CEP 2006 Abstract

The Fugue Project: An Interactive Exploration of Personal Reality in a Hyperreal World

Gordana Novakovic

AHRC/ACE Art & Science Fellow and Leverhulme Trust Artist in Residence,
Department of Computer Science,
University College London


One of the most powerful ways in which the boundaries of experience and the self can be explored is through interactive art. Fugue is a scientifically informed art project based on the functioning of the human immune system. It symbolises the inseparable interconnectedness between all particles and functions of a living body, which is shaped by its inner processes as much as by its interaction with the world. Inspired by the musical form of fugue, the piece operates within the framework of an artificial immune system algorithm, expressed through vision and sound. The complexity of the fugal structure modeled on deep biological functions brings about a congruency between the rhythm of the piece and the biological rhythms of the participant, opening a channel for liberating the body to a full awareness of the broad spectrum of stimuli and meditative forces emitted by the artwork, and their unfolding in the body of the participant.