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READWRITE is a cosmic-ray activated robotic artwork installed on the NEXTDC Data Centre in Malaga, Perth, Western Australia. It is 10m across and has 24 pneumatically-actuated 1.4m wide diamond-shaped flipping elements arranged in a grid.

Dance sequences on Readwrite are triggered by "Muon" particles. Muons are terrestrial Cosmic Rays generated in the upper atmosphere by interactions with high-energy particles which originate from distant supernovae and supermassive black holes in active galactic nuclei. Readwrite has four Muon detectors mounted at its corners. When a Cosmic Ray hits one of the detectors, a wave motion sequence begins from that point. Other choreographed behaviours occur depending on the frequency and spatial distribution of the Muon flux. Readwrite only reacts to the rarest incoming Muons - those that are travelling parallel to the Earth’s surface.

Readwrite was installed in January 2014 and has been in near-constant motion since. It may be the largest terrestrial automata activated by stimuli of extra-galactic origin. The Readwrite control algorithm is a modified version of the code from Geoffrey’s earlier work Floribots, and thus retains elements of the emotional modes of that work (bored, excited, etc.) - which were originally modelled on the behaviour of the Artist’s sons at toddler age.The artist notes; “The cosmic conversation Readwrite is involved in can be seen as reactive rather than interactive, due to large distances (millions of light years) extending the feedback time from its extra-galactic interlocutors beyond the likely endurance of artwork.” It is the latest in a series of robotic works by Drake-Brockman that explore the potential for emergence in relationships with machines. The Artist explains further in his 2013 TEDx talk.


Readwite Image 1
Readwrite Image 2
Readwrite Image 3


Other works by Geoffrey Drake-Brockman include:
Rain on Water
                              Deatail 1 Coppelia Doll One 3/4 Length Totem Translight at Perth Arena Counter at Cotteloe Headspace in
                                Chaos


GEOFFREY
DRAKE-BROCKMAN
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