The DuKode Studio focuses on creative data transposition to many forms, including software, animation, print, and physical objects. DuKode's particular specialty is scientific visualization. Its principals, Ilias Koen and Arlene Ducao, first collaborated in a 2003 Physical Computing class at the School of Visual Arts MFA Computer Art program. In addition to their MFAs:

• Arlene is a Master's Candidate in the MIT Media Lab's Information Ecology group and a recipient of the MIT Ida Green Fellowship. She holds a BS and BM from the University of Maryland. When not DuKoding, she is often found drinking ginger beverages and trying to grow creeping plants.
• Ilias holds a BFA from the Athens School of Fine Arts in Greece. He is a member of the Robert Blackburn Printmaking Workshop and the Greenwich House Pottery studio. When not DuKoding, printmaking, or ceramicizing, he can be found experimenting with chemistry, at a cafe with a coffee and a smoke, or catching up on every film made last year.

DuKode's team includes:

• José Luis Gonzalez, Lead Designer. José holds an MS in Architecture from Columbia University and a BA from Universidad de Los Andes in Bogota, Colombia. He co-founded SOFTlab, an award-winning design studio, and has taught at Columbia, Parsons, and Pratt. When not DuKoding, he is often found with his wife and kids in LIC.
• Rachel Mersky, Associate Designer. Rachel holds a BA in Film Studies from Barnard College, and currently lives in Prague. When not DuKoding, she's probably spending hours in a cafe drawing pictures of hedgehogs.

DuKode has collaborated with nonprofits, think tanks, artists, educational publishers, pop stars, government agencies, scientists, and sociologists. DuKode is always open to new collaborations–please contact us for more information.


Frequently Asked Questions:

1. What is scientific visualization? When scientific data is collected (i.e. in the field or from a satellite) or when scientific equations are modeled, the most efficient way to store the results is as a set of numbers. However, a spreadsheet or text file of numbers can be hard for a scientist to quickly interpret, and it can definitely be hard for a layperson to understand. Scientific visualization bridges this gap by translating scientific data into a graphical format. Visualization is most often used to help understand phenomena much larger and much smaller than that which is seen with the naked eye.


2. What is physical computing? The term physical computing is most often used to describe handmade (or at least non-mass-market) objects created with microcontrollers, input devices like sensors, and output devices like motors or LEDs.