Artefacts
Laval

Artefacts presents a dialogue between two digital works: an interactive table - vivarium and a vertical screen projection. The project questions the relationship between simulation and reality.


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The design of the table adresses this duality by placing the simulation in an environment based on touch. A tactile surface directs the users to communicate with a system of artificial life.

The programming is based on behavioural algorithms responding to requests from users. It can be defined as a synchronous multi-agent simulation. The autonomous entities with simple physical laws interact with each other and generate a complex set of behaviours. This model is very modern in both economical and social simulations. The program uses like starting point an existing model, the boïds of Craig W. Reynolds ( implemented on processing by Daniel Shiffman), and extends it by notions of time (environment's cycles) and social (viruses and rumors).

The project inspects the concept of environment through its various perceptions: optical, auditory, tactile.

The graphic design of the vivarium introduces the creatures in a poetic way. The viewer is led to understand visually the emergence of complex behaviors. The acoustic treatment of space emphasizes the interactive dimension of the work.

By presenting vertically, contemplative work is an abstract reflection to the interactive vivarium. It represents itself as an animated stained glass in which the forms and shapes change upon the vivarium.

Both works interact with environmental and social parameters through common algorithms. The systems of representation compose a second level of dialogues between them. Their contrast creates a phenomenon of deconstruction, which questions mathematical models at the origin of the simulation.