Abstract

This installation aims to create an evolving culture of communication between six autonomous agents and their environment. Based on the children's game Chinese Whispers, each agent listens to its surroundings and records 4 seconds of audio. The agents then attempt to match what they have heard to an individual internal database of sounds. They then recreate a 'best fit' response based on the sounds from their own database. These databases are then updated incorporating some of the new sounds they have heard and thus allowing the agents to evolve and adapt sonically to each other and their environmental context. The idea is that the society of agents never homogenise onto a single sound but creatively exploit limitations in their design as a catalyst for creativity.