Each module is working on the base of one computer, custom created PCB, using wifi and 5 types of sensors.
Some sensors will rather identify the vital environmental elements of the plant, such as the brightness via photosensitive sensor placed on a leaf or magnitude, the temperature of the plant with an infrared sensor, and the humidity sensor around the roots.
Text system uses environmental signals, like humidity, luminosity, temperature to identify the mood of the plant. To each mood of plant there is corresponding pre written feed that is characterizing this state, using scientific terms or poetic assumptions. This feed is by the "decisions" of the electric signal peaks of the plant generates real-time texts.
The most interesting sensors for us to use are the electrodes which will allow us to recover the amount of electrical signal generated by the plant. These signals are also coming from the environment, as plants are perfect conductors, but we are aiming to filter them and amplify the micro signals, that are representing the summary of processes of the plant. It's a very micro-voltage unstable unpredictable signal that we poetically call his soul.
Amplified signal at its peak will allow us, for example, to trigger a note in the synthesizer, or an event in the video. We also use a capacitive sensor with frequency scanning (Swept Frequency Capacitive Sensing) which also thanks to an electrode allows us to test the global conductivity of the plant in a precise way and to draw up a frequency spectogram of the capacity unique to each plant.
References
We are basing each project on various existing science researches and papers, collaborating also with some field-related specialists. The opera cites and uses elements from famous, but already outdated and disproved theories (1) as well as recent new researches by scientists in these areas (2).
(1)
(2)
Edward (Ted) Farmer Florianne Koechlin. "Development of a portable multi-channel system for plant physiological signal recording" - Ting Li, Zi-Yang Wang, Dong-Jie Zhao, Lan Huang, Zhong-Yi Wang, "Recording extracellular signals in plants: A modeling and experimental study ” - Dong-Jie Zhaoa, Zhong-Yi Wang, Jun Li b, Xing Wena, An Liua, Lan Huang, Xiao-Dong Wang, Rui-Feng Houd, Cheng Wang, Report by the Federal Ethics Committee on Non-Human Biotechnology (ECNH) “The dignity of living beings with regard to plants”Videos : 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13
We are also having a constant veil of the contemporary art scene and beeing inspired by the works of Pierres Huygues, Rashid Johnson, Guiseppe Penones, Klaus Littmann, Francis Hallé, Hoël Duret...