Commissioned by Peter Weibel for the 4th Moscow Biennale for Contemporary Art in 2011
‘Fly’ studies the movement of objects and insects within a confined space. An abstract representation of a fly is held captive inside a glass box, centrally ensnared by eight cables. The behaviour of this ‘fly’ is controlled by a unique and autonomous algorithm, accurately simultating the observed behaviour of real flies.
The ‘fly’ has the freedom to move anywhere within its box, but lacks spatial reference. In nature, living flies have the ability -not possessed by all winged insects- to alter the direction of their flightpath at random. If trapped behind a window, this ability increases their chances of escape. Yet, flies do not possess brains large enough to consciously instigate such decisions, suggesting this advantage in behavioural pattern may be intrinsic to their genetic make-up.
rAndom has applied this pattern of movement to an inanimate object, as though it were trapped beneath a watch-glass; exploring not only the behaviour of objects but also that of humans. When the ‘fly’ senses the presence of a person at its perimeter, it changes the demeanour of its flight in response. This continuing physical interplay of action and reaction can offer a new perspective to our own behaviour, its effects and apparent freedom, in the current age.
rAndom International’s sustained interest and experimentation with natural and artificial behavioural processes, and the simulation of life itself, provides the impetus for this work.
‘Fly’ premiered at the 4th Moscow Biennial of Contemporary Art, curated by Peter Weibel.
Glass, cable, machined aluminium, pulley, custom control system and software 2 x 2 m Edition of 6 + 2, courtesy of Rachel Verghis - Incubator
