A form of life - 7 x 7

Emergence is ubiquitous, life emerges from the interaction of individual building blocks. The often simple rules of the individual pieces lead to complex behavioural patterns of the group that are more than the sum of their parts.

"A form of life – 7 x 7" is an electronic installation that embodies and displays such an emergent behavior. Each individual element in the seven by seven grid consists of a light sensor, a microprocessor and an LED. The single entities are not communicating in any way apart from the light that they sense from their neighbours. In this decentralized system slight variations of the environmental light cause amorphous patterns of light and shadow to emerge and to cease.

The indivudual elements follow three only three rules:
1. switch on the light when it has become brighter.
2. if the light is often triggered, be less sensitive to the environment.
3. if the light is not triggered for a long time, react more sensitively to the environment.

Created during winter semester 2018/2019 at new media class of Prof. Joachim Sauter at University of the Arts Berlin.