Art & Artificial Life International Competition | Home | Entry | Editions | References | Español |

Luca Gemma Life Support Machine Italy lucagemma1@yahoo.it

Life Support Machine This installation presents a way to resolve ourselves Inspiration taken from natural wave forms are transferred into mechanical movements. This sound originates from the rubbing of thousands of fish scales fixed unto transparent plastic sheeting The flowing movement of the device creates the rubbing. The movements are controlled by special software, tuned to the sound of surf. The software programme translates cognitive analogue experience into digital communication. Memory of these waveforms has been divided into five parts-each part relating to a binary number: Forward motion >1 Reverse motion >0 Duration >01 Lapse of time in actions >00 Frequency of actions >11 Digitalising the analogue experience of nature into this binary series of numbers, a sound that is a virtual expression of reality is created - an effective and demonstrable illusion. Human knowledge, when split into fragments, becomes comprehensible to computers and new machines can be created. Life Support Machine is one of those. Such machines can transmit synthetic emotions, by constructing or suggesting artificial landscapes to which an audience could interact. Life Support Machine creates an entertainment space and a sense of well being. It will put you in the best mental and physical shape. Technical information: I have built the three mechanisms, superimposing layers of plastic sheet with scales of fish; sound originates from the rubbing of thousands of fish scales. The sound changes depending on the number of the layers and dimension of scales, moved by electric motors, mimicking the flowing of waves. The movements are memory of waveforms. They has been divided into five parts-each part relating to a binary number: Forward motion >1 Reverse motion >0 Duration >01 Lapse of time in actions >00 Frequency of actions >11 Digitalized data were downloaded in a Siemens CPU 312 IFM of a computer, used for robotic application, which is now able to driven the mechanical movement. Each mechanism has a motor drive real servo controlled by data downloaded in the computer. Life support machine works with a light sensor and an infrared detect sensor, it can also works in the dark.

BIO Luca Gemma, (Italy 1961), is e new media artist based in Bologna, Italy. He has a MFA degree from the Academy of Fine Art in Bologna. He works in a field of visual and sound art. He does installations focused on the perception of three-dimensional sound/visual space that is investigated by means of performance, multi video screening, and multichannel sound system. Currently, he works in a project to realize a sonic ambient where sound become a tactile experience.