By Hans H. Diebner and Sven Sahle
http://performative-science.de

Liquid Perceptron is the simulation of a simplifi ed model of a brain consisting of only roughly 200,000 neurons. The neurons are arranged in a 2-dimensional array with simplifi ed homogeneous local coupling. The coupling topology between neurons in a real brain is far from homogeneous. Rather it is a very complex nonlocal network. Nevertheless, the simulation is already pretty complex and at the edge of the performance capacity of an up-to-date PC, which is why the simplifi ed coupling has been chosen. The dynamical equation of the activity of a single neuron is lacking a closed solution, as mathematicians say, let alone the whole network of coupled neurons. That means, the single neuron and even more the entire network is impossible to be understood without a sensualized (audio-visual, haptic, tactile, etc.) simula- tion. Beyond that, Liquid Perceptron allows an even more intensive interaction. The network responds to the spectator’s movement. To study the formation of activity patterns through the physical involvement of the researcher and the spectator, respectively, is in the epicenter of that visual-based approach.

In a real brain the visual perception through the eyes leads to an excitation of a specifi c area in the brain, the visual cortex, where an oscillatory pattern that propagates over the whole area is generated. In the case of Liquid Perceptron, the sensor eye is replaced by a video camera that captures movement in the outer world. A small amount of neurons corresponding to a certain range in the visual fi eld within which a movement takes place is thus activated. The global coherent pattern emerging in the network is a result of neuronal coupling. A strong oscillation of a single neuron activates its neighbors and so forth, like a chain reaction. The topology of coupling and the coupling strengths determine the forms of the patterns. Eventually, not the activity of the single neurons but the global patterns determine further steps in the cognitive process that are ignored for the time being.

Liquid Perceptron is an instance of what I call “performative science.” The installation can be explored in a variety of ways. It is, of course, fi rst and foremost an object under scientifi c analysis – an “epistemic thing.” It is safe to say that each “epistemic thing” is explored in a performative way; in other words, the physical involvement plays an important role. Nonetheless, performativity is usually ignored or suppressed in the scientifi c process. The crucial difference of “performative science” to “traditional science” is the integration of life and in particular the physical interaction as a basic methodological principle. The process is here emphasized instead of ignored. This shifts the “epistemic thing” to the close vicinity of a work of art. It can be explored in a contemplative way through sensorial feedback. Moreover, subjectivity is not suppressed but taken as inevitable part of research. Object and subject is taken to be a unit. More precise, the notion of an object is even misleading, which is why I used the expression of “epistemic thing” before. The latter notion contains my conception of the so called “object” that entangles it with the “subject.”

Technically speaking, Liquid Perceptron is a numerical solution of a large set of diffusively planar-coupled differential equations. Differential equations describe dynamics. Each single differential equation out of this set mimics the activity of a neuron. In a real brain, the activity can be measured as electro-magnetic potentials on the scalp. In Liquid Perceptron, this activity is color-coded. Bright areas correspond to highly active neurons, whereas dark green areas correspond to non-active states of the neurons. What the spectators can see is the wave-like propagation of the activity fronts in form of spiral patterns. Liquid Perceptron can be enjoyed in a “stand-alone version” in a contemplative way but also as part of syn-aesthetic settings. For example, in 2005 Liquid Perceptron was integrated into the stage design of the opera “Einstein on the Beach” by Philip Glass and Bob Wilson. I observed spectators who synchronized their movement with the musical rhythm as well as with the velocity of pattern propagation in the simulated neural network. In a stand-alone version the free associations are pronounced and the interaction is prob- ably much more contemplative. In any case, the quest for synchronization can be observed, which is a crucial aspect of perception and cognition. In other words, the installation can be seen as a kind of a fi eld study of perception and cognition. That what is intended to be modeled – the human brain – is part of the model if one accepts the whole interactive setting to be the model. Liquid Perceptron offers an interface to think about one’s own perception. Strict representationalism is thus avoided, presence kept upright.

Hear and now
an audio-visual installation

by Florian Grond
http://www.grond.at

Hear and now is an audio-visual installation consisting of a fl oor projection and a circular audio setup with 8 speakers. The visual projection on the fl oor is a set of slowly moving lines. Each of these lines represents a particle’s trajectory in a nonlinear dynamical system defi ned on a circle. The trajectories fl ow from the center of the circular setup outwards toward the speakers. From the center of the installation, the spectator can observe the moment when the trajectories arrive at the border of the circle. There, the actual positions of the particles in the trajectories are transferred to the loudspeakers via distinct acoustic entities. These sounds move according to the changing positions of the particle’s trajectories. Rather than moving randomly, the dynamical system forces the majority of the particles to move in a cluster, as can be seen in the visualizations provided.

