The Barbican Totem: Lighting Up the Brain, Zoning in on Synapses, Redistributing Sentience
Symposium:
Session Title:
- Machinic Sense & Sensibility: Embodied Cognition
Presentation Title:
- The Barbican Totem: Lighting Up the Brain, Zoning in on Synapses, Redistributing Sentience
Presenter(s):
Abstract:
This short paper presents a sensory ethnography of audience response to a pulsating, highly dynamic light sculpture called “Totem” that formed part of the “AI: More than Human” show at the Barbican, which ran for four months during the Summer of 2019. Totem was created by Chris Salter and associates. The piece (which is dotted with sensors) could be said to hold a mirror up to our brains, so that we see the neural processes involved in our perceiving the environment while the artwork perceives us. Totem takes the idea of interactive art to a new level, and in so doing short-circuits the brain.
