The Heart Machine (2010)
The night of Nuit Blanche was relatively cold, compared to the nights previous to it. The line ups seemed unappealing to me, so anywhere that had a queue was out of the question. This left me wandering and zipping past some interactions that seemed interesting from a far. The piece that I spent most of my time at was The Heart Machine, the interactive fire sculpture. It was busy and there was a line up for the interactive component, but it was so warm by the sculptors that I did not mind.
The parking lot between Edward and Elm street was crowded with people and in the middle, created by tubes, sat a very large steam-punk heart. Four arteries surrounded the heart and emitted blasts of fire. Everybody was enjoying the warmth and the roaring sound that came from the arteries. Attached to the heart was four pipe pillars at hip height that glowed magenta. A frosted panel covered the end of the pipe, of what I assumed was a sensor, that sent signals to flame throwers which were nested inside the y-shaped arteries. The grungy exterior, nicely covered all wiring and mechanisms, which left me guessing how the touch sensor worked.
The Heart Machine is a classic feedback loop, the input of the user causes the heart to generate fire from one of the arteries and when the user interacts with the piece properly it throws a flame. Users then understand and play with the rhythm of the fire. It reminded me of the capacitive touch sensor that we learned in class. Much like the first time we learned to make our shapes in Processing move or when we were able to make them interactive, the excitement and the giddiness that came over us, knowing that we could do something and get a reaction from the program.
A very fascinating interactive reading talking about coding for “life” behaviours. It states right at the beginning that even though the only thing happening on the screen is squares turning off and on, it gives the illusion of motion. Coding and visual creations allow us to manipulate the pixels on our screens to give the illusion that things are changing and moving.
Creating conditions for an object or ‘if’ statements, we create a “thinking process”. It is the basic start to artificial intelligence, adding condition after condition to create a new behaviour or a misconception that an object is making its own choices and not predetermined ones.
The reading discusses the Seed glider, where it detects its neighbouring squares and moves or replicates, which tends to create chaos. Nature may seem chaotic, only because we don’t always understand it, but there is purpose in how creatures split, reproduction, or evolve. The Life glider code is a form of generative code, which could be used for generative art. The code allows for gliders to create and disappear, like life and death. The screen of squares becomes more entertaining to watch as objects seem to grow and shrink, sometimes producing an interesting pattern.
Truthfully, I’m not sure I completely understand how to code a lifelike generative program. If statements are used, when a condition is met, then the action is executed according to a reaction to the environment. Similar to the body’s natural homeostasis, when it is cold ours pores, veins and arteries contract, hairs stand up, our muscles cause us to chatter, in attempts to keep us warm.
The Critter coding that we used in class is generative and the arrows that were created, behave according to the set code and if statements. We cause the critters to avoid other neighbours, changing directions to follow other arrows, and to change speed according to their surroundings.