Title: tur1ng
Author: Agoston Nagy (Binaura)
Media: generative installation (digital token, metal, paper, electronics, projection, sound)
Format: 300 unique digital editions, varying exhibition dimensions
Date: 2022
The installation consists of audible image architectures based on the principle of Turing machines
(named after Alan Turing, the famous mathematician, computer scientist, logician, cryptanalyst,
philosopher, and theoretical biologist). These systems are mathematical models of computation that
manipulate symbols on a strip of tape according to a table of rules. The machine first writes a symbol
in a cell on the tape, then either moves the tape one cell left or right, then, based on the observed
symbol and the machine's own state in the table, either proceeds to another instruction or halts
computation.
In tur1ng, rules are stored as colours and the original tape cells are constructed from a two
dimensional array. The drawing algorithm continuously and consistently executes its given
instructions, such as any dynamic, living entity that struggles to maintain ordered patterns in our
world of ever increasing entropy. The sound unfolds as the algorithm proceeds: monitoring these
binary songs requires being attentive to changes in the state or behaviour of the system over time
so that appropriate interventions or other process-related activities may be carried out. Another
feature of listening algorithms is that it often has to be done as a background or secondary task or,
perhaps, in parallel with one or more other primary tasks.
NOTE: High quality prints of the installation are for sale at the above listed price.
