Building off of previous work that used living systems and feedback loops, in this work I chose to focus on an essential behavior of one specific living system; the circadian rhythm of a phototropic plant. It was my desire to build an artwork that was grounded in this cyclic yet enigmatic property of our lives. By drawing out these binary characteristics with the help of technology, I was able to develop an artwork that was in a structurally similar reality system to our own rather than a representational depiction of a potentially non-existent reverie. Thereby allowing the artwork the ability to become an actual existing reverie, in this case a plant in regulative dialog with its sun. In this loop, when a plant’s leaves reached a raised position of being awake, it triggered its own sun to go down and as soon as the plant fell asleep, it started the process of waking.
By placing a level of communication between a plant and its sun, an additional degree of freedom is gained to the organism. In doing so, the movements of the organism caused its own physical structure and rhythm to change. It was only through this loss of balance that the reorganization could occur. Thus giving us a peek into the methods whereby we can recognize ourselves as open systems involved in a similar encounter.
In this first experiment I was able to discover that the plant would look for sun even in darkness, allowing me to remove my dictation of how the light would turn on and off but rather allow the plant’s communication with the machine be the deciding factor for its environment.
In a future iteration it is only with a signal stating the leaves have moved in an upward or downward trajectory does the sun get brighter or dimmer respectively.