• Client:Pierre Huyghe Studio
  • Year:2016
  • Role:Electronics, physical computing, user experience, interface design, interactive programming, design, fabrication
  • Ref: https://vimeo.com/254102360

Living Variator

Living Variator was conceived by French artist Pierre Huyghe for Tino Sehgal's October 2016 exhibition at the Palais de Tokyo. The site-specific installation was a living, sentient environment in which real-time data of any event and biological processes, including ants, flies and spiders inhabiting the exhibit were collected by sensors. The data influenced the growth of in-vitro HeLa cancerous cells, which influenced the museum's water and ventilation system, changing the environment in which the insects were placed, thus completing the living cycle. Universal Solvent Studios in collaboration with Andy Cavatorta Studio built the sensors and the software responsible for exchanging data and controlling the building's structure. A network of Raspberry Pis is responsible for the core of the environment, in which each node has to transmit data and react to external stimuli.