Astrocyte

EDIT: Expo for Design Innovation & Technology

Toronto, CAN  2017

Astrocyte was a first-generation spherical meshwork construction with interactive light, kinetics and sound developed for DX EDIT: Expo for Design, Innovation & Technology. The environment was installed within an abandoned massive space within the Unilever Detergent Factory, an iconic structure that stands as a landmark at the waterfront termination of the Don Valley Expressway in Toronto. Referencing the Greek word “astro” meaning star, and “kytos” meaning cell, Astrocyte was a floating sculpture of 300,000 components made of thermally-formed acrylic, mylar fronds, electronic sensors, 3D printed lights, inorganic chemicals and custom glasswork. The sculptural work merged chemistry, artificial intelligence and immersive soundscapes.

The distributed control systems that activated the sculpture followed densely bundled circuits formed into branching patterns that resemble a naturally occuring central nervous system within an organism. The sculpture’s system was able to support varying forces and shifting motions to respond to viewers’ movements with patterns of light, vibration and multichannel sound. This complex system was enveloped by a multichannel soundscape created in collaboration with Salvador Breed and Poul Holleman of the Netherlands-based collective 4DSOUND.

LASG Studio

Philip Beesley
Joey Jacobson
Anca Badut
Gabriella Bevilacqua
Siddhant Chandgadkar
Charlotte Dyck
Adam Francey
Mark Francis
Maxime Gordon
Maite Iribarren
Nicole Jazwiec
Kevin Lam
Daiwei Lin
Jordan Prosser
Iris Redinger
Penny Unni
Guyi Yi
Alex Willms

Research and Support

Lorena Almaraz
Carolina Garcia
Rob Gorbet
Dana Kulić
Anne Paxton
Matthew Spremulli

Collaborators

Salvador Breed, 4DSOUND
Poul Holleman, 4DSOUND
Paul Oomen, 4DSOUND

Production

Mayyasah Akour
Natalia Bakaeva
Rudy Benson
Madeline Brimble
Annie Burnett
Caitlin Chin
Filipe Costa
Isabel Delaney
Aleena Derohanian
Lanxi Dong
Jo Fan
Kelley Gu
Manik Perera
Yujia Guo
Ahlam Hassan
Alifiyah Hussain
Akash Inbakumar
Dani Kastelein
Jeff Kwok
Shevaun Mistry
Ahlam Mohammed
Mollify Moyo
Richard Mui
Cassandra Murphy
Anitha Nathan
Doyeon Park
Dylan Pereira
Iris Phung
Arvin Relleve
Sharlene Santos
Bhavika Sharma
Charlie Sills
Jacqueline Vo
Justin Weir
Jenn Wingfeild
Soo Jung Woo
Melih Yazici
Zhino Yousefi
Maryam Zaraima