/e-media/simulated-sentience-2
Simulated Sentience 2
CEPA Gallery: Big Orbit Project Space
Cultural Funding Grant, Technē: Institute for the Arts & Emerging Tech.
Submitted in partial fulfillment for the degree of MFA
University at Buffalo, Department of Art.
23 analog CRTs, 15 analog video cameras, 15 ultrasonic sensors, raw hanging speakers, 3 Mac Mini’s running Max 7 and Arduino patches, 3 Arduino Mega’s, analog-to-digital adapters, digital-to-analog adapters, and Hive Mind.
2018
How Doess it work?
Visited the Hive Mind page to review the brain of this installation.
overview
Simulated Sentience was the primary interactive of my master’s thesis in 2018. The first version of this installation was constructed for only one user at any given time. This second version was triplicated to situate up to three users simultaneously.
After introducing the work I cover my process and the utilization of antiquated technologies. Forming critical analyses of the media implemented will better situate my work within the transmediated self-narrative.
My desire to extend this work had several foci: to expand the interactive capacities; intensify the interplay between analog and digital modalities; to establish a co-creative network as a direct commentary on the transmediated-self.
installation
consists of five human-scale monoliths, each tethered to a suspended, pentagonal “hive mind” via diagonal cables. This central hub contains three independent systems that work together as one interactive whole. The monoliths incorporate analog sonar sensors, CRT televisions, and camcorders—arranged to face inward, forming an immersive, system-oriented structure that’s both visually commanding and thematically unified.
documentation
A series of prints revealed the system’s inner workings. A Max 7 patch represented the program running across all three Mac computers. Three fabric runners displayed the full Arduino code powering the hive mind’s microcontrollers. A hive mind schematic offered transparency into the suspended core structure.
Additional drawings and prints detailed three custom circuit boards: an Ethernet hub and sonar interface for plug-and-play sensors, and a video switcher to route signals back to the correct CRTs.
system
Each monolith contains three interactive layers, which activate when a user approaches. Triggered sonar sensors activate corresponding CRTs and camcorders, displaying live, distorted representations of the user. As additional participants engage, their presence is mirrored across other monoliths, creating shared audiovisual feedback. With up to three users interacting per monolith, the system generates an analog, exquisite-corpse-like narrative through distributed presence.
theory
If you have further interest in the concepts behind this work, you can read more on pages 25-31 of my thesis.