Jon McCormack
Holon, 2023
VIC, Australia
Holon is an experimental, interactive audio-visual artwork that explores ideas in emergent collective intelligence, sustainability, and artificial life.
Commissioned by Now or Never in collaboration with Experimenta.
About
Over one hundred electronic “organisms” will create their own habitat. Each organism feeds off solar energy during the day, then at night the organisms come alive, communicating with each other via sound and light. Sounds heard by each organism — including those made by nearby people, machines and wildlife — are used to generate new sounds that acoustically fit into the environment, as each organism tries to assimilate into the visual and sonic landscape of its immediate neighbours.
Holon suggests a new kind of nature-machine symbiosis, where electronic life seeks to co-exist alongside biological life.
“It’s not a question of whether or not the technology is good or bad but its the idea that you should be aware – because if you are aware of it then you can either resist it or change it. That awareness is probably something that is not brought centrally.”
– Jon McCormack
Podcast: In conversation with Jon McCormack
Listen to artist Jon McCormack in conversation with host Will Tait talking about his Now or Never Art Trail artwork ‘Holon’.
Audio Description
View on the Now or Never website
The Artist
Jon McCormack
Jon McCormack is an Australian-based artist working at the nexus of art, technology and society. His experimental practice is driven by an enduring interest and research in computing.