Swarm Study / IX

Random International is a collaborative studio for experimental practice within multimedia and contemporary art. Since Hannes Koch, Florian Ortkrass and Stuart Wood founded the studio in 2005, they haved developed projects by questioning aspects of identity and autonomy. After solo presentations of their work in Sweden, Paris, NewYork and London, they jointly created their first permanent public installation in Germany and their largest work to date. In cooperation with Grüntuch-Ernst architects, Random International present an immersive installation within the surface of the newly transformed central station of Chemnitz: SWARM STUDY /IX is showing the sublime beauty of self organising systems. Each individual light source has been imbued with collective behaviour. A grid of thousands of LEDs had been installed on the facade of the building. Each light source is connected to each other and acts according to its own set of criteria in relation to the surrounding. The „swarm“ moves throughout the face of the building while translating the acrobatic efficiency of flocking birds into a structure of light. Collective intelligence is an emergent phenomenon of an upcoming superorganism and takes place in nearly all parts of life. SWARM STUDY / IX embodies an experience of modern architecture as a vivid matter, intimately involved with its surrounding.