Электрохимический алгоритмический перформанс “A Natural History of Networks / SoftMachine“, Ralf Baecker

A Natural History of Networks / SoftMachine is an electrochemical algorithmic machine performance that probes an alternative computational and technological material regime, informed by Gordon Pask’s experiments on electrochemical learning mechanisms and current research on biomimicry, programmable matter and spatio-temporally controlled liquid metal actuators. At its core, a custom-built electrochemical experimental apparatus (SoftMachine) creates a dynamic fluidic microcosm that performs a continuous becoming of form, structure and material narrations. The performance aims to provoke new imaginaries of the machinic, the artificial and matter. A radical technology that bridges traditionally discreet machine thinking and soft/fluid materials that enable self-organizing behavior through their specific material agencies. The performer is manipulating and modulating galinstan, a liquid metal alloy composed of gallium, indium, and tin immersed in a solution of sodium hydroxide (NaOH). This inorganic “wetwa