Situated in the lobby of DeepMind’s new headquarters in Kings Cross, London, Lux Automata is a living, breathing media sculpture consisting of 2940 cellular, LED cubes. Exploring the creative limits of artificial intelligence, the artwork uses a coded set of rules to exhibit a complex set of behaviours. Dynamic patterns of light emerge, repeat, mutate and dissipate in a constant state of metamorphosis.
Shaking the idea that a work of art is static and pre-determined, Lux Automata is more akin to a biological lifeform. Suspended above its observers, it transforms and evolves in unpredictable ways based on its own internal ‘needs’ (to avoid boredom, to be stimulated, to be calm) and the influence of people beneath it. Eight cameras capture movement in the foyer and use this behaviour to inform new patterns.
The result of an exciting, 3-year collaborative project conducted with DeepMind, Lux Automata is a platform to test ideas. Guided by an AI and using a 3D cellular Automata as its foundational Principles, the artwork experiments with its appearance striving for an equilibrium. From scenes that are erratic and staccato to moments that are ambient and meditative, it exhibits qualities that mirror consciousness as it learns and evolves overtime.
