Molecular Informatics-morphogenic substance via eye tracking

Seiko Mikami, Molecular Informatics-morphogenic substance via eye tracking, Version 1, 1996
image/jpeg
446 × 235

Seiko Mikami, Molecular Informatics-morphogenic substance via eye tracking, Version 1, 1996
image/jpeg
290 × 290

Seiko Mikami, Molecular Informatics-morphogenic substance via eye tracking, 1996
image/jpeg
800 × 317

Seiko Mikami, Molecular Informatics-morphogenic substance via eye tracking, Version 2, 1996
image/jpeg
504 × 357

Seiko Mikami, Molecular Informatics-morphogenic substance via eye tracking, Version 3, 1998
image/jpeg
432 × 337

Seiko Mikami, Molecular Informatics-morphogenic substance via eye tracking, Version 3, 1998
image/jpeg
249 × 267

Seiko Mikami, Molecular Informatics-morphogenic substance via eye tracking, Version 3, 1998
image/jpeg
432 × 288

Molecular Informatics - Data
image/jpeg
2471 × 1862

Molecular informatics
video/mp4
1280 × 720
00:59

The work is an interactive media art installation incorporating "eye tracking input" technology. Structures of molecules are generated real-time according to the movements of the viewers eyes during their interaction.
The viewer wears a pair of virtual reality (VR) glasses equipped with an eye tracking sensor and observes AND creates the VR space, consisting of molecules and molecular formations, via their eye movements. The space can be navigated simply through one's gaze and this gaze in turn is converted into XYZ coordinate data and simultaneously creates the molecular structures. The chain reaction of molecules forms new structures and also influences the whole movement of molecules in the VR space.


The audience in the exhibition can watch a projection that shows what the participant is viewing through the eye tracking glasses. At the same time at the back of the exhibition another projection system acts as a telepresence recorder of what the participant is seeing. This projector is on a motorized base that tilts and pans with the participants eye movements, creating not just a visual record of the viewers movements, but also a physical replication of these movements.

Forms are generated and modified through the exchange of invisible information, under the concept of "bio-informatics," which traverses the genres of biology or technology. This exhibition is based on the theme of "the interface of mathematics (factor) and perception (morphology)". It is not the type of art which deals with the aesthetic values of visible objects, but art which is made possible only in an information exchange relationship. The content arises from the interaction with the program (factor), and the resulting change of the visible morphosis.



The exhibition "Molecular Informatics--morphogenic substance via eye tracking" focuses on the transformability and morphoses of molecular structure and movement. The viewer experiences a virtual world created and manipulated by their own eye movements. This movement, the human, physical part, is transformed into data that represents the viewers location within the 3 dimensional space, therefore real-time change and generation occurs within the virtual world.



Once the viewer dons the VR eye tracking glasses, they are thrown into a world constructed solely of molecules. They navigate through this world simply via their eye movements, and new molecules are created or mutually influenced in real-time due to their eye movements. The participant is represented as abstract data in the virtual space, and newly generated molecules reflect how they view and react to the virtual world.
Humans do not consciously control most of their eye movements and in this project these unconscious movements play a major role in the creation of the piece. These uncontrolled movements are transformed into form and structure in the virtual world, and the molecules generated by the previous viewer are left behind for the next participant. These multiple traces of eye movement co-exist and create a multi-layered space.
Michel Foucault wrote in his 1963 book, "Naissance de la Elinique," "One hears certain words at the moment he perceives a scenery." The act of seeing is a passive and obscure activity involving complicated physical functions. In other words, the world that is seen reflects the viewers physical complexity and multiplicity. The creation of Molecules by random eye movement, the Molecular Informatics, ceaselessly changes the virtual world and creates a world that changes dramatically from moment to moment. It is both an infinite succession of images and an endless sequence of
senses.