Lifelikeness In Adaptive Dissipative Structures

Short film made for Politics of the Machines (POM) conference talk, 2024. Presentation touched upon whirlpools, machines, dissipative structures, the link between thermodynamics & life, teleology and the artwork intentions & contexts. 

Credits: Matthew Woodham & Noémie Soula

Duration: 5:55
Resolution: 1920×1080

What

When

Dynamic Meta widget allowed only for Posts listing source or in Post context

CRYPTID – Joey Holder

Lighting intervention, sequencing & video design for Joey Holder for a solo show at Two Queens, Leicester and Art Basel, Paris 2023. 

Two Queens: Synchronised 2ch video, 4ch audio, 8ch lighting – custom firmware with ESP32

Art Basel: Synchronised 6ch video & 2ch audio

What

When

Dynamic Meta widget allowed only for Posts listing source or in Post context

Vibrant Matters at the V&A Museum

Exhibition for Digital Design Weekend. Interactive installation of dynamic artificial entities.

What

When

Dynamic Meta widget allowed only for Posts listing source or in Post context

Conditions – RCA 2023

Conditions Documentation
1/4 videos
1
Morphodynamic Regulator
Morphodynamic Regulator
01:17
2
Emergent Forms
Emergent Forms
00:48
3
Chaotic Anemometers
Chaotic Anemometers
00:26
4
Overview
Overview
02:36

This project was created at The Royal College of Art as part of my MA in Information Experience Design, 2022-2023. View the RCA project page here. 

Conditions is a network of installations with multiple channels of interconnection. The work oscillates between constructed and emergent, object and process, animate and inanimate, and natural and artificial. The machines see and communicate with each other, and their behaviour is both controlled and unpredictable. The apparatus interface with some of the core processual dynamics of complexity science, which is the study of how individual components interact to form complex, often unpredictable, systems. These processes include self-organisation and emergence and chaos: the same processes that underpin life.

LiDAR sensors measure audience proximity to the installations where, at a certain distance, audience members can stimulate specific conditions for the machines to operate far-from-equilibrium, a term which describes the constantly changing dynamics of natural phenomena in complex systems.

The work explores the complicated relationship between humans and nature, and favours systems thinking in which humans are integrated within the natural world. Through integrating dualisms and presenting tensions between untamed and contained numerosity, the work aims to expose the structures and biases that have separated humans from nature. The vessels enclosing natural processes suggest frictions between control and chaos, and the human endeavour to represent, encapsulate and isolate natural phenomena. Every experiment, action and observation has an effect – even admiration can yield unintended consequences – therefore, by adopting a bottom-up, systems approach Conditions ask audiences to attune to underlying processes and interact with the world through fluid perception and responsible mediation.

What

When

Dynamic Meta widget allowed only for Posts listing source or in Post context

Natural Interference | Process Interface – Term 1

Introduction

During the first term I have been developing the area of emphasis and research question for my practice, alongside experimenting with new methodologies. In this article I will outline my preliminary thinking, attempting to summarise this as succinctly as possible – purely for my benefit at this point. Currently this is a private exercise which may be used for future submitted writing, or to eventually create public blog posts.. so if you happened to stumble upon these posts – please either stop reading or bare in mind it is not for an audience as it stands!


Natural Interference

Process Interference

Next Steps

Ceremony of Obsolescence

Video installation and performance film for the closing exhibition ‘Not Happy’ at One Thoresby Street studio & gallery.

Duration: 13:55
Resolution: 3840×1080 (2 channel)

What

When

Dynamic Meta widget allowed only for Posts listing source or in Post context

Illuminar

In the late 20th century, near the port city of Tarragona in the Balearic sea, an underwater research expedition uncovered a shipwreck containing preserved manuscripts from Catalan scholars estimated to date between the 14th to 16th centuries. While the origin of the scripture is unknown, historians have found a semblance to writings by the 14th century philosopher Ramon Lull. The scripture referenced construction plans for an omnicognizant orrery with an unprecedented sophistication.  In design reminiscent of the Antikythera, this analogue computer became a significant research problem for the following decade. 

The research uncovered a startling breakthrough; previously inexplicable scripture from other mechanical thought systems could be understood, and even appears to allude to this device defined many centuries later. The earliest discovery to date is within the mediaeval Zairja, although some researchers suggest to have found evidence as far back as the palaeolithic era in mesopotamia. This has led some scholars to claim the device reveals a semantic universality. Within the field semantic enrichment, it is of great contention how these plans have transcribed history, with a faction even suggesting ancient extra-terrestrial interference.

Contributing to this mystery, the computations described pertain to a processing complexity in-executable at any time in history. The construction of the machine has only recently become possible due to advancements in microcontroller technology and machine learning within the previous five years. 

Throughout their semantic enrichment research, Benjamin Shirley-Quirk and Matthew Woodham have sought to resolve epistemic uncertainty. Due to this discovery, and recent developments in the field, they have dedicated the last two years to interpreting the mysterious blueprints, building a prototype of this machine and analysing the verisimilitude of the meanings and predictions generated by its mechanism.

Supported by Artcore & New Midland Group's 'Collaborative Project Bursary' in 2019

What

When

Dynamic Meta widget allowed only for Posts listing source or in Post context