Nomads
Krzysztof Mazur
RESET Academy of Fine Arts 6-9.11.2002 Crakov
In this installation, interactivity has a negative quality, people in the room either disturbing or completely paralyzing the "wandering" flowers. The work relies on the mechanical activity theories of Valentin Braitenberg, simulating the fototaxia of living organisms.
The phenomenon of fototaxia is taken advantage of in general in the plant world, but their turning towards the sun can only only be seen in stop-frame photography. That's why man fails to see his own influence and impact on the plant world, not observing properly their reactions. In my installation, I have provided heightened expressions of these movements, for human perception, through added "new characteristics" of plants; the ability for people to see the relocation of entire plants, complete with roots. This is possible due to the employment of an electronic version of the phototaxia mechanism. In this case, energy is supplied in the from of light as a source to drive small motors, enabling the plants to relocate themselves. In addition, the mechanism includes an interpretative feature, automatically directing itself towards the goal, the source of light which gives it "life".
In this installation, interactivity has a negative quality, people in the room either disturbing or completely paralyzing the "wandering" flowers. The work relies on the mechanical activity theories of Valentin Braitenberg, simulating the fototaxia of living organisms.
The phenomenon of fototaxia is taken advantage of in general in the plant world, but their turning towards the sun can only only be seen in stop-frame photography. That's why man fails to see his own influence and impact on the plant world, not observing properly their reactions. In my installation, I have provided heightened expressions of these movements, for human perception, through added "new characteristics" of plants; the ability for people to see the relocation of entire plants, complete with roots. This is possible due to the employment of an electronic version of the phototaxia mechanism. In this case, energy is supplied in the from of light as a source to drive small motors, enabling the plants to relocate themselves. In addition, the mechanism includes an interpretative feature, automatically directing itself towards the goal, the source of light which gives it "life".