installation Archives

Plantoïd | Dewi Brunet

ARTIST RESIDENCE | SUSTAINABLE ROBOTICS

Plantoïd merges robotics and nature into an ecosystem of robotic plants. This bio-inspired interactive installation invites visitors to explore harmonious interactions between technology and the natural world.

The robotic structures in this installation are designed to respond dynamically to their environment while simulating plant-like behaviours. By incorporating intricate folding techniques and leveraging biomaterials, Plantoïd highlights practical applications of folding in robotics and material science. Through these hybrids, the project redefines our perception of the relationship between humans, plants and robots.

Ohme Lab Contributions

The Ohme Lab played a crucial role in the technical development of Plantoïd, focusing on three key aspects. The team developed a respiration detection system, allowing the robots to activate in response to visitors’ breathing. They designed and implemented a pneumatic mechanism to animate the robotic plants. Additionally, they researched and selected biomaterials suited to the folding and crumpling techniques central to Dewi’s practice.

Expanding the Horizon

Building on the success of the residency, Dewi has begun to extend his research to other living organisms, including fungi and algae. He aims to further blur the boundaries between nature, science, and technology. His work continues to stimulate the imagination, offering a glimpse into a future where robotic systems harmoniously coexist with natural ecosystems.

Created by

Dewi Brunet, an artist at the crossroads of art, science and technology, specialises in folding techniques. His innovative practice spans a wide range of materials, applications and research areas. With a focus on the intersection of ecology and technology, Dewi’s work delves into the emerging field of robotic folding – also known as Oribotics – which bridges nature, origami and robotics.

As part of the Sustainable Robotics residency programme organised by Ohme in collaboration with BrIAS and FARI (2023-24), Dewi explored the potential of creating bio-inspired robotic systems. This residency marked a pivotal phase in the development of Plantoïd. Through this collaboration, Ohme supported Dewi in advancing his research and refining the project. This partnership exemplifies the potential of interdisciplinary residencies to inspire innovative solutions and foster dialogue between art and science.

Ohme launched the Sustainable Robotics residency programme (2023-24) in partnership with the Brussels Institute for Advanced Studies – BrIAS, and with FARI – Institute of Artificial Intelligence for the Common Good, both co-founded and co-led by the Université libre de Bruxelles (ULB) and the Vrije Universiteit Brussels (VUB).

This research is co-produced by Ohme in the framework of Ohme’s artistic residencies programme,
funded by Innoviris – the Brussels-Capital Region & the Federation Wallonie-Bruxelles.

The Garden of the Future | Kris Verdonck

ARTIST RESIDENCE | SUSTAINABLE ROBOTICS

The Garden of the Future imagines an ecosystem where self-sustaining robots, powered by renewable energy sources like solar and wind, perform ecological roles in harmony with natural cycles. Free from batteries or power grids, these robots adapt to energy fluctuations, challenging conventional consumption.

The installation by Kris Verdonck proposes a poetic integration of robotics into ecosystems, encouraging dialogue on sustainable technology and its potential to address environmental challenges.

The core research explores the feasibility, design, and control of low-tech motors that operate solely on the irregular availability of sunlight and wind. This challenges the prevalent model of continuous, stable energy supply, advocating for systems attuned to ecological cycles.

Ohme Lab contributions
Ohme Lab collaborated with Kris Verdonck on key technical developments, including the design and creation of a robotic woodpecker fulfilling ecological functions inspired by its natural counterpart. The team also explored low-tech motors powered by fluctuating energy sources and contributed to biomimetic designs that align with natural ecosystem rhythms.

Ongoing collaboration
While The Garden of the Future remains a work in progress, the residency has laid a strong foundation for continued exploration. The interdisciplinary collaboration between Ohme, Kris Verdonck, and scientific institutions highlights the potential for innovation in sustainable robotics and ecological integration. This ongoing project reexamines energy use, ecological restoration, and the role of art and science in addressing today’s environmental concerns.

Created by

Kris Verdonck (born 1974) studied visual arts, architecture and theatre and this training is evident in his work. His creations are positioned in the transit zone between visual arts and theatre, between installation and performance, between dance and architecture. As a theatre maker and visual artist, he can look back over a wide variety of projects. By integrating robotics, energy systems, and ecological perspectives, Kris challenges traditional boundaries between disciplines and creates narratives that resonate with contemporary issues.
A Two Dogs Company (ATDC) serves as the creative core for Kris Verdonck’s innovative projects in performing and transdisciplinary arts since 2010.

