During the performance, the audience witnesses participants engaging with their positions and roles amid the blocks. DRIFT seeks to instil awareness that each situation necessitates a distinct approach. Each movement and each decision have a visible effect on the composition and reaction of the blocks. Sometimes collectively, or at other times individually, the blocks coexist in a landscape of events negotiated by the human-machine interaction. The nature of decision-making processes, what we consider natural and what we see as artificial are complexified in the performative installation. The computational code that allows movement becomes part of the relationship and the interface. In Murmuring Minds participants and technology enact beyond the conventional idea of passive contemplation, creating an environment that extends the boundaries between observation and participation.
Drawing inspiration by swarming behaviours observed in different species and using the intelligence of birds, fish, and bees as a starting point, Murmuring Minds creates a space of sociability, study and play. The installation is an experiment and a question, on how we generate choices, what are our decisions and how these affect larger structures, how do we define leadership and control in a contemporary context. Within this immersive setting, participants grasp the significance of their actions and responses to the environment as a fundamental survival mechanism and as part of a system. Different choices can create chaos, while certain movements or actions can elicit synchronised responses from the blocks. An element of surprise, excitement and anticipation is prevalent in an installation where the fusion of technology and human interaction form the crux of the experience.
