Developing an aesthetic

Abstract

In the Synthetic Characters Group at the MIT Media Lab, we make virtual characters and build in teract ive instal lat ions to showcase them.The research agenda of our group is to design ways of making computational characters by examining natural systems. All of our interactive installations, whether or not they feature ent i t ies w h o look like real animals, conta in characters tha t are in some way der ived f rom the behavior of real animals. Our installations provide a chance for people to meet our characters and to find out how they work. Over the last several years, we've made an assortment of installations about a range of topics from terr iers to cartoon chickens to romantic poems. The process of making these installations has helped advance our research goals and has helped develop an equally important set of aesthetic principles for our diverse work. This ar t i c le descr ibes how we cons t ruc t the aesthetics of our installations. We first explain the essential structure of our installat ion-bui ld ing too lk i t , dividing it loosely into intraand extra-character components. Then we prov ide descr ipt ions and images f rom each of the major installations we've created since o u r g roup came t o g e t h e r in 1997. Finally, we discuss what we aim for as artists when we create a new installation.