I am currently thinking a lot about dual levels of behaviour, experience and interaction (or reaction).

First some background:

The installation I’m working on these days is based on the idea of a division between the whole and the parts that constitutes said whole. A fascination with the theory of emergence, a term usually used about the novel and emergent behaviour seen in more or less complex systems based on relatively simple autonomous agents (examples are the way flocks of birds fly in formation, the way schools of fish move as one, or the way ant colonies organize with no central control), has given rise to the installation’s form.
The installation is built on a system of 16 autonomous agents, in the form of microcontroller controlled units each with an embedded LED (light), LDR (light sensor) and solenoid (for percussive sound). All the units are identical in shape and loaded with the same code. The units are spread throughout a space in all three dimensions, with a gap of approx. 1.5 meters between each other.

An analogy for the behaviour of the units is that they are like social creatures, feeling safe and content in the company of others like themselves. But when something/someone isolates them, they start to get agitated, wanting to get back into the fold. The units will regularly ping each other with light, and as long as they are touched by a beam of light within given intervals they are happy. The LED and LDR of each unit are placed at 90 degrees to each other, thereby making a rippling effect possible, as a unit can be separated from others on one side, but is still able to agitatedly blink it’s LED, transferring its “adrenalin” to the next unit in the group.

So, to take it from the beginning again:

I am currently thinking a lot about dual levels of behaviour, experience and interaction/reaction.
In the context of the above mentioned installation:

• Dual refers to the local versus the global, the individual unit versus the group, the active versus the passive interest shown by visitors.
• Behaviour refers to how the autonomous agents function by themselves, and how the installation functions when viewed as a whole.
• Experience refers to how people perceive the whole installation versus the parts that it is made of.
• Interaction/reaction refers to the kind of action people take when in the presence of the installation, whether they keep to the edges looking at, and listening to, the whole or diving into it playing around with the separate units.

My hope is that the installation will be perceived on both levels. First when someone enters the space it is in, they might stop up for a bit, viewing the play of light and shadows bouncing from unit to unit, listen to the soundscape. After a bit they might start getting interested in the separate units, trying to figure out how it works. The difficult part to predict is whether most people will dare start walking between the different units, discovering how they can be affected (or at least that they can be affected). I am looking forward to doing proper user tests to find out more about these things.
People are different. Some people shy away from everything that might put them in the spotlight, while others jump at every opportunity to explore new things. I hope that the installation will cater to both types of people, as visitors may choose themselves whether they want to interact or react, and whether the level of the behaviour in the installation that they experience is local, global or both. There are of course tricks one can use to force the timid visitor to interact in an installation such as this. One way is to create a sense of security by exhibiting in a smaller space, thus removing the audience/performer association from the experience. Another way is to place the first units a visitor will encounter right by the entrance to the space, forcing them to move through the installation to get inside. The trick is to hold on to the original idea of dual levels of experience; it must be possible to observe the installation from outside, while encouraging people to walk among the agents.