Arghonoon Project
Project Director Reza Vali is developing a computer-driven keyboard instrument that will be produce the sounds of Persian traditional and folk instruments using the Pythagorean tuning system of Persian and Middle Eastern music. Individual instruments in a digital Western European sound library have been manually retuned according to the interval ratios of the Persian modes and software is being developed to automate this process. Future plans include bringing masters of Persian traditional instruments to record samples of the sounds of their instruments for a new sound library, developing accompaniment software, and experimenting with new types of keyboard instruments (such as ergonomic keyboards) and foot pedals, to control the Arghonoon instrument in place of the present style of European keyboard.


Community Forest Project
An inquiry into the role of woodlands as community and cultural assets, led by project directors Constance and Thomas Merriman. They've identified an extensive matrix of greenspace within the Pittsburgh region's urban environment. Because of the regional topography of mountainous plateaus with rivers and floodplains in valleys with steep hillsides, undeveloped strips and patches of woodland are woven into the built environment, resulting in a much higher than average percentage of forested urban space. The Merrimans will demonstrate, through visual representations, how this system functions and increase people's understanding and appreciation for the value of these urban ecosystems. The citizens of this urban forest community are people, plants, animals, birds, and other living creatures. They will produce visual artifacts in collaboration with these residents and users, and present the outcomes of this experience to the public. The presentation of these visual artifacts will act as a catalyst for dialog on the topic of the value of urban ecological systems. Developing a deeper understanding of how Pittsburgh's forest network functions and provides habitat for all the region's residents can lead to models that could be applied in other urban areas.


End of Code
End of Code is a 20 minute computer animation project directed by Distinguished Fellow James Duesing and supported by a grant from the NEA. The finished animation will be a humorous depiction of two groups of animal/human hybrid characters competing for power as personified by traffic. In order to hack into the city's system of traffic lights, they must examine and decipher the social and behavioral codes of their culture. The production of this animation is both an exploration of contemporary narrative and an experiment in complex visual communication using developing technology. Duesing's goal is to involve people from the scientific community directly in the artistic process. He is collaborating with computer scientists to use motion capture and develop dynamic simulations and non-photo realistic rendering techniques to give this project a unique visual aspect. Jessica Hodgins, Professor of Computer Science and Robotics, is overseeing the motion capture and development of rendering algorithms.


High Point Park Investigation
David Bear directs an inquiry into the design of a public park on top of the US Steel Tower in downtown Pittsburgh. Standing 841 feet from street to roofline, the US Steel Tower has long ranked as both Pittsburgh's tallest building and the highest building between Philadelphia and Chicago. Remarkably, in addition to being nearly one acre in area, its flat, triangular roof footprint also closely mimics Pittsburgh's Point State Park in both outline and orientation. More remarkably, BearŐs research has shown it is also the largest, highest space on top of a building in the entire world! The vision is to transform this presently flat, empty expanse into a publicly accessible, green facility that both contributes to civic well-being and conforms to the highest standards of solar and sustainable design, a venue that will attract visitors from near and far while supporting itself in several senses of the word. High Point Park will incorporate green design and construction techniques to minimize its energy needs; wind power and photo-voltaics to create electricity; sustainable plantings to make use of rainwater so as to make the facility environmentally self-sustaining. The park should also be financially self-sustaining, generating the revenue to support its on-going operation.


One Mile Garden
One Mile Garden is an experiment that intends to create a model for small scale food production and distribution in small communities. Project Directors Bob Bingham, Robin Hewlett and Ally Reeves are investigating social conditions, food security, and relationships between individual and collective action. They are working with the Coleman Center for the Arts to create a central communal garden, satellite gardens on participants' properties and an edible townscape of fruit and nut trees in a one-mile area of York, Alabama. Practices will include dialogue with participants to reveal needs and interests, and the establishment of networks for information, resource and skill sharing. The goal is to form personalized connections to food through a variety of growing strategie--communal and private; active (cultivated garden) and passive (edible townscape); small, medium and large-scale gardens, ranging from a windowsill planter to city lots.


Pittsburgh Creativity Project
The Pittsburgh Creativity Project was created and funded by The Heinz Endowments and The Pittsburgh Foundation in response to the need of local artists and arts organizations to cultivate emergent innovation and broaden the base of support for their creative work throughout the city. Their aim with this initiative is to increase the quantity and quality of diverse artistic products by arts organizations and individual artists in Pittsburgh. Through the project, artists are invited to critique, contribute to, and refine systems that support further professional development and the advancement of artists' careers in the region. They are also empowered to act as decision-makers in awarding funds to Pittsburgh's creative community. The project's structure includes an advisory committee comprised of artists and other creative stakeholders to insure that the project's activities remain accountable to the community it is designed to serve. Project Director Teresa Foley designed a criteria and method for distributing financial support to Pittsburgh artists ($200-5,000); created the project web site, featuring profiles of project awardees, dispatches from the Pittsburgh arts-landscape, and links to local and national resources; and presented roundtables where artists shared information and debated issues.


Pittsburgh Signs Project
The Pittsburgh Signs Project is a web based collection of images of signs, created by co-directors Jennifer Baron, Greg Langel, Elizabeth Perry and Mark Stroup, that documents the visual culture of Western Pennsylvania and serves as a "launch pad" for dialogues regarding topics such as community, crowd sourced publications, history, commerce, and the change in city landscape. It draws on social history, urban archaeology, photography and social computing applications. The project contemplates questions such as "Where are we now?" and "What is our place in this landscape?" and "What role does this landscape play in our lives?"
The four project directors used funding from Pittsburgh 250 Community Connections to edit the book Pittsburgh Signs Project: 250 Signs of Western Pennsylvania (Carnegie Mellon University Press, 2009). This crowd-sourced book of photographs documents and celebrates the visual landscape of the region through its signs, past and present. It is available on Amazon and at the Carnegie Mellon Bookstore




Space Arts Project
Directed by Distinguished Fellow Lowry Burgess, this project aims to broaden and create opportunities for artists to engage with and participate in the pursuit of space travel and exploration. There is a particular focus on zero gravity flights for artists through the establishment of an organization named the Zero Gravity Arts Consortium. Project activities also include exhibits, conference papers, workshops, publications, reports, classes, peer group meetings, lectures, journal articles and art works. The audience includes artists, scientists, technologists, educators and the general public. Proposed for 2008-09 are zero gravity parabolic flights for artists, with live web cast and link to the International Space Station, participation in Yuri's Night in the San Francisco Bay area in conjunction with NASA Ames and Carnegie Mellon's West Coast Campus and a month long institute for summer 2009 at CMU West involving workshops, classes and creative projects. Working with Burgess are Associate Fellows Frank Pietronigro and Andrew Kaiser.