Amit Pitaru

Amit Pitaru is an Israeli born artist, designer and researcher of Human Machine Interaction (HCI). Born in Jerusalem and raised in Tel-Aviv, he has played instruments since the age of 5. At the age of 23 he moved to New York and began to play in clubs. Pitaru took a loving to the Hammond Organ and it was through this admiration that the Hammond Flower Organ came about. The organ is an alternative interface that lets users interact with the instrument, allowing for a new and unique way of using the instrument. Pitaru does explorations in new forms of musical expression, while at the same time not discarding the overall notions that have revealed themselves over centuries, as to how and why music is listened to.
He began as a musician, but became interested in computers when he had downtime in the studio. He learned Flash first and that has no grown to other languages, including Processing. Being a musician first and then a programmer allows Pitaru to have a great feel for the sound and visuals that he uses. Pitaru has been inspired by conversations he has with people, drawing more from a simple conversation then from their work. He draws this inspiration from conversations with other artists, his father who’s a scientist, and his mother who is also an artist.
As a designer Pitaru’s focus is on assistive technologies. He tries to create new solutions to old problems. His latest project is an attempt at making a game that children with disabilities can play. According to Pitaru games are meant to motivate and challenge us to think, which in the case for children with disabilities games put their disabilities front and center. Through design itself, with a little bit of thought, the barriers can be overcome. His work examines the manner in which our current technologies have hindered our ability to learn and communicate.
By using processing/coding/programming Pitaru is able to create his own tools from scratch which allows for the most freedom. These skills allow for easy adjustment and to reapply of musical knowledge into the medium. Although Pitaru’s work primarily deals with games, his ideas and notions are applicable to other mediums. His work has the potential to change the way we teach children, with or without disabilities, and with that would require a change in design practice. User interface design, game design, computer systems, and teaching methods would all potentially be altered.

http://www.pitaru.com/