Program

Exhibitions / Prix Ars Electronica

Call <-> Response

04.09. - 09.09. | 10:00 - 00:00

OK Offenes Kulturhaus Oberösterreich

A variety of different chirping sounds of birds (theoretically possible types of birds in general, including extinct ones and those that have never existed) are simulated using a syrinx program that was developed with physical-modeling  software.

Every time the computer detects a response from wild birds to its “call”, the software executes an  evolutionary learning program through which it gradually modifies and refines its own chirping sounds. By repeating this process, a peculiar kind of “conversation” beyond human language takes place, with both computers and birds affecting each other’s behavior. The experiment was designed to observe mutual transfigurations caused by “vocal” communication between elements of different kinds in sets of various combinations.