Earlier this month I heard back that my talk submission for the 2025 Algorithmic Patterns Conference (Alpaca)) had been accepted. My talk will be called (something like) "Frantic Dances Down Steep Slopes: The Algorithmic Patterns of MRI" or maybe "To what extent is MRI an algorithmic pattern practice" if I get scared.
Alpaca is "the festival of algorithmic patterns, showcasing pattern-based work across music, textiles, dance and more." Alpaca is organised by some people I really respect/like, and will feature incredible art and ideas which I'm really excited about. I feel very priviliged to be able to participate in this way!
So, I better do a good job. There's a lot I need to do in order to give a talk I can be really proud of. There's a lot I want to do with it. It will take a lot of preparation.
To help me organise this work, I'm going to make a list here, and I'm going to copy it onto paper and stick it on my wall. Then I'll tick things off on both as I do them. This should keep me motivated/structure my work. And you can bug me about it!
Here's the list!
Last updated: Monday the 14th of July.
- Find out how long (15 minutes -- argh!) and when (13th or 14th of September) my talk will be
- Email Alex about volunteering to show speakers around/be a dogsbody
- Buy train tickets to and from Sheffield
- Speak with the Sci-Art person at my university and see what they think/what support I can get from the uni
- Find a place to stay in Sheffield
- Make some actual art:
- Inspired by EPGs
- With imaging simulators
- Musically with Bloch equations
- Develop my interactive NMR simulator and write the documentation so that it can be used for playing
- Edit and improve my submission, ready for publication (DEADLINE: 22nd August)
- Draft the talk
- Articulate, precisely, who my intended audience is and what I want to achieve with this talk
- Make the slides
- Work out what I'm going to say
- Rehearse
- Rehearse
- Rehearse
- Rehearse
- Rehearse
- Rehearse
- Rehearse
- Rehearse
- Present the talk to people I think give good talks and good feedback
- Act on their feedback
Thesis Statement
MRI is an icredible, unsung, piece of physics that affects all of our lives, and yet which is only understood by specialists. MRI is also the algorithmic patterning of the nuclear magnetisation in your body. These patterns produce images, which are their main use, but these algorithms also program pleasing visual patterns which are interesting in their own rights. I hope to inform the audience about MRI, and excite and invite artistic collaboration on the subject. The talk will feature a short demo of my interactive NMR demonstrator in order to explain it, and feature small sketches of artwork I produce inspired by the topics I discuss.