organoid computing
an exploration of computer materiality inspired by a speculative future where computing happens through organic, living material
year
September - December 2023
role
designer, filmmaker,
creative technologist
on this page
final exhibit
speculative film
evolution of research
In 2022, scientists programmed lab-grown brains cells to play the 1970's video game Pong. What would a speculative future where silicon and copper are replaced with neurons and cells look like?
This project explored the materiality of computing: angular, stiff, metallic shift to soft, fleshy, and organic. How might this shift change our data? Change us as users?
The project culminated in an exhibition where users could become the computer interface for a drawing machine.
show: appendices1-23 at 50 sims studios, Providence RI
materials: wood, electronics, aluminum, wire, computer
Behind the wall, participants became an extension of the computer through an electrified armband. From the front side, a second participant moves the disembodied arm, controlling the drawing pad on the computer.
research process_1
what would a speculative future where silicon and copper are replaced with neurons and cells look like?
a speculative film + practice in diegetic prototyping
research process_2
what happens we reimagine the materiality of each of a computer, component by component?
2.1_sea creatures + circuitry
measuring the resistance of various sea plants and mollusks
2.2_rats + logic gates
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two transistor AND gate
differential to create flow + interference + special property
pattern:
pattern extrapolation
rat maze AND gate
a two input rat maze where where each rat must open the gate for the other rat, resulting in an outcome similar to an AND gate in a computer chip
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2.3_flesh + interface
Pong with disembodied limbs: touching the arm triggers up and touching the leg triggers down
drawing machine + finger joystick
made with arrow keys
made with finger joystick
finger joystick facilitates the discovery of diagonals
2.4_final
expansion of experiment 3: flesh interfaces