Metal Life
What is life? When a drop of liquid metal can hunt for game, digest its prey and move about, can it be said to be alive? *MetaLife* is a series of interactive installations in which liquid metal molluscs are raised. The liquid metal molluscs that inhabit the installation seem to be sentient. When interacting with installation visitors, it exhibits shy, curious or even slightly insolent behavior, and prompts its human interlocutor to give some thought to what life actually is.
This work is based on LIME: LIquid MEtal Interfaces for Non Rigid Interaction (Youtube)
Room-temperature liquid metal GaIn25 (Eutectic GalliumIndium alloy, 75% gallium and 25% indium) has distinctive properties of reversible deformation and controllable locomotion under an external electric field stimulus. Liquid metal’s newly discovered properties imply great possibilities in developing new technique for interface design.
Installation
Hardware: Wood showcase, Arduino Mega, ultrasonic sensors.
Ultrasonic sensors were installed at the bottom of the showcases, which would be triggered in response to visitors’ movement.
Exhibition
Ars Electronica
During Sep 8 to Sep 12, MetalLife exhibited at Linz campus exhibition: Animate Worlds of Tsinghua University.
Tsinghua University Art Musesum
During the National Holiday 2016 in China, MetalLife exhibited at Tsinghua Museum.