The Fish-Bird Series (2004-2009) mari velonaki
Fish-Bird: Circle C – Movement B (2004-2008) – interactive installation with two robots: custom-made wheelchair robots containing battery power system, servomotors, control computers (2 per robot) and Bluetooth communications, laser range sensors, vision system and distributed data fusion system
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Circle D: Fragile Balances (2008) – interactive installation: black bean timber, LCD screens, 3140 aircraft-grade steel tube, custom-made micro-computers (3 per cube), power supplies, sensors and amplifiers
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Circle E: Fragile Balances (2009) – interactive installation:
black bean timber, rotating brass cylinder, servomotor, mechanical and electronic components, power supply, notepaper and pencils
Mari Velonaki: Artist, Interface Design (Australia)
David Rye: Mechatronic Systems Design (Australia)
Steve Scheding: Software Architecture (Australia)
Fish-Bird: Circle C – Movement B (2004-2008)
‘Fish-Bird Circle C – Movement B’ is an interactive installation that explores the dialogical possibilities between two autokinetic objects (two robotic wheelchairs) and their audience. Assisted by embedded printers, the chairs write intimate letters on the floor, impersonating two characters—Fish and Bird—who fall in love but can not be together due to ‘technical’ difficulties. In their shared isolation, Fish and Bird communicate intimately with one another and their audience via movement and text. Fish and Bird’s behaviour changes depending on the day of the week, the current state of their relationship, and the past and present ‘encounters’ with their visitors.
Circle D: Fragile Balances (2008)
In Circle D, two luminous cube like objects display personal messages that flow between the virtual characters, Fish and Bird. The cubes can be lifted and, if handled gently, reveal intimate messages to their beholder. Sudden or abrupt movements, on the other hand, make the text illegible and terminate the communication.
Circle E: Fragile Balances (2009)
A wooden table-like object is placed opposite the Circle D: Fragile Balances work in the exhibition space. On the top of the ‘table’ sits a notepad and a pencil. A rotating brass drum is partially sunk into the table. Members of the audience are encouraged to write intimate notes for their loved ones and donate them to the project by feeding them through a slot into the drum when it pauses momentarily. All the notes are scanned and, at a later stage, added as text to the dialogues between the Fish-Bird robots and the interactive cubes of Circle D: Fragile Balances. For the artist, this final work of the Fish-Bird Series closes the loop by allowing the audience to become participants by writing love letters intended either for their loved ones or for the Fish and Bird characters.
Supported by:
Centre for Social Robotics / Australian Centre for Field Robotics, The University of Sydney
We acknowledge the invaluable contributions made to the project by the following people:
Fish-Bird: Circle C – Movement B (2004-2008)
• Lead programmer: James Hudson;
• Mechanical fabrication: Bruce Crundwell;
• Plastics fabrication: Alan Trinder;
• Upholstery: Grant Panozzo;
• Research and prototyping: Martin Edgren & Erik Wahlström;
• Bluetooth circuitry and firmware: Alex Green;
• Wheelchair trajectory generation: Luke Sassé;
• Visual tracking algorithms and software: Alex Brooks;
• Network and communications software: Alexei Makarenko, Matt Ridley & Alex Brooks;
• Technical support: Chris Mifsud, Richard Grover & Jeremy Randle.
‘Fish-Bird: Circle C – Movement B’ was produced with the assistance of a Linkage Grant from the Australian Research Council. Industry Partners were
• Australia Council for the Arts
• Artspace, Sydney
• Australian Network for Art and Technology
• Museum of Contemporary Arts, Sydney
• Patrick Technology and Systems
Circle D: Fragile Balances (2008)
• Research and prototyping: David Silvera Tawil
• Detailed design of cube assembly: Iain Brown
• Mechanical fabrication: Iain Brown & Bruce Crundwell
• Cabinetry: Geoff Tonkin
• Electronics design, fabrication & debugging: Craig Rodgers, Mark Calleija
• Font manipulation and text processing: Dave Wood
• ‘Handwriting’ trajectory generation: Andrew Hill.
Circle E: Fragile Balances (2009)
• Mechanical fabrication: Bruce Crundwell, Bang Nguyen
• Electrical wiring: Craig Rodgers
• Motion programming: Ritesh Lal
• Cabinetry: Geoff Tonkin.
Artist bio:
Mari Velonaki is a media installation artist who has worked in the field of interactive installation art.
She was awarded a PhD in Media Arts at the College of Fine Arts, UNSW, in 2003.
Since 2003, Mari has been working as an artist/researcher at the Australian Centre for Field Robotics. In 2006, she co-founded, with David Rye, the Centre for Social Robotics within the Australian Centre for Field Robotics at the University of Sydney.
Velonaki’s exhibitions include: Gyeonggi Museum of Modern Art, Korea, ZENDAI Museum of Modern Art, Shanghai, Wood Street Galleries, Pittsburgh, Millennium Museum – Beijing Biennale of Electronic Arts, Ars Electronica, Austria, Biennale of Electronic Arts, Perth, Conde Duque Museum, Madrid, EMAF, Germany, Te Papa Tongarewa Museum of New Zealand, Institute of Modern Art, Brisbane, Arco, Madrid, Museum of Contemporary Art, Sydney, Queensland Art Gallery/GOMA, Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney, Ton-Build-Spektakel, Switzerland, Kunsthalle Prisma, Switzerland, Aros Aarhus Museum of Modern Art, Denmark.
