Born out of the collision of pinball and pachinko with theories of computing and artificial life, Supercomputer is a musical composing machine in which the flow of ball bearings, carrying information through labyrinthine circuits of mechanical computational units, calculates minimal melodic phrases. <\/p>\n
As a work of art, Supercomputer relates as much to Jean Tinguely's sculptural machines and Sol LeWitt's instruction-based drawings and structures, as to Cambridge's seminal position in the history of computing, in particular the work of Alan Turing and John Conway. <\/p>\n
The process implicit in Supercomputer, a one dimensional cellular automata, is a simplification of Conway's Game of Life; a self-organising system in which each output (result) is fed back to become the next input. Supercomputer's form is a direct consequence of this computation. The process, understood as an abstract set of instructions, dictates the physical, mechanical and visual aspects of the sculpture. Form follows function. <\/p>\n
Although nothing is random in Supercomputer's computation - for each of its 8192 possible settings the sculpture's computational process is distinct and deterministic - indeterminacy is introduced through bugs, resulting in a unique composition in which melodies are accompanied by sounds of the work in process, the complex sonic patterns of Supercomputer's calculations. <\/p>\n
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Supercomputer<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Born out of the collision of pinball and pachinko with theories of computing and artificial life, Supercomputer is a musical composing machine in which the flow of ball bearings, carrying information through labyrinthine circuits of mechanical computational units, calculates minimal melodic phrases. As a work of art, Supercomputer relates as much to Jean Tinguely's sculptural machines and Sol LeWitt's instruction-based drawings and structures, as to Cambridge's seminal position in the history of computing, in particular the work of Alan Turing and John Conway. The process implicit in Supercomputer, a one dimensional cellular automata, is a simplification of Conway's Game of Life; a self-organising system in which each output (result) is fed back to become the next input. Continue reading