From master work to newbe blooper. The lexicon
Reinventing the servo- The artist spends great effort engineering some commonly available component secondary to the work's artistic intent, usually in a suboptimal form.
Scar tissue- the accumulation of bad design, bad construction, broken components, patches, and obsolesence that eventually kill a techart system..
Art Weenies- Non-tech artists of scant talent, their patrons, and administrators. Commonly known as "the Art World".
Grunge Tech- Systems assembled from scavenged components in a "quick and dirty" fashion.
Hacking- True hacking is art, even if the intent is not explicitly tech art. Explicit tech art needs a high level of hacking.
Glorified Blinking Light- An artist can take limited means and make a statement. An engineer can take the highest technology and make it boring.
Concept- A cool concept that barely works is better than a boring one that works great. A truly cool concept must be unique, surprising, and dificult.
Oyster- A terminal geek who lives in a techno environment, particularly as seen outdoors.
Shop Rat- A welder, machinist, or other industrial shop worker capable of building a quality tech art platform.
Coder- A programmer who joins a tech art team to write software for the project.
Building Data- The ultimate humanoid robot, based on the Star Trek character played by Brent Spiner.
Mowzilla- Any concept resembling a consumer device presented as "tech art". Originally refered to a web based lawnmower proposed as tech art, concieved well after web robots of every stripe had been fielded.
Art Robot- Any tech art work with a personae or otherwise lifelike character.
Ted's- The Greek restuarant in Austin where tech artists and robot hackers have informally gathered every Thurs. nite since 1988.
Artificial Personae-
Dr. Death- (term predates Kavorkian noteriety) Creepy hacker of new weapons based on a one time visitor to Ted's. Also applies to one who designs dangerous systems with a careless attitude (SRL, despite hype, represents a reasonably careful approach).
Corporate Nazis- Business culture operating opposite of the anarcho-democratic, libertarian, transendentalist flavor of hacking and techart.
Gilding the Servo- Glorifying or over refining a mundane component.
Tripping- A robot operating under mistaken sensory or control assumptions.
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