sci ⇔ art

During the two-day hackathon, we wrapped our heads around the notion of coordination. Coordination is something that can be objectively measured with quantitative methods, but at the same time, when perceived, it evokes a certain enjoyable first-person experiences. It’s a satisfying feeling to have a good flow with another person, and it is pleasant to watch objects move in perfect synchrony. Our goal was to design interactive installations that would bring out these qualitative aspects of coordination and turn them into an aesthetic experience.

The installation is composed of several (oyster-like) devices that react to light and mimic the activation pattern of spiking neurons. Besides being fun to watch, it's perfect for education, as each neuron can be built independently and serve as an introduction to the basics of electronics. Experimenting with different parameters of the activation function allows you to see how information is propagated in a distributed system and provides an physical (thus noisy) model for various natural emergent phenomena. A joint project with Nencki Open Lab.

Bonsai is a visual programming language that allows the user to easily integrate multiple data sources and outputs (e.g. cameras, sensors, diodes, speakers). Initially developed for scientific purposes, it is also a powerful tool for building interactive art projects, especially when combined with Arduino. During the workshop, we learned how to track an object and use it's position to control a diode or audio volume. The workshop was organized in cooperation with Nencki Open Lab.