Sculpture Factory

Sculpture Factory is the latest iteration of Quayola’s ongoing research on classical sculpture.

Inspired by Michelangelo’s technique of “non-finito” (unfinished), the installation explores the tensions between form and matter, real and artificial, old and new.

A large industrial robot live-sculpts endless variations of the Ancient Greek masterpiece Laocoon and His Sons. While never completing the full figure, each attempt discovers new articulations of matter. The result is a hybrid vision—a slow process of discovery not focused on the original figure but on the infinite possibilities of how to reach it.

Guided by sequences of algorithms, the robot finds its way through matter using unfamiliar strategies and patterns. The original artist’s hand and unique craftsmanship are eclipsed by the truly disinterested intelligence of the machine, and a surplus of viable possibilities.

Sculpture Factory is an ongoing project developed with the technical support of DARLab from London Southbank University, QD-Robotics, Kuka and Autodesk Delcam.

Credit: Quayola

KORUZA and fab&sciencelab

At the IRNAS institute, young people from various backgrounds have found each other with the common goal applying the advances in science and technology to everyday reality and creating efficient, affordable systems, available to everyone. They currently focus on three areas of interest: fabrication devices for rapid prototyping, which in turn are used for research and development of optical communication systems and open/DIY bioscience. Everything they do is completely open source and made from parts which are either available anywhere in the world or can be cut or 3D printed.

At Ars Electronica 2016, their work will be presented in two parts: an ad hoc mini fab&sciencelab will be set up, where visitors can test and play with the machines, produce their own models, DIY research equipment or do simple experiments. Also an interactive installment of KORUZA—the wireless optical communication system will be presented, where visitors will be able to witness first hand how optical communication works, its advantages and potentials for future networking.

IRNAS: Luka Mustafa, Boštjan Vihar
Tkalka: co-working space in Maribor, where IRNAS is based
Kreatorlab: Fablab, close partners of IRNAS, also based at Tkalka

ASSISIbf

ASSISIbf Animal‌ and‌ Robot‌ Societies‌ ‌Self-Organize‌ and‌ Integrate‌ by‌ Social‌ Interaction‌ (bees‌ and‌ fish)‌

The goal of the ASSISIbf project is to establish a robotic society that can develop communication channels between animal societies (honeybees and shoals of fish).
Our robots will self-program by evolutionary algorithms until they have learned to interact with animals in the desired way. This new technology aims to lay new foundations on the way in which humans can interact with animal societies in order to manage the Environment.
The researchers expect their work to have an impact on agriculture, livestock management and environmental protection (monitoring). At the festival, researchers will establish an interspecies connection between bees and fish. With the aid of two different types of robot designed specifically for each species, and a virtual world representing all the agents of the translation system, bees and fish will solve a task together, live.

Project credits:

EU-FP7 Project no. 601074. Objective ICT-2011.9.10: Fundamentals of Collective Adaptive Systems—FoCAS; Duration: five years; start: February 1, 2013; Budget: €6m
Consortium: University of Graz—Artificial Life Lab (Project coordination); Université Paris Diderot—LIED; École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne—LSRO; University of Zagreb—LARICS; Fundação da Faculdade de Ciências da Universidade de Lisboa -BioISI; Cybertronica Research

Credit: Claudia Schnugg

Make Your Maker

A crude laboratory plays host to a series of macabre experiments, based on the premise that “food and the body are inseparable”. Lucy’s film takes on genetic manipulation, creating glowing comestibles that drip and flow to mould bodily shapes that are then harvested, sliced and repackaged for consumption.

The Future Day Spa

The Future Day Spa is a personalized, physiological experience that delivers controlled vacuum pressure to the body. Based on the principles of negative pressure, participants hand their bodies over to a part-human, part-machine process as they are induced into a state of relaxation. The project employs wireless technologies for measuring biometric data, to begin understanding the physiological capabilities of a treatment.

After trials on over 100 individuals, one participant disclosed that he denied himself any physical contact with other humans and at the end of his treatment responded with a self-initiated hug. Denying oneself touch silences the release of oxytocin in the brain, a hormone said to be involved in social recognition and the formation of trust between people. This unexpected response has raised interesting parallels between the behavioral effects of oxytocin release and the the Future Day Spa’s role in shifting human emotion.

It was originally designed to prepare the body for space, and these results have initiated broader research to explore how spa methods can naturally produce oxytocin in the brain and be developed to treat social isolation, autism spectrum or depression. The next steps are to detect the electrical activity in the brain during a Future Day Spa treatment and understand the role machine touch might have on the body and our emotions.

Commissioned by Inventor Lab and Qualcomm and produced by Pollyanna Whitman.

Credit: Lucy McRae

Credit: Michael Burk

Credit: Michael Burk

Beyond Prototyping

Beyond Prototyping is a research project looking at the dynamics between the designer, manufacturing process and the consumer in creating everyday products in the age of digital fabrication. The “meaning” of an artifact transcends its physical utility and technical characteristics and is increasingly a personal narrative. The three case studies, Ciphering, Locatable and Highlight illustrate different strategies of how the experts and the target audience can together create meaningful, unique artifacts, based on an algorithmic design idea and through an online platform for intuitive interaction. The designs play with a distinct functional definition of a product and distinct aesthetics, which are expressed through the end user’s encoded input of meaning, resulting in well-designed and robust but individual products that go beyond prototype status.

Credits: Jussi Ängeslevä; Iohanna Nicenboim; Michael Burk; Universität der Künste Berlin; Technische Universität Berlin; Einstein Stiftung Berlin; Bartmann Berlin; Recoltoir; Masonyte; pb.io; Hybrid Plattform; Jens Wunderling