Paper title: Post-Biological Hypersurfacing

1. Post-Biological Hypersurfacing
Embodied Mixed Reality Data Transfer
Julian Stadon
Department of Art
Department of Internet Studies
Curtin University
Perth, Australia
j.stadon@curtin.edu.au
Abstract— This paper focuses on the (d)evolving interface embodiment, thus contributing to the redefinition of
between cyberworlds and the real world; what Gabriella aesthetic representation and embodiment.
Giannachi has called the hypersurface [1]. This fusion of real Here, I describe two of my recent projects, Promethean
and representation, linking cyber and real worlds constitutes Alchemist and Terra(socio)sonica which demonstrate what
mixed reality interaction as experienced by humans in the Giles Deleuze has called, the ‘deterritorialisation’ [1] of the
physical world, their avatars, agents, and virtual humans. human body and its’ ‘reterritorialising’ effect on posthuman
Current mixed reality XML RPC (Remote Procedure Call) digital identity construction. Such work furthers the
interfaces and real-time data transfer enhance the experience definition of ‘post-biological’ digital identity through citing
of the hypersurface for the audience beyond any previous
innovative actualisation examples. Through increasing the
virtual media types, such as, hypertext, HTML, VRML,
level of physical involvement that viewers have in the
virtual reality, etc. Previous research in mixed reality and
interactive workspaces that use the concept of a bridge for
creation of a mixed reality system of exchange, these works
data transfer have largely inspired this research and I aim to demonstrate a new model of representation and experience
continue the development of new knowledge in this field. of the hypersurface that stretches, disperses and merges the
position of both artwork and viewer in order to question
Keywords-virtual worlds; virtual humans and avatars; posthuman identity and the body.
human-computer interaction; social networking; networked
collaborations; cyberworlds
II. PROMETHEAN ALCHEMIST
I. INTRODUCTION Perhaps most explicitly exemplifying this mixed reality
structure is Promethean Alchemist. This project was
Unlike traditional sites for communication and cultural conceptualized during the Liminal Screens Co-Production
exchange, virtual platforms rely on actions and Residency at the Banff New Media Institute (BNMI), The
conversations to shape not only the social and cultural Banff Centre, Canada, and is currently under development.
environments, but also the spatial environment. XML RPC Promethean Alchemist is a mixed-reality, interactive data
interfaces further this to (re)include the physical transfer system that engages participants in mythological
environment, from the perspective of the viewer. My work creation and DNA sequencing. Biological DNA is translated
scopes unique autonomous relationships between authors into computer data using DNA sequencing technology,
and agents, through augmenting biological and virtual which is further manipulated into 2D and 3D visual graphic
(natural and technical) information into mixed reality states appearance in the ARToolkit. The visualization form is the
that allow for their mediation through networked systems classic DNA double-helix, which re-enters the physical
interfacing. Such systems allow participants to physically world through an XML RPC (Remote Procedure Call)
interact with virtual biological components through real- interface. When two sections of DNA are brought into close
time data transfer and mediate through physical proximity, the system recognizes their proximity and
engagement, rather than entering traditional text or ‘splices’ (combines) the data set into one.
numerical based data sets and command sequences. Thus, wearing a HMD (Head Mounted Display) and
Unfortunately, the majority of current research in mixed using these cards, participants are able to pick up segments
reality focuses on specific technical aspects of the field of DNA in mixed-reality space and throw them into the
encompassing computer science, cognitive science, robotics, ‘mixing pot’ (visualized as a brazier burning with
etc. with arts, media and humanities only recently Promethean Fire) to create constantly evolving artificial life
contributing to a mixed reality knowledge base. My research forms. Participants are able to create life in an augmented
applies cultural and philosophical discourse to recent environment and then retrieve their creation in the virtual.
developments in computer science to propose a new mode Here they can export the form to 3D printing or animation
of representation that concerns itself with the affective platforms.
capacities of art in order to articulate a sense of dispersed

2. Promethean Alchemist is an artistic rendition of allotting suitable powers to all mortal creatures.
the implications of DNA code translated into the Deleuzian Epimetheus did the initial distribution, which was then to
‘fold’. That is, the in-betweenness of spaces; “able to be reviewed by Prometheus. Epimetheus set about giving
represent dialectical opposites, such as organic and creatures equal shares of positive and negative traits (small
inorganic, inside and outside.”[2] The viewers’ beings were given flight, weaker beings speed, etc); “Thus
participation in the layers of code which constitute the he made his whole distribution on a principle of
work implicates them in a complex exchange between compensation, being careful by these devices that no
organic and inorganic information where the differences species should be destroyed.” [7] However, when
between the two dissolve. The Promethean Alchemist is Prometheus came to inspect the work, he realized that
therefore an example of Giannachi hypersurface: “Able to Epimetheus had forgotten humans and had nothing left to
present dichotomous relationships, between representation bestow upon the naked, unshod, and unarmed creatures.
