QUANTUM FRAME
LITTLE SOUND MACHINES
LITTLE SOUND MACHINES
2019 -
2018
2018
The Quantum Frame is a mechanical installation that speculates on the future of quantum computing and what that may hold for machine intelligence and consciousness. The installation takes the form of the present day quantum computer, with a tubular central chamber, where machine learning data drives the mechanical movements of an electromagnetic structure, breathing life into the metallic framework, a ghost in the machine.
The current version of the frame is self-generative. But the artist hopes that once time-sharing of the quantum computer is open to the general public, that the installation may be able to talk with the quantum machine directly via data transfer.
This piece is currently on-going. Magnetic field experimentation and research with ferrofluid are currently in--progress.
The Little Sound Machines is a sound installation consisting of a series of both mechanical and digital machines that are connected to an AI network. Three AIs form the central brain of the network. Through learning from and influencing each other, the AIs construct the musical phrases that are then played out through a series of sound-generating machines. The music generated by the AI is also presented on a series of television screens that visualizes both the AI data and audio, as well as machine logic and behavior to the audience.
This piece proposes a new mode of music creation in the age of intelligent machine. Through experimentation, the artist presents an exploration of new musical interfaces that erases the composer from the equation, to present a purely machine-made performance.
The Little Sound Machines are made from found objects, up-cycled and spare parts.
The Little Sound Machines is a sound installation consisting of a series of both mechanical and digital machines that are connected to an AI network. Three AIs form the central brain of the network. Through learning from and influencing each other, the AIs construct the musical phrases that are then played out through a series of sound-generating machines. The music generated by the AI is also presented on a series of television screens that visualizes both the AI data and audio, as well as machine logic and behavior to the audience.
This piece proposes a new mode of music creation in the age of intelligent machine. Through experimentation, the artist presents an exploration of new musical interfaces that erases the composer from the equation, to present a purely machine-made performance.
The Little Sound Machines are made from found objects, up-cycled and spare parts.
LITTLE SOUND MACHINES
2018
The Little Sound Machines is a sound installation consisting of a series of both mechanical and digital machines that are connected to an AI network. Three AIs form the central brain of the network. Through learning from and influencing each other, the AIs construct the musical phrases that are then played out through a series of sound-generating machines. The music generated by the AI is also presented on a series of television screens that visualizes both the AI data and audio, as well as machine logic and behavior to the audience.
This piece proposes a new mode of music creation in the age of intelligent machine. Through experimentation, the artist presents an exploration of new musical interfaces that erases the composer from the equation, to present a purely machine-made performance.
The Little Sound Machines are made from found objects, up-cycled and spare parts.
PROBE II, Subaudition
Subaudition: The act of understanding or supplying something not expressed, a reading between the lines. -- Merriam-Webster
PROBE Series II is the second work in the PROBE Series by Benjamin Bacon. The series explores the design of extra-planetary machines that imitate human sensory systems in observing human life and behavior on earth.
PROBE II: Subaudition is a binary set of these extra-planetary machines that investigate and apply machine learning methods of speech to text recognition to explore the concept of subaudition through the translation, degradation, and misinterpretation of meaning in spoken language to binary information, transmitted between the two machines and expressed as kinetic tapping and light.
Machine I: Recognition. Decoding. Transmission.
The microphone on Machine I captures the human voice, environmental sounds, and directional position of the participants. When motion is triggered and detected, it encodes the spoken language into text and then into morse code that is communicated kinetically through solenoid tapping and transmits the machines interpretation of the information to Machine II.
Machine II: Receiver. Pattern Emitter.
Machine II collects and re-interprets the transmitted information and transforms it into non-verbal light projections into the space through a mechanism of mirrored surfaces and a rotating cylinder with slits.
The two machines in Probe II: Subaudition together imitate the human ear and language processing system in the brain, where audio signals are picked up and translated into an internal language to our bodies. Environmental sounds, mistranslation within the machine, glitches of the ML model due to data training limitations all contribute to an interesting dynamic where the machines almost exhibit their own interpretation of human language.
This piece was exhibited at Art Laboratory Berlin August 2021 at the Under the Viral Shadow: Networks in the Age of Technoscience and Infection exhibition. You can find reviews of the work and exhibition at Art Link Berlin, Art-in-Berlin, and Clot Magazine. The work is also discussed in an artist interview by Clot Magazine.
Machine II at Art Laboratory Berlin August 2021 at the Under the Viral Shadow: Networks in the Age of Technoscience and Infection exhibition.
Machine I at Art Laboratory Berlin August 2021 at the Under the Viral Shadow: Networks in the Age of Technoscience and Infection exhibition.
Keywords: Subaudition, Machine Life, Networked Communication, Machine Learning, Text to Speech, Mechanical Installation, Extra-Planetary, Speculative Design
Software: Linux (Raspberry Pi), Tensor Flow: Deep Speech, Python, C and Arduino Code.
Hardware: Solenoids, LED, Raspberry Pi, Arduino, Custom PCBs, Microphone, RF Transmitter and Receiver, Motors, Stainless Steel.
Video Credits
Shot by: Bei Chen
Edited by: Vivian Xu
Sound Design by: Benjamin Bacon
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Machine I Structural Drawings
Machine II Structural Drawings
Expanded diagrams of Machine I and Machine II.
PROBE II: Subaudition at Art Laboratory Berlin August 2021 at the Under the Viral Shadow: Networks in the Age of Technoscience and Infection exhibition.
Probe II: Subaudition, Machine I. 2021.
Photographed by Jinyu Liu.
Probe II: Subaudition, Machine II. 2021.
Photographed by Jinyu Liu.
Probe II: Subaudition, Machine I. Renderings in natural environment. 2021.
Probe II: Subaudition, Machine II. Renderings in natural environment. 2021.
