Perpetual Productivity: I Am Not A Robot
Super Deep Media II, Hochschultag - Hochschule für Künste, Bremen. 2020.Sculpture. 
100 x 100 x 120 cm. Aluminum, Steel, PMMA, Solenoids, Microcontroller, Code, Zip ties. Perpetual Productivity: I Am Not A Robot is a sculpture that investigates synchronization and the range of emergent behaviors possible, in systems. The project highlights the elegant simplicity and empowering complexity of synchronization as a consistent factor in the human experience of work and efficiency. The system simulates the activity of units in synchronized systems, where each unit has the same basic task as the other, moving a ball along a rail and resetting any other unit in the system. A simple algorithmic synchronization of the set and reset function enables emergent physical behaviors in the closed systems. The project is inspired by the rhythm in the performance of work, research into negative feedback in cybernetic systems and voltage controlled oscillators as one of the building blocks of the digital world. The emergent performance is a subtly commentary on natural yet exploitative power and productivity in capitalism.
How It Works.
The closed system is composed of a series of a series of solenoids pushing steel ball bearings along a track . The system in monitored by two IR Sensors that read and record the states: “set” and “reset”. Each unit functions independently but the system is coupled, such that the either one of the possible states will have be recorded for any unit to function. The input is stored as memory and re-written/transformed, based on external influence to alter the physical behaviour patterns of the entire system. It therefore has the autonomy to dictate its own behavior pattern based on a synchronization of a single task. The audible, meditative output becomes the sonic signature, inviting a questioning of work, power, unit and systems.
“Systems cannot correct themselves if they do not stray.” - Emeritus Professor Kelvin Rodolfo of the University of Illinois
Theoretical Background
Voltage Controlled Oscillators.
African Fractals: Modern Computing and Indigenous Design - Ron Eglash
The Work of Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction - Walter Benjamin.
Built and developed for Super Media II with Ralf Baecker. Hochschule für Kunst, Bremen. 2020