and matter, inside and outside, organic and inorganic, the Distraught, Prometheus stole from the Gods the gifts of
hypersurface is the site of virtual performance.” [3] My skill in the arts and fire, for without fire there was no way
participation in the exchange is the threefold translation to use the skill. Thus through kinship with the Gods by
from organic DNA to computational code to visual their possession of such God-like powers, humans were
representation in the ARToolkit. The viewer pushes this able to create things such as clothing, shoes and weapons
further by becoming the ‘alchemist’ stirring a virtual and could obtain food from the earth.
primordial soup. While the viewer in firmly planted in the
physical realm, they still experience the dissolve between Thus what constitutes humanity is something that is outside
the organic and inorganic, humanity and technology. of humanity itself: imagination, discovery and realization
through technics; what could be called Promethean Fire.
Examples from computer science that engage the While animals are granted predestination in their origin,
hypersurface include, for example, Augmented Reality, humans must create their qualities, “Humanity is without
Butz et al. [4] which proposed a drag and drop technique qualities, without predestination: it must invent, realize,
between an augmented reality space to a screen space produce qualities, and nothing indicates that, once
within the EMMIE system. Using a mirror metaphor, produced these qualities will bring about humanity that
virtual objects would change representation and they will become its qualities; for they may rather become
dimensionality by passing through screen boundaries, their those of technics.” [7] In other words, humanity is its
approach focused on transferring documents Recently Lang inventions, its tools, its technology. Promethean Alchemist
et al. from Georgia Tech University modified Second Life demonstrates this concept in that each entity that exists in
to create mixed reality experiences [5]. This example the virtual environment of the system is a translation and an
bridged reality states in a way that facilitated a further archive of a particular moment in the evolution of humanity
inquiry into the socio-cultural implications of such systems, mediated between genetic and computational code.
but was never addressed in the research publications. The
VTT Technical Research Center Finland has also recently It is through this definition of being in the divine gift of
worked with hypersurfacing Second Life avatars within Promethean Fire that humans experience their mortality.
physical experience through the Meeting Avatars joint “To partake in the lot of immortals means to endure one’s
project with IBM and Nokia [6]. By using the Second Life mortality by the fact of being in (privative) relation with
engine, virtual avatars had the same appearance and immortality.” [7] Indeed, Promethean Alchemist represents,
behavior as in the virtual world but in their context be in a literal way, the desire of many scientists and
represented in a physical meeting room. These research philosophers to locate immortality in humanity’s
examples articulate a range of different solutions that have technological existence. The translation of DNA code into
been proposed for technological developments in the field computational code and re-created in the augmented
of computer science, and generally neglect the environment of the digital realm, demonstrates an instance
philosophical and theoretical impact of such technologies of, ‘transcendence through technology.’ [Hayles,
on human subjectivity, identity and social discourse. Posthuman] The ability to manipulate DNA mediated
through the hypersurface represents the hope of many
To address this problem, Promethean Alchemist pays scientists to, in essence, dupe Zeus once again by locating
homage both visually and conceptually to the Ancient the essence of humanity within that which defines it: in
Greek creation myth of Prometheus and Epimetheus, which technics, thereby attaining immortality.
philosopher Bernard Stiegler references in his text Technics
and Time 1. [7] His text seeks to define technics -a This hope has practical grounding, for example, in
technical entity arising out of, but distinct from, mechanical conservation biology. Currently, many scientists are
and biological entities- and to delineate the relationship exctracting DNA samples from endangered animal species
between technics and humans. In the Greek creation story, bred in captivity and preserving them for a future time
Prometheus and Epimetheus were given the task of when the organism might be safely reintroduced into its

3. restored habitat, or even into another ecosystem on another of movement into sound in both the physical and virtual
planet. The assumption is that organisms can be preserved realms, the work explores the notion of unspoken ‘silent
intact in DNA to be re-substantiated in physical form at a dialogues’ under a paradigm of social
later time; the organism is thought to exist in essence in its engagement. Individuals and large clusters of people
DNA. Immortality is gleaned through the ability to store produce amplified sounds and shadows based on their
and preserve the organism in this way indefinitely. oscillating movements within a defined social landscape.
