Black Shoals
Encyclopedia
Black Shoals is an artificial ecosystem linked to the real time dynamics of the stock market. It was first shown at the Tate Gallery
in 2001, and nominated for an Alternative Turner Prize in 2002. A more sophisticated Black Shoals was exhibited at the Nikolaj gallery in Copenhagen in the spring of 2004.
Stars representing companies and creatures representing speculators are projected into a domed ceiling in a dark room, creating an artificial night sky which visualises the dynamics of the world stock markets.
Within this world, a creature's survival depends upon the strategies it uses to explore its world. The more a company is traded, the richer the food source for the creatures. Consequently, changes in trading patterns can be seen in the planetarium as explosions of life surrounding specific clusters of stars.
For this project, Cefn Hoile designed a population of articulated creatures which reproduce and evolve both their morphology and behaviour in real time in a planetarium style display. The project was conceived by Lise Autogena
and Joshua Portway
of Stain. Tom Riley was the lead software developer during the second showing of Black Shoals in 2004.
The name of the project is a pun on Black–Scholes, a widely used equation in financial derivatives pricing which earned two of its three inventors a Nobel Prize in Economics.
Tate Gallery
The Tate is an institution that houses the United Kingdom's national collection of British Art, and International Modern and Contemporary Art...
in 2001, and nominated for an Alternative Turner Prize in 2002. A more sophisticated Black Shoals was exhibited at the Nikolaj gallery in Copenhagen in the spring of 2004.
Stars representing companies and creatures representing speculators are projected into a domed ceiling in a dark room, creating an artificial night sky which visualises the dynamics of the world stock markets.
Within this world, a creature's survival depends upon the strategies it uses to explore its world. The more a company is traded, the richer the food source for the creatures. Consequently, changes in trading patterns can be seen in the planetarium as explosions of life surrounding specific clusters of stars.
For this project, Cefn Hoile designed a population of articulated creatures which reproduce and evolve both their morphology and behaviour in real time in a planetarium style display. The project was conceived by Lise Autogena
Lise Autogena
Lise Autogena is a Danish artist living in the UK. At the age of 17, she left home to live in Denmark's famous experimental community Christiania, an experience which she has said was very important in her development....
and Joshua Portway
Joshua Portway
Joshua Portway is an artist and game designer. He is a frequent collaborator with Lise Autogena, for example on their Black Shoals stock market planetarium project. He is also the author of the series of interactive music pieces...
of Stain. Tom Riley was the lead software developer during the second showing of Black Shoals in 2004.
The name of the project is a pun on Black–Scholes, a widely used equation in financial derivatives pricing which earned two of its three inventors a Nobel Prize in Economics.
See also
- Evolutionary artEvolutionary artEvolutionary art is created using a computer. The process starts by having a population of many randomly generated individual representations of artworks. Each representation is evaluated for its aesthetic value and given a fitness score...
- Artificial LifeArtificial lifeArtificial life is a field of study and an associated art form which examine systems related to life, its processes, and its evolution through simulations using computer models, robotics, and biochemistry. The discipline was named by Christopher Langton, an American computer scientist, in 1986...
- Natural SelectionNatural selectionNatural selection is the nonrandom process by which biologic traits become either more or less common in a population as a function of differential reproduction of their bearers. It is a key mechanism of evolution....
- Joshua PortwayJoshua PortwayJoshua Portway is an artist and game designer. He is a frequent collaborator with Lise Autogena, for example on their Black Shoals stock market planetarium project. He is also the author of the series of interactive music pieces...
- Lise AutogenaLise AutogenaLise Autogena is a Danish artist living in the UK. At the age of 17, she left home to live in Denmark's famous experimental community Christiania, an experience which she has said was very important in her development....
External links
- The official Black Shoals website
- Creature code open sourced
- Lise Autogena's website
- Cefn Hoile's Website
- A paper on the creatures in Black Shoals
- Tom Riley's photos taken during the installation of Black Shoals in the Nikolaj gallery in Copenhagen