Technica Curiosa / Perspective trans-modals for electronic art

Technica Curiosa derives from a text written by a German Black Friar called Kasper Schott, one of Athanasius Kirchner’s pupils, who like him, was a studier of philosophy, theology and mathematics, the volume was written in 1664 in the middle of the 50 years, which at the beginning saw, the conviction of Galileo and at the end, in 1687, the publication of Newton’s “ Philosophie Naturalis Principia Matematica”

Technica curiosa not only processes experiments on the pressure and emptiness of air, but also machinery for the production of the perpetual motion, phenomenal devices for measuring time, diving suits for exploring the bottom of the sea, spectacular baroque fountains and astounding cabbalistic mysteries of the Hebrew alphabet. One way to look at the scientific phenomena, could be a little resistance to the advancing of the modern sciences.

One way to look at “colmo di curiositas”, a yearning to know and a wanting to change the world, these are all elements which added to the trans- disciplinary skills, have characterized (with the natural historical differences) the operas of art to the point of distinguishing between general art and belle art used by kant, and by the subsequent distinct separation conducted by his (worst) interpreters.

Today, with electronic art, art and technology, artistic and scientific reflections once again reunite to become the ingredients of the process in the work of the artist, Attentive to the current thoughts, which are always more advanced, capable of withdrawing, in creative terms, the knowledge of the sciences and re-adapting the technologies available, to generate aesthetics. This is an attitude which swings between the scientist and the artist, between the nature scholar, the rules that govern our time and ability to dream and think of the nature and other possible worlds.
An artist that tries to find a link between the binomial – technologies like physics extension, is art as a familiar extension of man.

The new millennium art is busy with the exploration of the creative aesthetic potential, in the process of the digital generation. It experiments new paradigms of interpretation between visitors and operas, it is able to conceive itself as a complex system, comparing itself with the complexity of theory and science. It is able to follow the evolutionary traces of man’s knowledge, incorporating, biology, information, engineering, philosophy, anthropology, psychology and artificial life, as well as take advantage of Schott and kirchner’s past, long course of a thousand.
It wants to be recognized as a real even-sided cognitive of the science of man.

The binomial Art and Electronics, has produced a planetary movement of a great percentage of artistic operators towards re- elaborated graphical and digital instruments. Multi- medial development, however is more interesting , which for memorandum, interfaces not only with man and machine, but polity men and machines. In my opinion, the most interesting, are the numerous operative procedures, mainly of an interactive nature that the electronic art produced. This has reinforced a systemic vision of the world and is interested in the interconnection of different parts and their interactions. On top of the aesthetic game there is cognitive strategy made from information exchanges between opera and observer. The describer of morphological history of interactive art, can be of the interfacial type in use and the consequential reaction between man and machine. From the environmental sensory that register the presence, corporeal volume and those of propinquity and contact, that perceive movement, to the physiologic sensory, acoustics, cardiac, and cerebral, which perceive the most internal electrical functions of our body.
New interface researches will be put forward, aimed at man/ machine and the development of artificially conceived systems which renegade from biological models. The sensory in use today, also allow us to explore sensibility regarding man, a radar wave survey similar to bats navigation system, solar cells that guide the sun like the system of indicating food for bees, sonar and the identification of the presence of objects such as a survey on dolphins, etc. Along side binominal electronic art, a biological element is added, this is completely perceivable and digital, from the most visible (the body), to the most secret such as, recurrence, DNA and genome. Both cyber and symbiotic art can be made. One also tries to look at the controversial number of senses, apart from the traditional five, the sense of action and the hypothetical sense are also talked about.

The machine model substitutes the organism model, its characterised process, its tendency to unite and establish an affinity to live one inside the other. The natural world is colourful and totally complex, a multidimensional world, one that does not know straight lines, nothing happens in order, but at the same time, where visual perception is only one of the perceptive elements, that together with the others, gives a trans-modal experience of reality.
We are moving away from Gombrich’s idea of order and his vision of the “natural human tendency to arrange shapes, thoughts and society’s structure. We result to alternative models that foresee untidiness and casualness. “Electronic patterns” can be used creatively for example; neuronal models, the simulation of biomorphic evolutions, genetic algorithms and the probabilistic behaviours of the cellular atoms etc. We can practise biological art and we could also practise a trans- genetic one, too, one whose metaphoric structure of artificial intelligence, are still to be explored . However, a morphological analysis through model interface evolution for the Artificial intelligence, can be outlined.
Initial, serial and computational Artificial intelligence, is capable of doing assignments that are based on straight forward programmes.

Neuronal networks of Artificial intelligence based on systems of communication connected in a way that they evolve with time, automatically modifying and correcting their ways, simulating a behaviour that is not normal for the brain. The Fuzzy logic Artificial intelligence started off as a theory of togetherness, where there are no real limits, but gradual limits by grade of pertinence.
Using complex operations to soften the excessive digital schematism of 0 and 1, by adding continuous implementations in-order to give different results. Robot and Atoms artificial intelligence which foresees the use of mobile mechanisms able to experience, interact with space and with man through the simulation of touch, sight, word and hearing.

Man is also looking for a heart for the Artificial intelligence. A lot of attention is being paid to the development of the artificial systems, exploring not only the corporeality and sensorial, but also sensibility and our expressive capability, like the Kansei Information Computing. In Japanese, Kansei indicates sensibility in general, the sensuality, but also the feeling for music and art. The idea or dream to build an artificial man, is part of the history of the human. It is a category with a vast mythological, historical, scientific, imaginary and literary background. For excellence La Technica Curiosa. Still apart from a massive industrial use in the assembly line, and some recent results in the games area, there is very little interest in the electric art area for mobile gadgets and Artificial intelligence. At this proposal, amends are being made, a machine can be taught to make an image, pre- coding it to obtain a good copy. A machine can also be taught to play sequences at random, which if repeated jumble the casualness in a system of organized signs.

I believe that the research of Artificial intelligence applied to robotic and trans modal by nature, with its mechanical, information, biological, psychological and communicative elements, can be used today like art practise or as a fertile area of cognitive research. It could outline the path of an opera of art that is sensitive, capable in-other words, of reacting to external stimulants, for example; the above mentioned interactive art, to a sentient opera, capable of understanding and elaborating atoms.
An opera of art that puts forward the relationship between Artificial intelligence and creativity! intent in investigating and using the strategies of the senses. Let’s go back to man’s dream, that of a machine capable of thinking, opinions and sentiments. Can we build a mobile system, a robot capable of carry out operas of art alone? Can Artificial intelligence really be creative?
Is the connection between art and psyche, art and sense exclusively pertinent to man?
To conclude, I use a paraphrase by Philip Dick “will a robot ever be able to dream electronic art for itself”?

Ale Guzzetti, 3 aprile 2007