VIS 145B Week 2: Cybernetic Artwork - Autopoeisis by Ken Rinaldo
- Mai Dinh
- Apr 14, 2016
- 3 min read
Kiasma Museum of Contemporary Art, Helsinki, Finland. 2000
Video linked below, under Works Cited
Project Description and Artist's Intent
Ken Rinaldo's Autopoeisis consists of fifteen musical robotic sculptures commissioned by the Kiasma Muesum of Contemporary Art in Helsinki, Finland (1). The gangly, skeletal arms are made of cabernet sauvignon grapevines, with the joints being custom molded urethane plastic tied together with cyanoacrylate and baking soda, in order to feel natural to viewers (2). The sculptures are equipped with infared smart sensors that can detect participants within the room and direct itself or the group to point towards the participants (1). As a result, the participants are thrown into an interactive, responsive environment that changes with the number and behavior of the participants. The sculptures also communicate with each other using a hardwired network and telephone tones, influencing each other's behavior as a result (1). These tones are even indicative of the sculptures' moods, with higher tones signaling fear and lower tones signaling relaxation (1).
Rinaldo intended to create a group aesthetic and a group robotic consciousness that is "self-making" and resembles all living systems (2). He also wanted to explore how he could minimize the number of sensors present, while maximizing the software's capabilities (2). Much like his other work, Rinaldo blurs the boundary between natural and artificial systems, using organic behavior as models for machine intelligence as a way to prepare for the complex ecologies that biological and machine species create (2). In short, Autopoeisis is meant to be an artificial life, cybernetic work with emergent behavior (3).
What's the logic being used?
Autopoesis operates in an active, participant-driven installation environment, as evidenced by its reaction to human presence. The project also functions in a network of interlinking "nodes" and reacts to telephone tones, thus taking in communication as data to interpret. Autopoeisis also has three different degrees of freedom: movement in a 3D space, auditory emission, and neighbor communication. It's behavioral output is a rule-based movement and emergent behavior, since the group and individual "moods" and behavior evolve in reaction to humans and to each other. In a way, Rinaldo's work strongly resemble boids in their internal logic.
What makes this work cybernetic?
Autopoeisis is cybernetic, because it is a complex system of rich interactions between control, communication, feedback, and response. As Rinaldo states himself:
"Autopoesis breaks out of standard interfaces (mouse) and playback methodologies (CRT) and presents an interactive environment, which is immersive, detailed, and able to evolve in real time by utilizing feedback and interaction from audience/participant members" (2).
From this statement, we can see that the sculptures are able to sense their environment and then change their behavior, but without reducing themselves to a "reaction" or 1-to-1 logic. Rather, Autopoeisis has an emergent behavior, evolving with the data it intakes. Moreover, the sculptures aren't slaves to some central controller, instead embodying individual and group agency that further adds to its cybernetic nature (3). As a result, we see "complex, chaotic, nonlinear, and often lifelike" behavior (3).
What's really interesting about Autopoeisis is how it doesn't just simply respond. Autopoeisis are also active participators in its own installation. As stated above, the sculptures can "speak" to each other by emitting telephone tones and network signals. This machine-to-machine interaction also causes a change in behavior. As a result, Autopoeisis is not a one-way track of interaction; it's an entire feedback loop that builds with additional interaction from the audience.
In conclusion, Autopoiesis very much embodies a weak AI, third wave cybernetic system that simulates evolution and flock behavior. Why it doesn't embody a strong AI, is because the sculptures have preprogrammed goals -- to track human presence, speak to each other, and evolve. I wonder though, if Rinaldo's work can evolve without human interaction? Can it transform into something we wouldn't be able to realize without being absent?
Works Cited
1. Autopoeisis (web). Dir. Ken Rinaldo. Perf. Ken Rinaldo. AUTOPOIESIS. N.p., 2000. Web. <http://www.kenrinaldo.com/videos/?video_id=1365>
2. Rinaldo, Ken. "Autopoiesis." Ken Rinaldo RSS. N.p., n.d. Web. 14 Apr. 2016. <http://www.kenrinaldo.com/portfolio/autopoiesis/>.
3. Wilson, Stephen. "Artificial Life and Genetic Art: A-Life Sculptures and Autonomous Agents - Ken Rinaldo." Information Arts: Intersections of Art, Science, and Technology. Cambridge, MA: MIT, 2002. pp 341-343. Print.
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