GENESIS is an ongoing research project exploring the evolution of
the drawn line and the robotic form.

The project begins with a collection of speculative machine constructions inspired by living organisms.  

The GENESIS Process, Form, & Dataset
are built to further the development of post-human collaboration and the creation of symbiotic machines.

The collection is the first chapter of a growing library of forms. GENESIS Forms are sculpted through a bespoke VR process and collected as movement data, contributing to a groundbreaking new spatial dataset.

From the spatially recorded lines digital  geometries are generated for physical fabrication, returning the marks-made-by-hand in virtual space back to the tactile materiality of physical space. 

This unique GENESIS Process, called LIFE/LINES, brings together the latest advances in dimensional markmaking, virtual reality fabrication, and motion capture avatars. 

The work is sculpted using spatial technologies, in which the drawn lines are suspended and scale is a permeable medium. The motion of the artist body in motion is recorded and rigged to a 3d avatar to show the process unfolding as a performance, a cinematic unfolding of traces that blurs the lines between architecture, sculpture, drawing and dance. 

The GENESIS Dataset will be the foundation for an upcoming AI system, empowering the next generation human and machine collabation D.O.U.G._6.

Not only have we seen the machine readability of the image shape the perception of the relationship between the mark and the image, the infrared, lidar, and positional sensors that comprise virtual reality development, which also comprise the ‘machine sensing’ in the development of AI systems, are the foundation of a new intertwining of embodied cognitive processes.

The sculptural resolution of 3d gestural expressions of the first GENESIS Forms were fabricated with a variety of approaches, from large-format 3d printing to custom chrome plating.

Immersing viewers in a seamless virtual performance, a virtual avatar of Sougwen Chung guides the creation of each sculpture, leading to a captivating representation of an abstract serpent within the debut installation.

The intricate 3D gestural expressions in GENESIS Forms come to life through diverse fabrication techniques, from large-format 3D printing to custom chrome plating. 

The result is a process that speculates on the collapsing of boundaries of architecture, drawing and dance. The serpentine form, suspended within the room, mirrors the liquid mercury texture, with its contours reflecting the intricate process on the surrounding walls.

Beyond shaping perceptions of the mark-image relationship, the incorporation of infrared, lidar, and positional sensors in virtual reality software establishes a foundation for a novel integration of embodied cognitive processes.

GENESIS is built upon drawing in spatial and temporal dimensions, rooted in the belief that novel sensory processes can create new speculative forms. The project prompts exploration into the potential of spatial sensing and human-machine interoperability in emerging artistic intersubjectivities. It convergences artistic vision and technological progress, unveiling new forms of expression and cognition.

READING LIST

Duan, Jiafei, et al. “A Survey of Embodied AI: From Simulators to Research Tasks.” arXiv.Org, 5 Jan. 2022, arxiv.org/abs/2103.04918v8.

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Dos Santos, Victoria. “(Techno)Paganism: An Exploration of Animistic Relations with the Digital.” MDPI, Multidisciplinary Digital Publishing Institute, 3 Nov. 2023, www.mdpi.com/2077-1444/14/11/1382.

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Bidgoli, Ardavan, et al. “Artistic Style in Robotic Painting; a Machine Learning Approach to Learning Brushstroke from Human Artists.” arXiv.Org, 28 July 2020, arxiv.org/abs/2007.03647.

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Han, Byung-Chul, and Daniel Steuer. The Disappearance of Rituals a Topology of the Present. Polity, 2020.

SELECTED PRESS

“Serpenti Meets Contemporary Artists: Bulgari.” Bvlgari, www.bulgari.com/en-gb/serpenti-75-artists.html. Accessed 12 Dec. 2023.

Designboom, Matthew Burgos |. “Bulgari Marks 75 Years of Serpenti Jewelry with Live Robot Arm Chiseling in Its Milan Exhibition.” Designboom, 14 Oct. 2023, www.designboom.com/art/bulgari-75-years-serpenti-factory-jewelry-milan-exhibition-10-12-2023/.

CREDITS

LIFE/LINES
Score:
Aquarian

LIFE/LINES
Production:
Sara Casella
Tessa Nijdam

LIFE/LINES
Film Direction:
Kevin Peter He

LIFE/LINES
VR Environment:
Eric Chang

LIFE/LINES
Film production:
Zerospace

Sculpture production:
FKB Studios

Supported by
Bulgari

Locations:
Dubai, UAE
Milan, Italy,
New York, US,
London UK

To learn more about the body of work, please visit the Press section.
For booking inquiries, please contact office@scilicet.xyz
For official press images, go here

Copyright Sougwen Chung