A dynamic sculpture inspired in an experiment by Gordon Pask, in which the English scientist literally created an electrochemical computer in the 1950s. Electrodes in the form of wire rods immersed in an iron-sulfate solution receive electric charges. Black crystals grow at their ends like neurons, which attempt to connect with the crystals of other electrodes, and then dissolve.
Roman Kirschner studied philosophy and history of art at the University of Vienna. He is currently a researcher at the Academy of Media and Art of Cologne, in Germany, and cofounder of the artist’s collective Für.
When the participants type a text on the keys of an old typewriter, they form creatures based on a genetic algorithm that determines their behavior and movement.
Austrian biologist Christa Sommerer and French artist Laurent Mignonneau are professors at the University of Arts and Design in Linz, Austria, where they also head the Department of Culture Interface in the Media Institute.
by Knowbotic Research (Germany – Austria, 1998-1999)
The project involves twin installations: one with the Sao Paulo project (10_Dencies São Paulo, 1998) and another with the Venice project (10_Lavoro Immateriale, 1999). It explores the possibilities of urban intervention and interference in complex environments, creating a topological collage that mixes urban databases and statistics with the imagination of citizens. It is actually a study about mega-cities based on urban cartography collectively elaborated by experts and by the population.
See also Une Carte Plus Grande, Karen O’Rourke’s work that seeks to create mental maps of a city.
Knowbotic Research raises questions regarding the forces and technological systems that are superimposed on each other, annul each other and relate with each other to produce the information territory of the large urban agglomerations. Tokyo, Sao Paulo and Belgrade, which are inhabited by millions of people, were the cities of choice. In each one of them, the group develops the project with groups of architects, using the Web as their site. The first step, Tokyo, was accomplished in 1997/1998 and won the ARS Electronica award for art on the Internet.
