XEPA
size variable (2013) - Industrial LED lighting, microcontrollers, custom circuit boards, power supplies, acrylic plastic, audio speakers, software
(the individual sculptures shown are about 6 feet tall)
XEPA is the name of both this art project and the individual intelligent sculptures that display animated colored light and produce music and sound. XEPA is a recursive acronym for “XEPA Emerging Performance Artist.” Each XEPA watches the others (via data radio) and modifies its own aesthetic behavior to create a collaborative improvisational performance.
No coordination information or commands are sent via data radio. Each XEPA only sends a description of what it is doing at the time. Each XEPA independently evaluates the aesthetics of the other sculptures, infers a theme or mood being attempted, and then modifies its own aesthetics to better reinforce that theme. Each performance is unique, and a wide variety of themes and moods can be explored.