Outerspace

September 18th, 2006

Another project that I saw online a while ago was Outerspace by Andre Stubbe and Markus Lerner of the Berlin University of the Arts. It was presented as part of the CyberArts Exhibition at Ars Electronica but unfortunately wasn’t working (like a number of the projects). None the less their video documentation gives you a sense of its behaviors.

Outerspace is a reactive robotic creature. Its motivation is based on curiosity, the desire to explore the surrounding space looking for contact. Touch it, play with it and watch its behavior. “Curiosity is desire. The desire to discover something. The movements of Outerspace are based on its curiosity in exploring the surrounding space. It looks for light, motion, finally contact. As he finds something interesting, this again increases its curiosity, to find out even more. The same thing happens in the mind of the observer, when he approaches the object.”

The basic form is motivated by insect antennae that are able to make flexible movements in order to explore the environment. Outerspaces broad repertoire of motion actually originates from animals, both in the behavior of single organs and body language. At the same time, human gestures are part of the motion patterns of Outerspace.

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Entry Filed under: Interactive, Kinetic, Scuplture/Installation