5 Guys poorly drawn map

The other day I was at Five Guys getting lunch and I picked up their to-go menu (below). On the back of menu was a completely blank page with the map above. When I saw it, I laughed out loud and said, “This has got to be one of the worst maps I’ve seen in awhile.” At least my grilled cheese sandwich was tasty..

Let me explain:
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Comments Off || || Posted One Year Ago: The New DC Flag...if HR 328 passes...

1/20/2008 || 8:02 pm
Federal Triangle Quilt #3

: rendered at 18,000 X 12,000 :

Using this portion of Federal Triangle Quilt #2, I created this derivative map. Again, I found myself counting up the total number of Freedom Plazas located with in the map. After spending a few minutes, I counted a total of 124 complete maps within my map!

View my previous entry about Federal Triangle.

View the Google Map of Federal Triangle in downtown Washington, DC.

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Comments Off || || Posted One Year Ago: Polar Coordinates of the Super Dome in New Orleans, Louisiana [hexagon]

1/15/2008 || 12:58 pm
Federal Triangle Quilt #2

: rendered at 18,000 X 12,000 :

Using this portion of Federal Triangle Quilt, I created this derivative map. I found myself counting up the total number of Freedom Plazas located with in the map. After spending a few minutes, I counted a total of 80 complete maps within my map– 48 in the map’s center, and 16 along the top and 16 along the bottom. I look forward to seeing this one printed out!

View my previous entry about Federal Triangle.

View the Google Map of Federal Triangle in downtown Washington, DC.

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1/14/2008 || 5:20 pm
Federal Triangle Quilt

: rendered at 18,000 X 12,000 :

Around the time that I made the Google Earth layer featuring the map of 109 brothels within sight of the White House, I downloaded the imagery to make a few follow-up maps. Since the source aerial photography has such high spatial resolution (6 inches per pixel), the area shown in the map is quite limited. It features: the John A. Wilson Building (the DC City Hall), the Ronald Reagan Building & International Trade Center, the I.R.S. Building, Department of Commerce buildings, Old Post Office, and my favorite landmark, Freedom Plaza. And because Freedom Plaza is laid out in the form of a map of DC, this map actually contains numerous maps of DC (but how many?).

Due to my research related to Google’s censorship of downtown Washington, DC, I can claim that this map features newer imagery that one cannot see on the current version of Google Maps or Google Earth.

View the Google Map of Federal Triangle in downtown Washington, DC.

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Comments Off || || Posted One Year Ago: Austin Quilt #2

12/9/2007 || 2:30 am
Within Sight of the White House [Overlay of Hooker’s Division]

[image links to .kmz file]
Google Earth Screen Shot of the Antique Overlay

One of the maps I recently downloaded was from a newspaper clipping showing the area near the White House. With 50 Saloons and 109 Bawdy-Houses the map was drawn to highlight business owners who were paying Federal taxes but not DC taxes. Of importance is how nearly all but four of the business owners were female. Were they not paying taxes because they were disenfranchised? Women’s suffrage didn’t come for another 30 years with the passage of the 19th Amendment. By taking the map and importing it into Google Earth, I was able to arrange it so that the buildings line up with minimal distortion. It’s not a perfect map, but it is truly an interesting glimpse into downtown Washington, DC in the 1890’s.

Today most of the buildings are all gone. There are some exceptions, like City Hall (Central Powerhouse) and the Old Post Office, which is written as the “New Post Office” on the map. In the place of the 109 Bawdy-Houses and 50 Saloons was the creation of Federal Triangle. Ohio Ave- gone, DC’s entertainment center, gone as well. Later built, on the year of my birth, was Freedom Plaza which was designed to look like L’Enfant’s map no less. By adjusting the antique map’s transparency you can see a approximately 117 years of development. From brothel to federal, what a strange entity time is.

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1 Comment Rendered || || Posted One Year Ago: Park La Brea Quilt #2

12/3/2007 || 7:42 am
2008 Washington, DC Area Calendar

Below are the months of the calendar featuring places around the Washington, DC metropolitan area and links to their respective entries so that you can see the map’s full size. Read more about the other calendars here.

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Comments Off || || Posted One Year Ago: Temporal Stereography of Schiller Park, Illinois

9/7/2007 || 9:06 am
Dupont Circle Quilt 2005 #2

: rendered at 18,000 X 12,000 :

After making yesterday’s map, I thought it would be interesting to expand on the “sister circle” concept and make a similar version of Dupont Circle. The process involved in making this map is something I have never done before. I took the source tile from Logan Circle Quilt #2 and reduced it to the original 3,000 x 3,000 size and opened up Dupont Circle Quilt 2005. Once the opened, I overlaid the source location on to Dupont map and tried my best to place it on the exact same location. This involved an attempt to overlay the circles on top of one another. The assumption was that they were the same in size, so by adjusting the opacity of Logan Circle, I was able to fit them on top of eachother. Of course it wasn’t exact, but what it allowed me to do was to copy the same location and create a very similar tessellation. I know it wasn’t perfect because the circle is slightly truncated when overlapped. You can see this (below) in the way that the fountain does not show up properly. Regardless, I am really pleased with the way the new process turned out.

View the Google Map of Dupont Circle in Washington, DC.

