Espace Vectoriel
"Espace Vectoriel" (1993) is an installation by Demers & Vorn. It was shown at DEAF96.
Demers & Vorn: Espace Vectoriel
The room is dark and somewhat foggy; this is the hypothetical natural habitat of this 'robot-organism'. Machines are in motion, producing light and sound, constituting the metabolism of this virtual organism. It notices any visitors present; a movement by one of them leads to a chain reaction of light and sound.
The installation 'Espace Vectoriel' consists of eight motorized tubes containing a source of sound and light. The sampled sound, the light intensity and the positioning of the tubes are being controlled independently. This enables each tube to respond autonomically and differently, while together forming intricate scenographic patterns and variations. The group, the community, in Demers' and Vorn's terms, of deliberately simple mechanical, visual and auditory elements is not intended to mimic or simulate nature in its appearance. But, analogous to an ecosystem, the community is based on unity in species and numbers. Each 'community member' responds to the environment, while the collective movement focuses on the part of the room where most visitors are.
The group exhibits both dependent and independent 'behavior'; the system allows each member the freedom of individual reaction, but each member simultaneously reacts to other group members, resulting in 'group behavior'. The complexity of reaction and movement caused by this plurality seems no longer predictable. This suggests the impression that the installation has an autonomy of its own and invites the visitor to acquaint himself with these fictitious characteristics. This reactive robot installation shows us a hybrid world somewhere between nature and artificial life, thus paraphrasing the idea of vector space.
