Kunstkaart

This work received an Award of Distinction at Ars Electronica 2005. Life Support Systems - Vanda is an attempt to analyze electrical signals from the vanda hybrida orchid, and apply language modeling techniques to these signals in a computer. The result is a virtual model, which continues to generate similar signals long after the original orchids are gone - a kind of computerized longevity. Vandas language and behaviour model is stored in a hacked Microsoft Xbox, its future container. It can be accessed at any time, should one want to experience the essence of Vanda again. The work is installed as a kind of laboratorium with life support facilities for the orchids, a computer visualisation of the language model, the Xbox, and the generated signals presented as sound. Besides turning a scientific experiment into an aesthetic construct, the work tangents questions of consciousness, longevity, and new lifeforms through computing. More info and images at www.westerplatte.net.