Promethean Alchemist actively uses the kind of technology
that further abstracts and compresses the organism. That The work uses real-time motion-tracking technologies with
a unique pipeline application to create a mixed-reality
the viewer can only retrieve their creation through the
soundscape. This audio environment is mediated through
limited methods of 3D printing or animation platforms,
interactions between the viewer, the physical environment,
rather than re-substantiating into living tissue is a testament and other participants within a hypersurfaced mixed-reality
to the limitations of translating from biological to virtual feedback loop. As visitors negotiate a traditional public
environments. environment, the entrance and surround to the Somerville
Auditorium at UWA, data regarding their movements and
Alchemy is, ostensibly, the precursor to modern medicine interaction with others present is gathered and translated
and science, though its methods may have been closer to into sonic outputs, both in the physical and virtual
magic than scientific method. Sixteenth and Seventeenth environments. In the physical, the output is via stereo
Century scientists and swindlers dabbled for years in an speakers installed in the space and in the virtual, a three
alchemical obsession, the search for the philosopher’s stone dimensional representation shadows and echoes sonic and
— the long-sought agent for transmuting lead to gold and visual traces of the real-time dialogues into UWA's Second
unlocking other material and spiritual secrets. The stone Life Environment.
was the unified theory of everything in that time, including
the search for immortality and ways to keep the body
young. [5] In Promethean Alchemist the viewer becomes
the alchemist searching for immortality in the primordial
soup of virtual DNA, combining and recombining
combinations of computational ‘DNA’ code to create
immortal virtual life forms. The metaphor of the modern
digital alchemist points to the ways in which fruitless
occult pursuits can sometimes evolve into transformative
practices unforeseen in the former utopian, self-deluded
view.
III. TERRA(SOCIO)SONICA: POUVOIR/PUISSANCE Figure 1. Second Life view of virtual ‘shadows’ from physical data
Massively Multi-User Online (MMO) Worlds are open
virtual environments that allow for the contribution to and The individual experiences an intimate interaction with the
manipulation of private and publicly owned virtual space work and social environment where they control the
through a variety of methods, be it adding textures, models, soundscape through their actions, thereby conducting their
scripts, hacked interfaces etc. The content of these own personal song. Meanwhile, each community that forms
environments is dependent on the participants, due to this also produces unique tones. Movements of individuals
open interaction, and therefore relies on the quality of between groups results in a sonic symphony of social
information transfer methods being used. Through interaction that shifts dynamically according to the social
collaborative creative production MMOs facilitate social dialogues that occur in the space. Stepped tonal outputs are
engagement and further collaborative production by its produced by audience movement in space: a scroll to the
participants. Spatial developments define the environments right will cause the pitch to drop with each step. The pace of
and the (real or virtual) individuals inhabiting such spaces the movement determines the speed of the notes; lingering
through their participation in and response to them. The conversations produce long lingering sounds while the rush
collective construction of such virtual meeting sites, for of busy passersby results in fleeting melodies that come and
remote interpersonal interaction acts as an instrument of go just as quickly.
location and orientation, referential to the real world of
knowledge. The work is inspired by Deleuzian notions of
deterritorialisation, with particular regards to second-level
Terra(socio)sonica: Pouvior Puissance is a mixed-reality cybernetic feedback systems (within the context of mixed
interface which realises a sonic soundscape constructed via reality social interaction). Deleuze and Guatarri discuss
the movements of communities that inhabit two current deterritorialisation in terms of dispersed resemblance and
landscape realities that constitute the University of Western identity. In Difference and Repetition Deleuze introduces
Australia (UWA) cultural precinct. Through the translation the notion of deterritorialisation (through dispersion) as a

4. “dark precursor” that “relates heterogeneous systems and I believe Deleuze’s concept of intuitive thought is in line
even completely disparate things” [5]. In order for with Bernard Steigler's notion of technics defining what it is
deterritorialisation to occur there must be some form of to be human. As I mentioned earlier, Steigler has posited the
agent that can remain constant and self-referent. important contribution to metaphysical thinking that it is
technics -the artificial realm of symbols, systems, tools, etc.-
that makes humans functional, speaking, meaning-making
creatures; that is, what makes humans human. It is in
Deleuze's distinction between different degrees of 'power'
that I see Bergsonism, that is, the intuitive method, and
Steigler's technics coming together. In looking at 'power'
one must distinguish between the two French words
puissance and pouvoir. "In social terms, puissance is
immanent power, power to act rather than power to
dominate another; we could say that puissance is praxis (in
which equals clash or act together) rather than poiesis (in
which others are matter to be formed by the command of a
superior, a sense of transcendent power that matches what
pouvoir indicates for Deleuze)." [7] Our intuitive interaction
with technology is, as demonstrated by the hypersurface, the
enactment of puissance, that is, immanent power to create
meaning through our interactions as opposed to the passing-
down of pre-established ideas through transcendent power
(pouvoir). Intuitive interaction challenges the academy
model, which essentially treats education as transcendent
power, the passing on of information by solving problems
that already have answers. Instead, intuitive interaction
creates opportunity for true knowledge production; an
instance of power that puissance indicates for Deleuze.
