Active Matter

²⁰²¹^{Tags: Interactive Installation, Multi-Disciplinary

Tools: Unity, ML-Agent, Arduino, TouchDesigner, Pressure Sensor Floor, Winch Servo Systems, Laser Cut 3D Fabrics

Credit: Dishun Chen, Crystal Ying Cheng, Luis Cascales Belando}

Active Matter is an interactive installation space that explores the idea of evolving and adaptive space through chaos, complex systems, and choreography. It creates a feedback loop between spatial qualities and human movement, where complex systems embody the living space. Simple rule sets, which are adapted through reinforced learning, are used to create dynamic and nonlinear interactions that generate different choreographic patterns triggered by the audience's actions.

The project draws inspiration from Cedric Price's vision of the fun palace, which has always been at the heart of architecture exploration. Empty spaces become defined and evolved, and our movement adapts to these changes, creating new paths of choreography. The feedback control between spatial qualities and human movement creates a living system that is dynamic and constantly changing, resulting in emergent patterns of choreography. As a complex system, it consists of simple agents that interact nonlinearly with each other, with no central control, and emergent behaviors may surface.

The project explores the notion of fluid spaces coexisting with humans, resulting in a dynamic and interactive installation space. The use of virtual simulations and simple rule sets to create dynamic and nonlinear interactions generates different choreographic patterns, creating a living system.

PROTOTYPING