2007 Rockefeller New Media Foundation Proposal

Abstract

The development of a series of biologically inspired sculptural substrates, a generative programming language, called Proto, for describing motion, and a series of art pieces implementing movement concepts described in Proto and realized on the sculptural substrates. Each biologically inspired substrate involves an ecology of elements intertwined in a sustainable relationship, exhibiting a high degree of freedom grace, and able to execute distributed sensor/motor programs. The Proto language provides a formal and executable description of space-time behaviors with gross movements being described intuitively at a very high level and translated into distributed sensor/motor programs on individual parts. The language and substrate together allow the creation of a range of sculptural forms and motions unachievable to date. Concepts and themes from choreography, sociology, intimacy, and biology will be explored.