Body Installation
A circuit of interconnected masks howling like wolves are asking to be fed with emotions. Once superimposed on the human body, they analyze the emotional state of each user, as well as the emotional cohesion of the group. Each mask offers different soundscapes, inducing antagonistic psychological states. Users need to override their personal context in order to emotionally synchronize. The masks are connected to a biophotonics experiment in the bunker of the Center for Advanced Laser Technologies in Bucharest. The degree of emotional cohesion of the users connected to the installation controls the frequency and intensity with which the laser feeds a euglena population. While functioning as living experimental subjects, the users are also real-time observers of the experiment.
I, HUMAN / SAINT MACHINE (RO), Credit: tom mesic
I, HUMAN / SAINT MACHINE (RO), Credit: tom mesic
I, HUMAN / SAINT MACHINE (RO), Credit: tom mesic
I, HUMAN uses empathy as content to influence the feeding conditions of microorganisms, and light as content carrier. Developed around the idea of interconnectivity, it analyzes how individual interactions can produce collective outcomes at different scales, testing new models of synergistic behavior mediated by technology and identifying coherence patterns. It is a metaphor for our evolution as a species, which may depend on our capacity to empathize.
Project Credits:
Produced by ARTMIX. Supported by ROMANIAN CULTURAL INSTITUTE. Cooperation partner: Romanian Center for Advanced Laser Technologies – The National Institute for Laser, Plasma & Radiation Physics. With: Alexandru-Florin Vartic, Sorin Olexiuc (OpenFace programming), Mitoș Micleușanu (sound design).
Biography:
Saint Machine (RO) is a Romanian experimental artist, author of immersive installations that investigate biological processes and study the notion of space as a living structure. Her organism-like sculptures emit light, carry a digital core, use the human body to function and question the willingness to cede human physicality and biological needs in exchange for digital content.
http://www.saintmachine.ro
