BioSonics: Sensual Explorations of a Complex System                                                                      

Daniel Bisig                                                          
Artificial Intelligence Laboratory                                             
University of Zurich                                                    
Andreasstrasse 15                                                       
8050, Zurich Switzerland                                                   
+41 1 635 4577                                                        
dbisig@ifi.unizh.ch                                                       

ABSTRACT                                                                                                                     
Complex systems abound in nature and are becoming increasingly                                                               
important in artificial systems. The understanding and controlling                                                           
of such systems is a major challenge. This paper tries to take a                                                             
fresh approach to these issues by describing an interactive art                                                              
project that involves cross-modal interaction with a complex                                                                 
system. By combining sound and vision, the temporal and spatial                                                              
dynamics of the system are conveyed simultaneously. Users can                                                                
influence its dynamics in real time by using acoustics. Preliminary                                                          
experiments with this system show that the combination of sound                                                              
and vision can help users to obtain an intuitive understanding of                                                            
the systems behavior. In addition, usability profits from the fact                                                          
that the same modality is employed for both interaction and                                                                  
feedback.


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