Philip Beesley's "Radiant Soil" Is A Garden Of Near-Living Robotic Flora

When The Creators Project last met up with Philip Beesley, his Hylozoic series of near-living architecture was approaching its sixth year of episodic installations and had been lauded by world-class art forums on all sides of the globe. His newest venture into conscious kinetics, Radiant Soil, follows in the same vein as its predecessors in many ways, but it’s almost as if he’s starting to take a few swings at some of the tech-dreams he painted in our interview.

When asked what fantasy technologies he’d like to see realized, Beesley waxed cybernetic: “Sensing gear that could track the outward rippling impacts of each element, combined with control systems that can freely manipulate the intermeshed relationships of each form [that] would allow us to work with increasing precision within complex systems.”

Simultaneously broad and specific, it’s a bit difficult to imagine exactly what type of system this description would entail, but Radiant Soil does feels like it’s bringing us closer to what he had in mind.

This piece marks the first time one of Beesley’s creations functions via a “peer-to-peer” organic cell system--meaning that the different components communicate and interact with each other as individual entities, instead of routing signals through a master controller.

Through this and other characteristics, Radiant Soil remains true to the Hylozoic series’ nomenclature, which takes its name from an Ancient Greek belief system claiming all matter, regardless of property, has life. The installation incorporates memory alloys, microprocessors, Arduino single board microcontrollers, steel, glass and plastic into a hanging garden of near-conscious robotic flora.

The fronds move in response to a visitor's approach. Flashes of light, emitted when a new presence is detected, galvanize protocells throughout the piece to send a chain reaction of response rippling throughout the installation.

via EN VIE / ALIVE

Another new feature that separates Radiant Soil from others in the Hylozoic family is scent. The pieces are equipped with glands that emit attractive aromas when visitors are detected, enticing individuals to further interact with the system.

The glands also facilitate air circulation, which promotes the formation of prototype cells and stimulates chemicals housed within hanging glass containers.

Radiant Soil is currently on display in Paris, France as a part of Espace EDF’s ALIVE / EN VIE exhibit until September 21st.