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Render A Comment || || Posted One Year Ago: Williamsburg Quilt

9/6/2007 || 12:42 pm
Logan Circle Quilt #2

: rendered at 18,000 X 12,000 :

Using this piece of imagery, I created a new tessellation to create this map. I find it quite beautiful! The ways in which the circles combine to make new circles is the aspect that I like the most.

View the Google Map of Logan Circle in Washington, DC.

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Comments Off || || Posted One Year Ago: Lower Manhattan Quilt #2

9/5/2007 || 1:00 pm
Logan Circle Quilt

: rendered at 18,000 X 12,000 :

It’s been ages since I made a map of Washington, DC. I’ve been so caught up in the Los Angeles Interchanges Series that I’ve created little else lately.

This map is of Logan Circle which is one of my favorite circles in Washington, DC and is only a 5 minute walk from my house. Unlike Dupont Circle, which I’ve made 4 maps of, this is my first map of Logan Circle (Dupont’s “sister” circle, located EXACTLY .75 miles away). The U St. Quadrant Tessellation series, created exactly 2 years ago, features 4 maps that ‘barely’ include Logan Circle. You can see the circle if you look close enough: U St. SW, U St. SE, U St. NW, and U St. NE
(You can also see how the Quilt Projection has changed in the last two years! Notice the change in scale!!).

Up next is a fractual of Logan Circle created using the 1st derivative tessellation of this imagery.

View the Google Map of Logan Circle in Washington, DC.

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Comments Off || || Posted One Year Ago: Central Park Quilt - North #2, Lower Manhattan Quilt

7/18/2007 || 3:51 pm
Kennedy Center Quilt

: rendered at 18,000 X 12,000 :

In continuance of my current task of mapping the areas of Washington, DC that Google has chosen to censor, I realzed that I had not made a map with the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts.

View the Google Map of the Kennedy Center in Washington, DC.

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Comments Off || || Posted One Year Ago: San Juan Quilt

7/17/2007 || 8:20 am
Dupont Circle Quilt 2005

: rendered at 18,000 X 12,000 :

In continuance of my current task of mapping the areas of Washington, DC that Google has chosen to censor, I decided to revist my favorite circle.

View the Google Map of Dupont Circle in Washington, DC.

Related Maps:

• Scott + Dupont Circle Quilt
• Washington + Dupont Circle Quilt
• Poor Map Design: 5 Guys Famous Burgers & Fries
• Dupont Circle Quilt 2005 #2
• Dupont Lenz Quilt Animation
• Dupont Circle Quilt 2005
• Dupont Circle Quilt #2
• Dupont Circle Quilt

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Comments Off || || Posted One Year Ago: Wilmington Quilt #2

7/16/2007 || 1:20 pm
U.S. Department of State Quilt

: rendered at 18,000 X 12,000 :

Following up on my discovery of Google’s censorship, I’ve decided to make my next maps be in the area in Washington, DC that is currently censored. By mapping this area, I can easily claim that I’ve beat Google to the map for each location.

The area around the State Department is one that is quite familiar to me. The dorm that I lived in for 2 different years at GWU is located in this map. Alongside the State Department Building (the largest building in the map), there is the Federal Reserve Building, Office of Personnel Management, National Academy of Sciences, and a few other of buildings of note, like the Red Cross HQ and the World Health Organization.

View the Google Map of the area around the State Department in Washington, DC.

Related Maps:

• 2008 Washington, DC Area Calendar
• Polar Coordinates of the George Washington University [octagon]
• Star of the George Washington University
• GWU Quilt #4
• GWU Quilt #3
• GWU Quilt #2
• GWU Quilt
• GWU Memory

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Comments Off || || Posted One Year Ago: Wilmington Quilt

7/12/2007 || 8:47 pm
Lincoln Memorial Quilt 2005 #2

: rendered at 18,000 X 12,000 :

I made a couple different tessellations of the area around the Lincoln Memorial. This map features the same imagery used for this map, but it’s tessellated differently to create a new design.

View the Google Map zoom-in of the Lincoln Memorial in Washington, DC.

Related Maps:

• Lincoln Memorial Quilt 2005 #2
• Lincoln Memorial Quilt 2005
• NewOrLincoln
• Lincoln Memorial Quilt #2
• Lincoln Memorial Quilt

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7/11/2007 || 8:31 pm
Lincoln Memorial Quilt 2005

: rendered at 18,000 X 12,000 :

I decided to start mapping the area that Google has censored. I discovered that the Lincoln Memorial lies on the line of censorship [link to Google Map zoom-in]. The line starts right at the stairs of the Lincoln Memorial, which means that the reflection pool imagery in my map is newer than Google’s imagery. The Vietnam Memorial is also newer in my map but is censored by Google.

View the Google Map zoom-in of the Lincoln Memorial in Washington, DC.

• Lincoln Memorial Quilt 2005 #2
• Lincoln Memorial Quilt 2005
• NewOrLincoln
• Lincoln Memorial Quilt #2
• Lincoln Memorial Quilt

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3/26/2007 || 3:32 pm
The White House is Off-Limits to the Public: An Exploration of Censorship’s Perimeter

click the image above to view my latest installment in the Lost Series

LEGEND:
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Comments Off || || Posted One Year Ago: Nashville Quilt #2

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