The work pursues intimacy and sensitivity through intricate miniature components and layers of diffusive, hovering material close to the scale of a human body. Sentient Veil is composed of digitally fabricated cellular textile lining floating over the ceiling surface of the gallery. The work is composed of finely detailed interlinking skeletal components containing distributed computational controls with soft LED lighting and whispering interactive sound functions. Movement of visitors within the space triggers choruses of whispering responses emanating from miniature custom acoustic resonators integrated within the fabric of the sculpture. Glass vessels containing chemical protocells and carrying interactive LED lighting are also integrated within the sculpture.

The work contains textile-like details that respond to iconography within a religious painting by the 15th-century ltalian master Fra Angelico, located within an adjacent gallery. A direct dialogue with adjacent paintings, where the hybrid new fabric of the sculpture, carrying ambivalent, alien synthetic qualities, resonates and enriches the subtle meanings of traditional fabrics seen within the painting of nearby masters.

Hardware

Sentient Veil’s structure is composed of thermally expanded and laser cut acrylic diagrid spars that provide substantial strength while at the same time retaining flexibility, suggesting that the structures are capable of handling architectural-scale forces. Tensegrity coupling is featured, employing metal rod cores that stabilize the system. This structure offers minimal material consumption. Borosilicate glass and Mylar populate the acrylic canopy, adding density.

Embedded within this structure are distributed infrared sensors that sense external movement generated by the audience as well as its own internal actions. These sensor networks provide feedback between controls and kinetic mechanisms while generating kinetic movement in actuators. Modulation systems in the environment are controlled by Teensy boards running off of the popular open source Arduino platform. Fed by data received from sensors, these custom­designed boards in turn communicate over custom-designed cabling, while running the software that generates complex behavior in actuators. The combination of computational and physical systems creates substantial complexity and unpredictability. For example, interactions with sensors at one location influence the behaviors of actuators both locally and globally.

Software

Sentient Veil’s software is structured as a modular hierarchy, consisting of a low-level layer and a high-level layer. The two layers are connected physically through USB. A low-level layer of firmware written in C++ runs on Teensy 3.2 USB-based development boards, which interface with peripheral boards connected to actuators and sensors. High-level software written in Python runs on a Raspberry Pi that provides flexibility for development, free from the limited processing power inherent to the Teensy microcontrollers. Software controls the interactive components of the installation including interactive LEDs and soundscapes.

Credits

Philip Beesley Studio: Gabriella Bevilacqua, Adam Francey, Joey Jacobson, Nicole Jazwiec, Salvador Miranda, Reza Nik, Jordan Prosser, Filip Vranes

Collaborators:
Augmented Reality: Katy Borner, Andreas Bueckle
Engineering: Rob Gorbet, David Kadish, Dana Kulic,
Sound Design: Alex Young
Sponsors: Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council, University of Waterloo

Photo: ©PBAI

Über den Künstler

Philip Beesley (CA) is a practising visual artist, architect, and Professor in Architecture at the University of Waterloo. Beesley’s work is widely cited in contemporary art and architecture, focused in the rapidly expanding technology and culture of responsive and interactive systems. His Toronto-based practice, Philip Beesley Architect lnc., combines the disciplines of professional architecture, science, engineering, and visual art. The studio’s methods incorporate industrial design, digital prototyping, instrument making, and mechatronics engineering.

Lesen Sie mehr auf: starts-prize.aec.at.

This project is presented in the framework of the STARTS Prize 2017. STARTS Prize received funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under grant agreement No 732019.

Synapse is a multi-material 3D-printed helmet that moves and illuminates according to the wearer’s brain activity, while Bodyscape is a 3D-printed top that tracks human bodily movement using a gyroscope linked to LED lighting.

Credits

Synapse
Designer: Behnaz Farahi
Acknowledgements: Pier9 / Autodesk with special thanks to Paolo Salvagione
Director of photography: Nicolas Cambier
Photographer: Mitchell Strum

Bodyscape
Designer: Behnaz Farahi
Photographer: Kyle Smithers
Acknowledgements: USC, Media Art and Practices with special thanks to Samir Ghosh

OUCHHH collaboration AudioFil, Kıvanç Tatar and Philippe Pasquier for an audio-visual performance with artificial intelligence. We will turn our real-time onstage performance into a human and machine collaboration by adding MASOM (an Artificial Intelligence system making music) to the new version of iOTA. MASOM is developed by Kıvanç Tatar and Philippe Pasquier. For this piece, MASOM will be trained on the previous compositions of Mehmet Ünal from AudioFIL.

In mathematics iOTA (i) denotes an imaginary unit or number; it can be used for the inclusion map of one space into another. Light is the single element which can be perceived by the eye. iOTA is an LED installation inspired by light physics and research into the origins of geometry. Corresponding to the focus of the observer, the nature of light and its different phenomena can be seen beyond the perceptivity of the human mind, and attempts to translate them into a unified, non-spatial form.

iOTA was presented on the 126 m² LED screen at Zorlu Performing Arts Center. The installation was part of Sonar +D showcase at Sonar Istanbul Festival 2017 and Digi.logue.

Credits

Producer: Ouchhh Studio
New media artists and directors: Ferdi Alıcı, Eylul Duranagac (OUCHHH)
Creative coder and AI artists: Kıvanç Tatar and Philippe Pasquier (MASOM)
Sound design and music: Mehmet Ünal from AudioFIL