October 26, 2004
Turbulence Spotlight: "Thinking Machine 4" by Martin Wattenberg (with
Marek Walczak)
http://turbulence.org/spotlight/thinking

"Thinking Machine 4" explores the invisible, elusive nature of thought.
Play chess against a transparent intelligence, its evolving thought
process visible on the board before you. The work consists of an
artificial intelligence program–ready to play chess with the viewer. If
the viewer takes up the challenge, the computer's thought process is
sketched on screen as it plays. A map is created from the traces of
literally thousands of possible futures as the program tries to decide
its best move. Those traces become a key to the invisible lines of force
in the game as well as a window into the spirit of a thinking machine.

The pace of interaction is deliberative, unlike the rushed tempo of
popular video games. Indeed the true subject of the piece is not games
or chess, but contemplation and introspection.

BIOGRAPHIES

MARTIN WATTENBERG'S work centers on the theme of making the invisible
visible. Past projects include "The Shape of Song" and "Apartment" (both
Turbulence commissions), "Third Person," and the Whitney Artport's "Idea
Line." Wattenberg is a researcher at IBM, where he creates new forms of
data visualization. He is also known for the SmartMoney.com "Map of the
Market." He holds a Ph.D. in mathematics from U.C. Berkeley.

MAREK WALCZAK is an artist and architect who is interested in how people
participate in physical and virtual spaces. This has led to projects
such as "Apartment" (a Turbulence commission), shown at the Whitney
Museum and many venues worldwide, and "Dialog Table," a commission of
the Walker Art Center that replaces a keyboard and mouse with a shared
interface based on gesture recognition technology. Current projects
include a one block long facade at 7 World Trade Center that reacts to
pedestrians walking beneath it (for James Carpenter Design) and
interactive video installations such as "Third Person," recently shown
at the ICA, London. Marek trained as an architect at the Architectural
Assoc. in London and Cooper Union in New York.

For more Turbulence Spotlights please visit
http://turbulence.org/spotlight/index.html

–
Jo-Anne Green, Associate Director
New Radio and Performing Arts, Inc.: http://new-radio.org
New York: 917.548.7780 . Boston: 617.522.3856
Turbulence: http://turbulence.org
New American Radio: http://somewhere.org
Networked_Performance Blog and Conference: http://turbulence.org/blog