'Cryptographic Beings' by Michael Sedbon: Innovation in Artwork

Cryptographic Beings

Artwork for Michael Sedbon

Cryptographic Beings is a Bio-Hybrid machine manipulating photosynthetic organisms through rules implemented in soft and hardware. It showcases a newly developed technology for information storage that leverages the ability of algae to perceive light. This robotic installation consists of 30 vegetal bits in the shape of glass vessels containing living organisms. Using a pair of motorized arms, the machine can expose each of the algae to light, encoding binary information in their state. Can humans design tools that are not only bio-inspired but made of, with and for living organisms?

Michael Sedbon 2023 Emergent Silver Press Kit № 146928

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Cryptographic Beings by Michael Sedbon

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Artwork by Michael Sedbon

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Michael Sedbon Cryptographic Beings

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Michael Sedbon Artwork

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Cryptographic Beings Artwork Press Releases

Press resources for Cryptographic Beings are offered in several languages: English.

Cryptographic Beings Artwork Media Articles

Ready-to-feature articles on Cryptographic Beings are available in these languages: German, French, Portuguese, Hindi, Korean, Japanese, Russian, Chinese (Mandarin), English, Turkish, Arabic (Standard), Spanish, Dutch, Indonesian and Italian, for your convenience.

Unique Properties

Cryptographic Beings is a technological proposal that leverages our ability to control and abstract biology to perform digital information storage. Marimos are large spherical colonies of algea. Photosynthetic activity produces gas vesicles visible to the naked eye This property allows them to float when exposed to light and sink in the dark This property is used to store digital data: The floating or sinking state representing digital 0s or 1s This robotic setup is capable of storing a 5 letter word

Production Technology

This work was developed as part of an ongoing research project on bio-hybrid computation exploring the possible morpho-space of computing devices. Michael Sedbon questions the information-processing properties of living matter through the creation of novel technologies embed into sculptural artefacts. This work has been developed as a functional prototype of a digital data storage device on vegetal media. It uses living algae, custom electronic and software code to store information.

Design Challenge

Cryptographic being is both a technological and an artistic proposal. The technology used to store digital information in vegetal media is a pure creation for this work. During its development, numerous technical challenges such as the design of custom sensors and engineered mechanical parts had to be overcome. As an artistic project, it also had to communicate its (highly technical) subject in an understandable manner. Great care was placed in rendering biological processes visible.

Project Duration

The project was conceptualised and prototyped in summer 2021. The production occurred from September 2021 to March 2022. This work was shown at Au Dela Des Pixel, a digital art exhibition curated and organised by 36 Degres, in March 2022 in Paris.

Operation Flow

This autonomous machine consists of an array of 30 vegetal bits made of filamentous algae held in glass vessels. The control of the information flow is handled by a set of specifically developed robotic arms that control photosynthetic processes in each of the bits. The state of each bit (the digital information) is retrieved by a custom-made device based on a colour sensor. The machine is designed to run autonomously for months throughout an exhibition.

Research

Living organisms perceive and interact with their environment through computation. Recent advances in the life sciences allow researchers and designers to envision machines of new kinds that leverage the massive and specific capacities of living matter in computing. How would these bio-hybrid machines change our perception of nature and culture, what can be used to compute, what can be computed and what form will they take? These are the question this work approach.

Inspiration

The first part of the 20th century witnessed simultaneously the discovery of the basis of information storage in DNA and the revolutions of the modern computing era. Since then, the fields of computer science and modern biology have co-evolved in a conceptual framework that looks at life as an information processing system and at digital computations as Intelligence. This cultural relationship is allowing us to design new kinds of bio-hybrid computers leveraging the massive capacity of life.

Project Overview

Cryptographic Beings Artwork has been a Silver winner in the Installation Design award category in the year 2022 organized by the prestigious A' Design Award & Competition. The Silver A' Design Award celebrates top-tier designs that embody excellence and innovation. This award acknowledges creations that are not only aesthetically pleasing but also highly functional, reflecting the designer's deep understanding and skill. Silver A' Design Award recipients are recognized for their contribution to raising industry standards and advancing the practice of design. Their work often incorporates original innovations and elicits a strong emotional response, making a notable impact on the improvement of everyday life.

Image Credits

For design images and photos please credit Michael Sedbon.

Silver Recognition

Michael Sedbon was recognized with the coveted Silver A' Design Award in 2023, a testament to excellence of their work Cryptographic Beings Artwork.

Michael Sedbon Press Releases

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Cryptographic Beings: Unveiling a Bio-Hybrid Machine for Information Storage

Michael Sedbon's Cryptographic Beings, a bio-hybrid machine, leverages the ability of algae to perceive light, showcasing a newly developed technology for information storage.

Michael Sedbon Newsroom

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