GMU:Computing with Thread/microbank64

microbank 64

microbank 64. Future Vintage Exhibition. Alte Staatsbank Weimar (2016)

About

This is a collaborative work made of three parts:

• textile computing module using the bullet-proof glass from the Alte Staatsbank
• 6bit-light-bulb-signal from the original depeche system used in the bank til 1997.
• The dollhouse version of the Alte Staatsbank in the form of a computer simulation

Textile Computing Module

This module uses thread and suction cups with 3D-printed wheels to create a machine, that performs binary computations.
The user can pull different threads, that will light up different combinations of lamps

6 Bit Light Signal

This module is a piece of technology from the alte Staatsbank, that is inteded to become a part of this installation.
It can be used to communicate between the exhibition space and the virtual dollhouse.

The Dollhouse

This is a little computer + screen, running a custom made software.
It shows a cross-section of the Alte Staatsbank including the staircase.
You can see little computer people pursuing their everyday jobs and communicate with them using the 6 bit light signal.

Extras

All rooms and people in the microbank are computer generated.
However we may setup a webcam in one of the exhibition rooms, and livestream it into the microbank.
Or we may project what happens inside one of the dollhouse rooms onto the wall of the corresponding room of the exhibition to blur the lines between the two realities...

Links

Alte Staatsbank

• Notenbank Weimar (Heyge-Stiftung)
• Impressions (Heyge-Stiftung)

Light System

• Depesche
• Preußischer optischer Telegraf + Prussian semaphore system

The Dollhouse

• Dollhouse
• Little Computer People + Little Computer People Poster
• Life: A User's Manual (Inspiration)

Microbank 64

• Microbank Repository