New installation, ‘Reflex’, at the Wellcome Trust
9 May 2011
The work inhabits the windows of the Wellcome Trust as though it were a living organism. Reacting to viewers, passers-by and traffic on Euston Road, ‘Reflex’ produces mesmerising flows of light, inviting a physical response to the building.
The installation's swarming behaviour is based on an algorithm developed to emulate the collective decision making that we see in large groups of creatures such as birds or ants.
The work is constructed from hundreds of brass rods and thousands of LEDs arranged on small custom chips. Their movement is based on programmes that aim to simulate complex natural phenomena. 'Reflex' recreates "stigmergy", whereby traces left by random actions stimulate further actions that build on one another, leading to the spontaneous emergence of apparently patterned activity. rAndom's work allows for error, experimentation and unpredictability, and 'Reflex' encourages its viewers to see how they can influence the work.
See the installation in action here.
James Peto - Senior Curator at Wellcome Collection, the Wellcome Trusts' public venue - says: "An estimated 5000 people walk past the Wellcome Trust's windows every day. rAndom International's 'Reflex' is the seventh in a series of annual design commissions for this prominent site. The window designs have always provoked interesting reactions from passers-by. With 'Reflex', the passers-by can provoke a reaction from the windows."
The directors of rAndom International say: "'Reflex' is our largest installation in London to date. We feel that with this work the studio is entering a new phase, one in which we can debate our ideas in a physical and publicly exposed style. We're absolutely thrilled to have 'Reflex' living at the Wellcome Trust in central London for a year, and are looking forward to see how it behaves there."
'Reflex', an installation by rAndom International, 2011, is at the Wellcome Trust, 215 Euston Road, NW1 2BE until April 2012.
Image: Part of the ‘Reflex’ window display.
Notes to editors
Media contact (for further information and images):
Tim Morley
Senior Media Officer
T 020 7611 8612
E
t.morley@wellcome.ac.uk
About the Wellcome Trust
The
Wellcome Trust is a global charity dedicated to achieving extraordinary improvements in human and animal health. It supports the brightest minds in biomedical research and the medical humanities; its breadth of support including public engagement, education and the application of research to improve health. The Trust is independent of both political and commercial interests.
About rAndom International
rAndom International was founded by Stuart Wood, Flo Ortkrass and Hannes Koch in 2002. The studio was set up to extend the perspective of contemporary artistic practice. Working from the fringes of art, design, science and architecture, rAndom develop projects and installations that re-interpret the 'cold' nature of digital-based work and emphasise the interaction between the animate (audience) and the inanimate (object), bringing the two into a powerful relationship of performance. The studio's work has won many awards in the fields art, architecture and design. rAndom are represented by Carpenters Workshop Gallery in London.
