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Computer Vision for Vaporwave Art
Using modern tech for artistic pursuits
Reading through publications and implementing practical algorithms is exciting, of course. I enjoy finding clever ways to segment images, detect people being jerks, or even help a robot get through a farm. Yet, there are weeks in which I don’t want to use computer vision for anything meaningful. On days when the brain is feeling especially smooth, it’s relaxing to let the code pour from the fingers and use the field for a benign purpose.
This week was one of those weeks. In addition to my involvement in technology, I enjoy fashion and art. I recently discovered a fringe art form known as Vaporwave. The form adopts elements of popular internet era art forms such as glitch art and chillwave. Vaporwave differs from these other forms with its emphasis on nostalgic topics, often using 1980’s style pop art from American and Japanese culture. Graphical user interfaces (GUIs) of the 90’s and early 2000’s are also common gimmicks. Such objects illicit feelings of simplicity, when personal computers were still nascent and the tech industry was considerably more tame.