SONG OF THE MACHINE

ANAB JAIN, JON ARDERN, DR PATRICK DEGENAAR, JUSTIN PICKARD & DR ANDERS SANDBERG

What if we could change our view of the world with the flick of a switch? The emerging field of optogenetics explores this possibility; combining genetic engineering and innovative optoelectronics to manipulate individual nerve cells with light. With this technology, scientists are developing a new form of retinal prostheses, capable of bringing sight to the blind. Unlike the electrode implants of bionic vision this science modifies the body from within. By using a virus to infect the degenerate eye with a light-sensitive protein, wearable optoelectronics can establish a direct optical link to the brain. It is as if the virus gives the body ears to hear the Song of the Machine, allowing it to sing the world into being. Song of the Machine explores the possibilities of this new, modified—even enhanced—vision, where wearers adjust for a reduced resolution by tuning into streams of information and electromagnetic vistas, all inaccessible to the ‘normally’ sighted.

ABOUT THE ARTIST

Song of the Machine is produced by Superflux Lab, the research wing of Superflux, a Londonbased design studio and is a project by designers Anab Jain and Jon Ardern with scientist Dr Patrick Degenaar, ethicist Dr Anders Sandberg and futurist Justin Pickard.