SILENT Barrage is one of the most technologically-advanced pieces of artistic inquisition in the world, using a robotic creation to investigate the nature of thought and neural dysfunction in a SymbioticA support project.

The project is part of an ongoing residency, developed by Philip Gamblen, Guy Ben-Ary, Peter Gee and Brett Murray, in collaboration with Georgia Institute of Technology’s Dr Steve Potter, Douglas Swehla and Stephen Bobic.

Neurons on multi-electrode array / Image: Courtesy Guy Ben-Ary

“We were interested in creating a robotic body that would qualify as an exciting art project but at same time we were interesting in having Potter use it in his research and hopefully the art project would assist him in some way,” Mr Ben-Ary says.

“We tried to balance artistic integrity and scientific accuracy. It was very challenging, because science is about accuracy and art is about concept and message.”

The architecturally-designed space features an arrangement of sound-making pole robots which amplify neuronal activity to recreate bursts of involuntary neural events, often seen in epilepsy, which are then transmitted to cultured nerve cells.

An audience moves through the space and the amplified activity are “fed” back to the nerve cells in what is called “an attempt to silence the barrage of electrical impulses”.

The aim is to provide a greater insight into treating or “quieting” epilepsy and neural dysfunction, while engulfing an audience in sensory experience.

Mr Ben-Ary says it took the team nearly three years to develop the large scale robotic body.

“It is supposed to speculate and explore into the interface between biological brains and robotic bodies,” he says.

“I’m very interested in taking processes and procedures of science and assessing them in an artistic way.

“These technologies are advancing and can have an enormous consequence, especially in genetic engineering and biotechnology.

“I believe art can and should play an important cultural role in speculating about this technology to the public, to get people thinking about where we’re going with it and generate some sort of a dialogue.”

Mr Ben-Ary says he does not wish to “celebrate” the technology but rather critique it.

“I really think this technology can be used in quite unethical or dangerous ways. We don’t yet know the effects on our society,” he says.

“We all use tech and get lost in it.”

He also says art should act as a “stop-sign” to raise important questions, such as who controls technology.

“I prefer a reality where these issues are debated,” he says.

“But the danger in art is the wow factor, because we don’t want people just looking saying ‘it’s cool’ rather than saying it’s scary or challenging.”

To learn more about Silent Barrage visit the Silent Barrage website.

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