It is through observing human intuitive interaction with
technologies that one might theorize a plausible post-human
or postbiological digital identity. As summarized by Daniel
Smith and John Protevi, "Here we see the empiricist theme
Figure2. Technical Specifications Diagram for Terra(socio)sonica of the ‘externality of relations’: in an assemblage or
consistency, the ‘becoming’ or relation of the terms attains
In practice, the work models global deterritorialisation by its own independent ontological status. In Deleuze's favorite
destabilising established social groups through intuitive example, the wasp and orchid create a “becoming” or
interaction with virtual space and reconfiguring them in the symbiotic emergent unit." In terra(socio)sonica, human
soundscape. The work also investigates the relationship interaction with the hypersurfaced mixed-reality feedback
between traditional (postcolonial) socio-technic hierarchies, loop becomes an emergent unit in the soundscape, physical
and those developing in current evolving cyber cities. and virtual worlds.
Conceptually, the work attempts to explore Bernard
Steigler's historicisation of technical objects and western IV. CRITICAL THEORETICAL CONSIDERATIONS
philosophy in a way that embraces Deleuze's translation of An avatar represents an identity, usually that of its
Bergsonism, particularly regarding intuitive method. For author and acts as an agent, through which users can engage
Deleuze, intuitive thought is more like a narrative than an with virtual platforms. Promethean Alchemist and
instantaneous ‘eureka’ moment. In order to understand Terra(socio)sonica: Pouvior/Poussance are unique
Deleuzian intuition it is important to situate it within the autonomous systems where participants can physically
Bergsonian departure from a structuralist notion of reality in interact with a virtual deterritorialised ‘self’ and mediate it
terms of space, in favour of the metaphysical idea that through physical engagement. The dispersion of multiple
reality should be understood in terms of time. In contrast to autonomous virtual agents via mixed reality constructs in
Descartes' 'instantaneous glance' or moment of clarity- this research, aims to expand deterritorialisation to include
distinctness that separates the intuitive idea, Deleuzian reterritorialisation, by facilitating a dispersive relationship
intuition is rather a "progressive description of the whole," between the body and its virtual self-referent. In the same
more like a multi-lateral trajectory than a moment of way that a digital device deterritorialises and reterritorialises
illumination. For Deleuze, intuition "reconcatenates thought information through binary code, the augmentation of an
to beings as the co-presence of a being of the simulacrum autonomous agent into a shared space with the body, creates
and of a simulacrum of Being." [6] new opportunities for investigation into technology, the
body and identity.

5. existence within such networked systems of social and
Haraway relates the body’s augmentation through digital cultural exchange. The ability to incorporate real-time date
technology to the notion of the cyborg. In A Cyborg transfer methods into such systems redefine our very
Manifesto she argues that the body can be viewed as a understanding of what constitutes humanity.
conglomerate where its components can be separated,
combined with new elements and put together again in ways ACKNOWLEDGMENT
that violate its traditional boundaries (Haraway, 1991, The author would like to acknowledge the support of the
p.149-181). This rhetoric implies a fractured identity that Banff New Media Institute (BNMI), HITLab NZ, The
articulates a ‘cyborg’ reality. In Chaos Bound Hayles refers University of Western Australia Cultural Precinct, Curtin
to the notion of dispersed self in light of virtual bodies and University and The SymbioticA Center for Excellence.
narrative, arguing that by turning bodiless information into Thanks also to Raphael Grasset and Steve Berrick for their
narratives, the teleology of disembodiment is replaced with ongoing programming support.
contests with ambiguous outcomes.
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