A distant cousin of Kismet (see 3/11): still more interactive art with a creaturely bent, though here's a far different sort of creature. This piece by Lim Young-sun was shown at last year's Unnatural Science Exhibit at the new Mass Moca. The installation consisted of a darkened room in which "two hundred [fantastical] creatures cast in silicone and suspended in translucent oil are trapped within illuminated glass jars suspended from the ceiling...Each creature whirs around in its liquid light-filled medium emitting chirps and snippets of song. When any individual jar is approached, the creature inside clams up and stops moving, seemingly in fright, and becomes a dead, sterile specimen."
According to the website of the MIT Humanoid Robotics Group, Kismet has been programmed to desire social interaction; without it, s/he affects a 'sad' appearance. So what happens when Kismet is placed in a room filled with Lim Young's creatures? Would they warm to him/her, seeing as s/he's a fellow bit of silicon life? And if they did, would Kismet be willing to accept the attentions of a non-carbon based life form?
11:44:47 AM 
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