The dynamical system driving the installation is “chaotic itinerancy,” as described by the Japanese scien- tists Kaneko, Tsuda and Ikeda. In the current implementation it will be realized with 25 particles moving in the interval between 0 and 2 Pi. Each of these 25 particles exerts a potential of periodic shape on all the others. In order to minimize their potential energy,1 the particles start to form a cluster and oscillate around its center of gravity. On the way to the gravitational center, the particles take up momentum,2 and some of the faster ones leave the cluster and rotate around the circle. In the running dynamical system, the momentum is constantly redistributed amongst the particles. This allows for an ever-changing cluster composition, varying in terms of which particles are in and which are out. The cluster itself moves slowly. The sound is not only changed by the spatialization that is controlled by the particles, but also by further parameters such as particle speed and the actual particle-cluster distance, also fast movement can be acoustically recognized. In other words, the acoustics refl ect the actions of the dynamical system.

Although my approach to this installation is mostly informed by my background in nonlinear dynamics, I think that all the fascinating properties of this system should be easy to discover even without this knowl- edge. I want this installation’s underlying system to be as transparently communicated as possible, but I think that details about the dynamics are not absolutely necessary in order to enjoy it. The basic property of the system, namely the formation of a cluster with ever-changing constituents, has been compared to brain dynamics, for example.

Here, the cluster can be interpreted as the categories that a neural network is able to build. Since this cluster is dynamic, it is always changing its shape and content, which is refl ected by the actual constituting particles. This compares to the ever-changing content of categories we build in our cognitive processes. Another, more philosophical, approach to this phenomenon can be found in Heraclitus’ notion of pantha rhei. This idea is expressed in more detail in the following well-known sentence:
We both step and do not step in the same rivers.
We are and are not.

When we enter the installation, we always discover a dynamical cluster that is clearly recognizable, but whose nature is constantly changing. In my opinion, nonlinear dynamical systems are full of possible links to philosophically interesting issues. I have always been convinced that nonlinear dynamics could be used for art installations. With regards to the chaotic itinerancy and its use in the installation Hear and now, I am addressing amongst others the question of anticipation in non-periodic patterns. The representation of dynamics by the sound entities will always be delayed for exactly the amount of time that it takes for the particle’s trajectory to move from the center to the border of the circle. This makes the spectator anticipate through visual clues where the sound will come from in the next few seconds.

Hear and now addresses the visual and auditory senses. The visual sense is particularly able to detect the shape of the cluster which never disappears but is also never the same. The acoustics help to distinguish the different particles with their distinct sound qualities. This allows to discover the system’s essential property, which is the ever-changing state of the cluster in terms of its composition.

The sound samples are the question words, who, where, how, when, what and why.

25 of them were selected from 12 languages. The choice was motivated since it is always a question that forces us to rethink established categories.

Hear and now invites the audience to enter a space in progress but without destination.

During my work at „hear and now“, I was substantially supported by Hans Diebner, Frank Halbig, Sebas- tian Fischer, Tamar Tembeck, Florian Dombois and the Institute Y at the HKB in Bern as well as by Katrien Reist and the PROGR in Bern. Further I like to thank the people who lend me their voices: Olga Artes, Jayoung Bang, Doga Cigsar, Paulo Fereira-Lopes, Shingo Inao, Petra Kaiser, Irina Koutoudis, Sendi Mango, Jurij Pavlica, Grégoire Qvenault, Pablo Robert, Olivia Toffolini, Steina and Woody Vasulka and Susanne Wurmnest.

Analysis of the Sequencing
Docking Protocols
video installation

By Dragan Živadinov, Dunja Zupančič and Miha Turšič
http://www.umbot.com

An analysis of the sequencing of docking protocols, vectorially oriented toward the absolute event: The module is procedurally coordinated with the planned sequence. There are three planned sequences. The third one is death! Death is an absolute event in direct contact with absolute nothing. Fear of death is fear of one’s own observing mind. We are constantly in the process of analyzing our own values.

Because of this, death is, and will forever remain, a distant event.

When reason collides with life, a deadly concentration occurs. Concentration and control. Thus modular patterns of various time dispersions jeopardize our present, which is located in the docking module. Without shame or cessation, we artists support power.

When the day comes, nobody can die in our place. Docking protocols are functions fi lled with the thinking of all the multiplied systems of the planet. The modules are the planits of the developing universe. A person’s death cannot be taken away from them. We are in a dangerous orbit, sliding toward the last partition of the mind. The planned act follows. The digital fabric is fi lling with semantic acts. Because of the docking mechanism, we become the center, rather than the fl ow, of events. There is no room for consciousness anymore. Everything is processed in the scheme of the polysemous systemic planetary organization.

