Jeff Lieberman, Dan Paluska

Source: The artists

Award of Distinction in the Interactive Art category at Prix Ars Electronica 2008.

Become part of a musical quartet, by entering a short melodic theme, which is then performed as a unique three-minute piece of music by the three robotic members of the “Quartet”: The first is a ballistic marimba, which launches rubber balls 2m in the air, precisely aimed at marimba keys. 35 tuned wineglasses are played by robotic fingers, and an ethnic percussion ensemble round out the quartet. Your performance is broadcast live, and a video is archived on the homepage http://quartet.cc to share your creation with others.

According to Lieberman and Paluska, the most important quality of interactive art is its capacity to interconnect an incredibly diverse array of people and to foster collaboration. Accordingly, the pieces produced are “open source”, and anyone is free to use them.

Credits: Jeff Lieberman, Dan Paluska, Absolut V+S