Upgrade! Scotland: ~ in the fields’ ima flue (k) – Hybrid Lifeforms :: October 31, 2007; 5.30 -7.30 pm :: Dundee Contemporary Arts, 152 Nethergate, Dundee.

~ in the fields, Nicole Heidtke and Stefan Baumberger, is a partnership based in interdisciplinay practice combining “art with science, philosophy with poetry and virtual with real architecture”. ~ in the fields have produced installations which collide research into natural phenomena, such as the growth of plants and organisms, with computer aided installations. One example:

ima flue (k) – Hybrid Lifeforms is an interactive computer based installation, which deals with the correlations between different life forms. It shows the idea of a mutual relationship between living plants, virtual life forms which are integrated in a robotic system, and the actions of human beings.

When the visitor comes close to one of the plants (the biological life form) the virtual life form, an abstract hummingbird, mounted on a robotic arm, approaches the plant and, therefore, the visitor. At the same moment the light in the installation space becomes brighter and the plants are watered. The visitor is thus able to change the short-term conditions for the virtual life form and the long-term conditions for the plants.

As in life, the viewer is able to see the hummingbird more clearly as it comes nearer. The image of the hummingbird as it approaches the plant increases in size until it is too big for the screen. At the same time, the shape of the hummingbird becomes looser in its polygon structures and the image is abstracted. It is not possible to observe this beautiful scene of a buzzing hummingbird sucking nectar without almost touching the plant. If the viewer tries to make the hummingbird come close too often, the plants will have too much water and will eventually die after a few days or weeks.