Collaborators

EcoLogicStudio

Exhibitions

ArchiLab 2013: Naturalizing Architecture

FRAC Centre

Orleans, France

Globale: Exo-Evolution Exhibition

ZKM Museum

Karlsruhe, Germany

1000m2 of Desire

Centre de Cultura Contemporània

Barcelona, Spain

METAfolly is an interactive installation developed with EcoLogicStudio that creates an artificial swarm organism of material and sound that is linked to the movement of visitors around it. The project seeks to create a new type of “natural” system from manufactured materials, electronic components, and custom software. Embedded into the structure are 300 piezo buzzers that produce 1 of 4 distinct tones. These individual tones are created by a custom software control and a material buffer that combine to form the sound of an individual “cricket”. The METAfolly works to keep each of the buzzers in a given tone in sync, while the movement of the visitors introduces a delay. The audio effect of the movement is that of a swarm of invisible entities scattering and then moving back into unison. This interaction creates a dynamic interaction between the visitors and the structure even though it is completely motionless. To develop this behaviour, a wireless control interface was developed to allow all variables to be tuned in real-time. The overall effect is an interplay of an invisible swarm of digital lifeforms in constant tension with the visitors.