Hybrid Worlds: Nano_Biotech + Art.
Parsons MFA DT program. Professor Victoria Vesna
datalife
Maxim Safioulline

abstract
web environment fueled by data and growing and dying based on the data flow
web environment where a user is a part of the eco-system and is a subject to the laws of the system
web environment that can be explored with a expanded arsenal of tools similar to those available in natural
world and yet reflective of the technological direction: multi-touch surfaces, brain-computer interface, eye-
movement reader
web environment that provides visual, auditory and biochemical feedback
touch without shape
object without form DATA = ENERGY
the environment controls you
until you learn to control the environment

concept/topic
I propose an alternative approach to the creation of
interactive simulated environments - a re-thinking
of the basis and the laws upon which such
environments are created and re-thinking of a role,
place and purpose of a user/observer/participant
in such environments.

social context
• Sims/MMORPG/Second Life - If we have a chance to
construct new environments on the web why do they
have to resemble the one where our bodies live?
• A-Life Art - if you’re constructing a new
environment why is a user not a part of it, just an
onlooker?

precedents
• Cellular Automata and John Conway’s “Game of Life”
• A-Life Art: R.Brown/”Mimetics”, Kandid Genetic Art Project, Ken Rinaldo with “Emergent Systems”
• William Latham’s artwork with computer generated life-like forms
• Ryuichi Sakamoto’s game “Lack of Love”
• Massive Multiplayer Online Role-Playing Games: World of Warcraft, Sims, Second Life
• “A Simulation Argument” theory
• Virtual and simulated reality representations in science fiction and pop culture: The Matrix, Neuromancer, Nirvana etc.
• Research on brain-computer interface: Miguel Nicolelis, John Donoghue, Andrew Schwartz; Gerwin Schalk and BCI2000
• Research on neuroprosthetics and brain-computer interface: Kensall Wise, Philip Kennedy, Kevin Warwic; OCZ Technology with Neural
Impulse Actuator, Emotiv Systems, NeuroSky with Mind Set

proposal part 1:
Create an environment that reflects the larger system where it exists: cyber
world.
Translate the laws of nature existing in our world to the environments on the
web:
energy = data, things grow with abundance of data and die because of lack of
data. The shapes of objects is determined by the types of data.
Introduce natural randomness into this environment

proposal part 2:
The objects in this environment have generate data
themselves and have an ability to affect each other in a
way that living beings do.

proposal part 3:
Create a special object in this environment: the user, the
participant. This object is also affected by the
environment and have the ability to affect the
environment.
In order to be able to affect and control the environment
the participant needs to learn a unique set of skills.

proposal part 4:
The body of the participant will interact with this environment
through a set of tools focused on brain-computer interaction:
NeuroSky’s MindSet controller, eye movement reader through a video
camera and possible others.
The environment will provide feedback to the user by changing the
chemistry of the user’s brain, possibly through Transcranial Magnetic
Stimulation (TMS).

Discussion
• How to get user involved in artificial simulated environments on a bio-
chemical level?
• How our psyche is going to adapt to environments that are so unfit for our
bodies? A possibility of exploration for mind-body connections.
• Can humans interact with the environment only by using their mind?

References
• By Robert A. Wilson, Frank C. Keil, The MIT encyclopedia of the cognitive sciences, MIT Press 1999
• Emergent Systems. Ken Rinaldo. http://www.ylem.org/artists/krinaldo/index.html
• Kandid - a genetic art project http://kandid.sourceforge.net/
• Mimetics - art research project http://www.mimetics.com/
• Peter Kleiweg - evolutionary art http://www.let.rug.nl/~kleiweg/genart/genart.html
• The Simulation Argument, Oxford University, http://www.simulation-argument.com/
• Are You Living In a Computer Simulation? Nick Bostrom. Philosophical Quarterly, 2003, Vol. 53, No. 211, pp. 243-255.
• William Latham - computer generated art http://doc.gold.ac.uk/~mas01whl/themes/art.htm
• John Conway’s “Game of Life” http://www.bitstorm.org/gameoflife/
• Roy Ascott Vegetal Reality