Hybrid Ecosystems

For the last ten years Andy Gracie has been making artwork in which robotic elements share physical and informatic space with the organic in simple 'hybrid ecosystems'. The use of artificial intelligence allows the robots to play a part in the development of shared emergent behaviours and for the transmission of information between the synthetic and the natural. The aim of these works is not for the robots to learn how to behave as organic entities, but to encourage the formation of an integrated environment in which various forms of perception and action can lead to unexpected and possibly meaningful outcomes. This talk will introduce various aspects of this work and discuss ways in which shared organic and artificial perception can lead to new ways of seeing environmental and informatic space.