proteus 3.5 installation invites visitors to interact with ferrofluid through their mental states

maria smigielska and compmonks exhibit in warsaw

Architects and researchers Maria Smigielska and CompMonks have unveiled their latest mixed media installation, Proteus 3.5, Contemplating in the Cloud, at the Copernicus Science Center in Warsaw. Proteus is an interactive and generative project that immerses the visitor in interaction with a large-scale digitized ferromaterial through their mental states. A Brain-Computer Interface device measures their neural activity, adjusting the resolution of the ferromaterial accordingly to facilitate a more intense human-material interaction. The immersive environment is further enhanced by reflections and refractions within a room-scale chamber, altogether blending visitors with the light and their visual reflections. 

proteus 3.5 projects hypnotic ferromaterial in real time

Maria Smigielska and CompMonks draw on the complex behaviour of the ferrofluid material. Much like the Greek god Proteus, it can assume various forms and become the unifying material aspect of the series of interactive and generative artworks. The behaviour of the material is hard to control or simulate by nature and, as such, is taken as a value of diversity and exploration in the process of ephemeral and non-repeatable pattern generation. Visual exposure to such a dynamic white and black graphic pattern is used by the artists as an apparatus to emulate a constant search for signification by visual human intelligence. 

Proteus 3.5 takes the form of a 2.5 x 2.5 x 1.5 meter architectural chamber, reminiscent of small, primitive chapels designed for contemplation and spiritual introspection detached from the physical world. Like a box cut out from a cathedral, the exterior presents a simple black sectional design, while the interior dazzles with immersive visuals. Visitors stepping inside are enveloped in animated and organic imagery, its omnipresent effect achieved through a human-scale digital screen and its reflections on surrounding mirror-like metal surfaces. The chamber’s design, with smoothly deformed cladded panels resembling water ripples, further intensifies the immersive effect.

Proteus has been commissioned by the Copernicus Science Center for a third chapter of a new permanent exhibition, The Future is Today, titled Human 2.0, focused on the medicine of the future, human design, and cyborgization.

Proteus 3.5 is part of a series of mixed-media interactive installations that commenced in 2018, exploring the modulation of matter through human and machine intelligence. Each installation is differently composed as generative and interactive from three core elements: a visual interaction with matter (specifically a ferrofluid compound), tensions between analogue and digital, and relations between human and machine bits of intelligence. The project has been a part of artistic research at the Creative Robotics, University of Arts and Design in Linz, artistic residency Intelligent Museum at ZKM Karlsruhe in 2021, residency at Kontejner in Zagreb, Croatia 2023, and individual developments in between. It has been presented during 6 international exhibitions in Europe, including Ars Electronica Festival in Linz, Trondheim Biennale for Arts and Technology or ZKM Karlsruhe. 

project info:

name: Proteus 3.5, Contemplating in the Cloud
designer: Maria Smigielska, CompMonks

CNK team: Niko Krawczyk Zielinski, Barbara Malinowska Pohoryles, Michal Grzymala

BCI sponsorship: Muse

videography: Thierry Serbeto, Alpha Leonis Production

metal cladding: Emboss

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