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A project of Harvestworks supported by the New York State Music Fund, established by the New York State Attorney General at Rockefeller Philanthropy Advisors. A Harvestworks 30th Anniversary Project.

  

The Key to Successful Projects

Until recently the majority of smaller art projects involved a single technology but today’s projects touch many different areas. It’s affordable, it’s possible, and the artists today are much more willing to explore emerging technologies. As we work with contemporary artists, we find that their projects need complex planning and expertise from a variety of technical people. The following questionnaire and list of issues will assist you in the planning, production and distribution of a work using these new technologies.

Today’s Projects
1. Until recently the majority of smaller art projects involved a single technology.
2. Today’s projects touch many different areas.
3. Reason: it’s affordable, it’s possible, and today’s mindset is different.
4. What is needed is expertise from different people, and more complex planning.

Common Issues I
1. No clear idea of the final result.
2. Artistic goals change rapidly, and major changes are introduced in late stages.
3. Estimated timeframe & budget unrealistic.
4. No time allocated for testing hardware and betatesting software, revisions, bugfixes, etc.
5. Timelines are often planned with the full-time engineer in mind.

Common Issues II
6. No clear or written agreements with external help.
7. Work is done by friends at a “friend’s rate”.
8. No communication between engineers.
9. No support from the place where artwork is shown.
10. No manual, documentation or commenting made for later stages of the project.

Case Study - Audio Installation
Visitors talk into a microphone, and the computer translates the text and plays the translation back alongside some other audio files.
The piece relates to the recent advertising of a handheld translation product for the US Army, supposedly used in Iraq.

Case Study - Technology
1. Visitor speaks into a wireless microphone.
2. Apple speech recognition determines the (predefined) text and reports it to Max/MSP.
3. Max/MSP determines the translated soundfile.
4. Soundfile is played back via Bluetooth through headphones.

Case Study - Problems I
1. Deadline in two months, but it included the year-end holidays.
2. Engineers (software & hardware) had different opinions about the proper handling of the wireless part.
3. Bluetooth audio not stable enough for art projects.
4. The use of various technologies needed a lot of testing - Wireless Mic, Speech Recognition, Max/MSP, Bluetooth Headset.

Case Study - Problems II
5. Bluetooth connection stops speech recognition.
6. No sufficient testing before shipping overseas.
7. No support at all from gallery overseas.
8. No specialist available at the gallery.

Questionnaire - Goals
1. What is the ultimate goal of the project? Describe the results you want, not how to do it.
2. How would you describe the project to a total idiot?
3. What does the person who walks into the installation or performance see or hear? Write it down as single steps.
4. Who are the people encountering your installation or performance? What is your press text?

Questionnaire - Skills I
1. Which skills are needed to complete the project?
2. Which skills do I have?
3. Which skills do I not have, and need to get from others?

Questionnaire - Skills II
1. Who are the possible engineers, supporters, and other people whose help is needed - plus backups?Are you sure they can
work together?
2. Which ones are “friends”, and under what conditions can they help?
3. What is their availability? How many hours per week can they devote to your project?
4. Which ones are outside professional services, and how much would they cost?

Questionnaire - Agreements I
1. Do I have written agreements with every person who works on the project, especially with friends?
2. Do all people have the technical specs, goals, and other descriptions of the project, especially those that allow them
to see the whole?
3. Have you specified all changes in writing, e.g. via email?

Questionnaire - Agreements II
1. Are we clear on every part of the financial aspect - flat rate or hourly rate? What do phone calls cost?
2. Did we agree on the conditions when the work is considered done (and payment has to be made)?
3. Did I negotiate at least one revision for the task?
4. Did I make sure commenting or manuals will happen?

Questionnaire - Software
1. Which software might be needed to complete the project?
a. Applications such as Final Cut Pro, Protools, Maya, After Effects, etc.
b. Programming Languages such as Max/MSP/Jitter, Pd, Processing, C++, etc.
2. Are “exotic” software skills needed, such as for
programming microcontrollers or games, Soft-VNS?

Questionnaire - Hardware
1. What computers are required?
2. Are external controllers, e.g. sensors, microphones, cameras involved?
3. What external part has to be controlled by the software?
4. What would be the I/O interface to handle all the ins and outs?
5. Is there something that has to be specifically built?

Questionnaire - Soft/Hardware Tasks
1. What are the tasks each piece of soft- and hardware performs during the installation or performance?
2. Can I write it down on a timeline, e.g. “person enters installation: soft-vns recognizes person via camera, by increasing value number_of_people”?
3. If problems/bugs occur - what did I do, in what order, that led to the problem?

Questionnaire - Timeline I
1. Did I add at least one-third to the estimated time, double those of friends?
2. Did we add time for testing, revisions, commenting, manuals - and two weeks of buffer at the end?
3. Am I aware of holidays, and the general availability of the supporting people?
4. Do I have regular meetings with everybody involved in the project?

Questionnaire - Timeline II
5. Can I expect to have new ideas that might change the direction of the project, therefore adding time before completion?
6. Can I outline the dependencies of the project - which task depends on the completion of another task (by another person?)?