We three are in a module, in another time series of self-awareness, we are a partition of the observing mind stripped of its fl esh and blood until only a bone and a scrap of reality in black remain: the modular is on its epic journey through universal time.

The spirit slides into the point of the planetary equation. Personally affected by the unimaginable and distant.

“Every form has an optimal distance at which it is best seen, and a certain orientation which best displays it: before or beyond that there is merely a disorganized idea or insuffi cient perception, so we strive for peak visibility and, as in the micro-world, seek the clearest possible image obtained by balancing the inner and the outer horizons; a living body seen from too close up, without a background to stand out against, is no longer a living body but merely a mass of matter, as alien as the surface of another planet, a phe- nomenon we can observe by inspecting our skin under a magnifying glass; viewed from afar, a living body again loses its value of life. A living body only appears as such when its structure, reduced several times, is neither excessively nor insuffi ciently visible. The distance between us and form is not the increasing or diminishing scale, but tension. There is a level of maturity regarding our perception.”

Thus we are but testers of laws. In the module we can no longer fall back on the humanities, so we focus on pure functionality and a systematic approach. Modular death is a demonstration of our cool detach- ment. We have fused in digital slices. We have collected organs into a functional whole. Joined death with the language of vision. Thus, we have all three fallen into the void of time, into the rituals of virtuoso cultural studies, the contemporary West, and the cinema protocols of the East. Cosmic time is the time of the immortal cosmic observer. In the end, the third sequence occurs.

Information Accelerator v.1.1
an audio-visual installation

BridA (Jurij Pavlica, Sendi Mango, Tom Kerševan)
http://www.brida-kud.si

BridA’s most recent projec is entitled Information Accelerator; it unites and combines the processes of transmitting and receiving information, of directing and channeling it in an extensive system of tubes or pipes. This module spans the entire gallery as some kind of conduit, making the fl ow and processing of all kinds of information possible. In BridA’s words “such a structure can be compared to a traditional drawing resembling a network of wires and channels. In such case, the drawing would be understood as a topographical grid for combining information in diverse ways, multiplying it, dividing it, adding it up and subtracting it, drawing the path to the fi nal message in some sort of system of coordinates.” Information Accelerator is a system of pipes, a duct, or an installation consisting of all the necessary equipment for such a device to work. It contains elements for observing the exterior world and for contacts with it (e.g. control monitors, interactive switches, sound units, microcontrollers for monitoring and guiding various operations). The gallery-length system of tubes will conduct, process, and above all accelerate informa- tion by increasing the tensions and the pressures with the aid of various mechanical, visual, and audio devices. Information as the essence of the message conveyed by this visual, sound, and mechanical device will remain manipulated and be transformed into new processed and purifi ed sound and visual forms. BridA continuously focuses on the possibilities of information, discovering the boundaries or the areas where information fuses with artistic intervention and acquires an a-personal character, independ- ent of the subject. The point of interest is the moment of reaction or response, when information becomes pure and independent artistic expression, mediated by the device, but at the same time emancipated and pure artistic speech. BridA points out that “the installation tries to present the various possibilities of manipulating information in the artistic process, of emphasizing its material presence by presenting it through matter, fl uid, or gas. We try to materialize it by simulating its exposure to mechanical and chemi- cal processing. At the same time, the installation speaks about the fl ow and the directing of information, which in this specifi c case acquires the image of matter, and of its energy potential, both positive and negative. Its existence appears to be undefi ned and compressed into a network of conductors, wires, and channel systems, which together only intensify the tension and the expectation. Information travels past us; we can capture some pieces, and only indirectly feel others.” The large tube system in the gallery is the traveling of (physically indeterminable) matter that functions under certain pressure; with great force it squeezes sounds (rumbling, puffi ng, and wheezing), warmth, and even smell out of the matter, which secures the individual perception of random visitors. At the same time, this constitutes creating the ten- sion of currents of information, with the issue being, rather than their interpretation, the underscoring of information values, their ubiquitous presence around us and, of course, primarily their immense impact on our day-to-day activities and life in general.

Information Accelerator is a tangible and very graphic sound and visual anatomy of one possible current of information. In addition to the device there will be graphic presentations of the electronic circuits, enriched with a variety of symbols and contents that also dictate diverse possibilities for the fl ow of information, the entire process of the messages traveling with all the data, commands, and transitions through the mysterious world of sound, picture, and word. With its precise synthetic-analytical approach to art, the group BridA fi nds its creative paths in the sphere of the latest contemporary art. In it the social concept too is open for the latest meanings: the systems and values of information create close bonds between artists and science and artists and social sensitivity; the fi eld of mutual infl uences is very strong and develops ceaselessly.

Sarival Sosič, PhD