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Cryptographic Beings Suiteáil Ealaíne by Michael Sedbon

Cryptographic Beings Suiteáil Ealaíne by Michael Sedbon is a highly esteemed winner of the very prestigious 2023 Duais Airgid A' Design Award in Dearadh Suiteála Competition Category.


AirgeadSuiteáil· 2023

Cryptographic Beings Suiteáil Ealaíne

by Michael Sedbon

Client: Michael Sedbon

Duais Airgid A' Design Award Winner in Suiteáil Category

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The Design

About Cryptographic Beings Suiteáil Ealaíne

Is suiteáil ealaíne í Cryptographic Beings a stórálann sonraí digiteacha i algaí beo. Tá tríocha giotán plandúil sa saothar, gach ceann acu ina shoitheach gloine ina bhfuil algaí filiméadacha. Táirgeann fótaisintéis veisicilí gáis, agus mar sin snámhann na algaí sa solas agus téann siad go tóin poill sa dorchadas. Seasann gach staid snámha nó tóin poill do nialas nó a haon digiteach, agus is féidir leis an tsuiteáil focal cúig litir a stóráil. Rialaíonn géaga róbatacha mótaraithe an solas a shroicheann gach soitheach, agus léann braiteoir datha saincheaptha gach staid. Ritheann an meaisín go huathrialach ar feadh míonna le linn taispeántais.

The Recognition

About the Duais Airgid A' Design Award

Bhuaigh an dearadh Cryptographic Beings Suiteáil Ealaíne Duais Airgid A' Design Award, aitheantas an-ghradamach a bhronntar ar dhearaí ardchaighdeáin, álainn agus drámatach. Is saothair thar a bheith drithleacha agus an-chruthaitheach iad buaiteoirí Airgid a léiríonn saineolas, tallann agus géarchúis shármhaith a ndearthóirí. Táthar ag súil go mbeidh an dearadh Cryptographic Beings Suiteáil Ealaíne ina shaothar iontach, ina léiriú sampla, thar a bheith gairmiúil agus go domhain nuálach. Is aireagán an-suntasach, ionadmhuirthe é an dearadh seo a bhuaigh Duais Airgid A' Design Award a dhéanann leas do theorainneacha na healaíne, na heolaíochta, an deartha agus na teicneolaíochta agus a chuireann chun cinn iad. Is cruthú é an dearadh Cryptographic Beings Suiteáil Ealaíne a bhfuil formad mór leis, a mhúsclaíonn mianta, a thugann mothúcháin dhearfacha agus a adhnann iontas agus ionadh.

Behind the Design

Press Kit

Credits, team members and technical details provided by the designer.

Unique Properties
Cryptographic Beings is a technological proposal that leverages our ability to control and abstract biology to perform digital information storage.

Marimos are large spherical colonies of algea.

Photosynthetic activity produces gas vesicles visible to the naked eye
This property allows them to float when exposed to light and sink in the dark

This property is used to store digital data: The floating or sinking state representing digital 0s or 1s
This robotic setup is capable of storing a 5 letter word
Dimensions & Packaging
Width : 60 cm
height : 300 cm
Depth : 60 cm
Weight : 300 Kg
Tags
Artificial Living Intelligence, Synthetic Biology, Bio-Hybrid Computers, Living Machines, New Media Art, Robotic
Production Technology
This work was developed as part of an ongoing research project on bio-hybrid computation exploring the possible morpho-space of computing devices. Michael Sedbon questions the information-processing properties of living matter through the creation of novel technologies embed into sculptural artefacts.
This work has been developed as a functional prototype of a digital data storage device on vegetal media. It uses living algae, custom electronic and software code to store information.
Design Challenge
Cryptographic being is both a technological and an artistic proposal. The technology used to store digital information in vegetal media is a pure creation for this work. During its development, numerous technical challenges such as the design of custom sensors and engineered mechanical parts had to be overcome.
As an artistic project, it also had to communicate its (highly technical) subject in an understandable manner. Great care was placed in rendering biological processes visible.
Research
Living organisms perceive and interact with their environment through computation. Recent advances in the life sciences allow researchers and designers to envision machines of new kinds that leverage the massive and specific capacities of living matter in computing.
How would these bio-hybrid machines change our perception of nature and culture, what can be used to compute, what can be computed and what form will they take? These are the question this work approach.
Inspiration
The first part of the 20th century witnessed simultaneously the discovery of the basis of information storage in DNA and the revolutions of the modern computing era.

Since then, the fields of computer science and modern biology have co-evolved in a conceptual framework that looks at life as an information processing system and at digital computations as Intelligence.

This cultural relationship is allowing us to design new kinds of bio-hybrid computers leveraging the massive capacity of life.
Project Duration
The project was conceptualised and prototyped in summer 2021. The production occurred from September 2021 to March 2022. This work was shown at Au Dela Des Pixel, a digital art exhibition curated and organised by 36 Degres, in March 2022 in Paris.
Operation Flow
This autonomous machine consists of an array of 30 vegetal bits made of filamentous algae held in glass vessels. The control of the information flow is handled by a set of specifically developed robotic arms that control photosynthetic processes in each of the bits. The state of each bit (the digital information) is retrieved by a custom-made device based on a colour sensor.
The machine is designed to run autonomously for months throughout an exhibition.
Team Members
Michael Sedbon

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