Etheroid

Artists Statement: We have wanted to create an alternative universe. Originally, the ether which is a part of the title means a medium of light. Light is not with substance. Our concept is to create a atom of media for existence, which is invisible. To achieve this concept, we thought to need an autonomous behavior, not god. These devices seem to be physical neural network, so have a relation of body and mind.
In order to build the etheroid system, it is necessary to have accessible conditions where etheroids are within certain distance of other etheroids. To achieve this, I decided to use an infrared LED that illuminates invisible lights within a certain range together with a general communication module called XBee. Specifically, the current etheroid use XBee to send information to all other etheroids while an infrared LED emits illumination. Next, the etheroid that received the infrared ray then conveys its information to the current etheroid, and the current etheroid builds an information list of surrounding etheroids. The information list corresponds to a temporary storage area. The system of etheroids randomly selects one etheroid, sends the information to that chosen etheroid, and then proceed to select the next etheroid. Since the list is constantly updated, operation will continue even if the number of etheroids increases or decreases.

Artist(s): Jun Fujiki, Sapporo City University
Katsuhiko Tabei, Tokyo University of the Arts
Tomihiro Akagawa, Tokyo University of the Arts