From March 24th till 26th the different research groups active in the neurosciences in Zurich will present their current state of understanding of the brain to the general audience at the BrainFair. This presentation is part of the international week of the brain and will take place at the main building of the ETHZ and expects about 5000 visitors per day. BrainFair will appeal not only to the population of Zurich but also to both the national and international media. 

One of the highlights of this event will be an interactive neuromorphic installation presented by members of the Institute of Neuroinformatics ETH/UZ. This interactive installation, called Roboser, combines a number of sensors such as cameras, microphones, and sensing and acting floor tiles in an exhibit which allows visitors to appreciate the complexities of the brain and its abilities to interpret its world and act upon it. 

The main form of communication of Roboser with its environment is through the generation of musical compositions. In this combination of interactive neuromorphic technologies and the ability to generate complex interactive musical compositions Roboser represents a unique form of novel technology which on one hand entertains and raises questions about our future technology and on the other disseminates basic research to a wide audience. The Roboser installation will be one of the central attractions for both the public and the media. 

As a special feature, the choreographer Malika Lum and her dancers will perform TRIANGULIS, a dance piece using the interactive capacities of the system to demonstrate Roboser’s artistic capabilities. 
 
 

TRIANGULIS

TRIANGULIS is an experimental dance project dealing with a moving feeling exploration of the possibilities within a seeing, thinking space. 

At the beginning of the piece, two dancers embody a simple intelligent structure seeking ways to move and expand itself. Due to the simplicity of this structure expansion is limited. A new narrator-like figure appears to accompany and observe the movement and development taking place in this simplified world. She personifies the ideal intelligent being utilizing combination of logical and intuitive faculties in order to see, understand and move through space. Her movements are clear and economical, yet strong and expressive. She is a communicator, a link between the abstract language of more simplified forms and the audience, portraying a more human, more complex and integrated figure. She speaks of the thirst for knowledge; the need intelligence has to know itself and the world it lives in. The two dancers are an extension of the machine itself and simultaneously the "simplified human being" beginning a phase of evolution. A new impulse enters the system, opening new possibilities and accelerating the speed of development. The rhythm set by the new impulse is so strong that the other forms automatically adapt to it and, once this new rhythm is established a new more complex development commences. The forms explore now seemingly limitless possibilities and soon move themselves into a state of chaos. The newfound forms begin to deconstruct. The system must be simplified and restricted in order to enable further development and prevent complete deconstruction.