"Above the pediment
sang Golden Charmers"
Pindaros (522-443BC); unknown lost poem, describing Apollo's mythical temple;
cited in Pausanias, Desription of Greece [book X.5.5], 2nd century AD
About
Keledón (pronounced /kilidón/) is an interactive kinetic sculpture from polyethylene, acrylic, plexiglas and wood, with generative audio, video and light projected from within its body.
The original Keledónes ('Charmers', a compound word in ancient greek which literally means 'those who sing beautifully') were soothing godesses endowed with magical singing powers, much like the more famous Sirenes - except they were automata, not living beings. Hephastos was said to have crafted them in gold for the second mythical temple of Apollon at Delphoi. These statues would begin to sing when they sensed that pilgrims were close to them, luring them to stay eternally at the temple, causing them to forget everything about their families and previous lives through their song.
Keledón, the installation, is an automaton conceived and modeled algorithmically as a living creature, its visual form inspired by deep-sea bioilluminescent jellyfish. The automaton is designed as a composite, open cybernetic system that consists of four parts: aural, visual, mechanical and sensory. These components are interconnected through a feedback network, with the audio projection controlling the video, the video projection controlling the mechanics, and the mechanics controlling the audio in its turn. Keledón can sense and analyze the presence and behavior of visitors around it, changing its internal state and behavior accordingly by using interpreted sensor data to interject control in the different nodes of its internal feedback loop.
The output of all the components of the system (audio, video, mechanics and visitors position) is being analyzed in various different manners so as to track how smooth or unsmooth the behavior of each component is. Erratic behaviors in one component will slowly move through the other components through the feedback loop, causing the whole system to destabilise and then find a new balance.
Practically, this means that
when left alone, Kelédon will gradually become calmer, but when it senses people moving around it, it will try to charm them with its best 'song', 'dance' and display of dynamic visual qualities.
Keledón is presented inside a large, dark, empty room of about 10x10 meters; the only light source in the room is the sculpture. The room is closed, so that visitors cannot see what is inside it before entering it. To avoid cross-illumination from other spaces upon the entrance of visitors, a small foyer area is created, which is also dark.
Keledón was fabricated and developed in the Center for Digital Arts and Experimental Media (DXARTS) in spring 2009.
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State Diagram
Kelédon is designed as an open cybernetic system, consisting of four components: mechanics, audio, video, and the visitors. The internal components, i.e. everything besides the visitors, are connected to each other through a feedback loop, whose relative stability can be disrupted by the visitors' behavior, the visitors thus functioning as controllers of the cybernetic system.
The software-brain of Kelédon performs constantly an analysis of all four components, to find out and evaluate how smooth their behavior is. Unsmooth behaviors in any of the parts will cause the system to change. When left alone, Kelédon will gradually reach a calm, static state.
On a more practical level, the interpreted data generated by the analysis of each component generate the following controls:
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a continuous dimensions (behavior smoothness);
- a trigger (behavior has changed dramatically);
- process-specific dimensions;