This research is co-produced by Ohme in the framework of Ohme’s artistic residencies programme,
funded by Innoviris – the Brussels-Capital Region & the Federation Wallonie-Bruxelles.

Colorillon | Adrien Lucca

Colorillon explores the connection between sound, light and movement. This relationship allows a carillon made up of 8 hollow aluminium tubes to change appearance and colour on its own, depending on the sound it produces.

Each tube of the carillon has been calibrated according to a resonance formula. It is then struck by percussion solenoids. This system produces a whole range of sounds. A real-time sound capture, acquisition and analysis system then takes over, identifying the events and frequencies of the sounds produced by the carillon.

The result is sound characteristics such as volume modulations, percussive or harmonic content, or frequency beat, all of which are used to drive hyperspectral lamps developed by Adrien Lucca. These devices use subtle modifications to the spectral content of the light to change the colour of objects without changing the perceived colour of the light beam.

These lamps are controlled by a nanocomputer that transforms the sound characteristics into light spectrum control signals, creating dynamic transitions in the colour gamut and thus changing the appearance of the instrument.

CREDITS :

Conception: Adrien Lucca, Ohme
Light synthesiser and programmed painting: Adrien Lucca
Engineering and technical development: François Bronchart, Raoul Sommeillier, Loïc Vanhecke (Ohme Lab)
Mechanical structure : Mathieu Zurstrassen
Co-production : Ohme and Studio Adrien Lucca

Presented at:
The Colour Shifts, LaVallée (Brussels) – 02.02 > 02.03.2024

Co-produced by Ohme in the framework of Ohme’s artistic residencies programme, supported by Innoviris and the Commission Arts Numériques de la Fédération Wallonie-Bruxelles.

Isocenter | Frederik Vanhoutte

Isocenter is a research project by artist Frederik Vanhoutte based on his work as a radiotherapy physicist at the University Hospital in Gent (BE).

Isocenter seeks to explore the apparent paradox inherent in modern medicine – a fusion of individualised, compassionate care with the cutting-edge precision of technology, all aimed at healing and preserving the sanctity of life.

Drawing from the choreography made by the radiotherapy machine during the treatments, Frederik shift the medium to using a plotter drawing machine with ink on paper. Treatment is replaced by expression, radiation delivery machine replaced by a mechanical drawing device. Care and art, two very human activities, envisioned by people, entrusted to machines.

The project gets its name from the context of radiotherapy. The isocenter is a precisely defined point within the patient’s body, determined by imaging and treatment planning goals. It serves as the reference point where multiple radiation beams intersect with high accuracy during the delivery of radiation therapy. This intersection ensures that the maximum radiation dose is concentrated precisely at the intended target, typically a tumor, while minimizing radiation exposure to surrounding healthy tissues. The isocenter’s precise coordinates are essential for treatment planning and the accurate administration of therapeutic radiation.

The medium and materiality of the work is intentionally chosen to extend beyond a mere technical representation of motion and intensity. Although the precision and clarity of technical pens have their place, brush and ink add a greater quality to the otherwise cold data. Sensitive to the fiber and the warp of the paper, responding to each minor disturbance, the process of expression now incorporates material interaction, reality and humanity.

Exhibition ISOCENTER

A point in space. A focus, a center around which it all spins: the attention, the care, the time, the knowledge, the technology.

There are places, sealed rooms hidden at the end of long corridors, where this point in space is called isocenter, the precise spot through which a beam of radiation passes in an accurate choreography of machine movements. At the center is the human body, in its complexity and in its fragility, to be taken care of, to be healed, to be respected.

It is from these places, physical and conceptual, that this exhibition borrows its title.

ISOCENTER is composed of plotter drawings by Frederik Vanhoutte based on his work as a radiotherapy physicist at Ghent University Hospital, and developed as part of Ohme’s programme of support to artistic research, along with Philippe Braquenier’s photographs, taken during a series of visits to the hospital’s radiotherapy centre.

The plotter drawings are based on data from patient radiotherapy treatments, reinterpreted and transposed on paper intentionally chosen to extend beyond the mere technical representation of motion and intensity. By applying the ink with fine brushes, the precise movements of the machine creates soft blurs among otherwise meticulous lines. Sensitive to the fiber and the warp of the paper, responding to each minor disturbance, the process of expression incorporates unexpected material interactions.

At the frontiers between documentary and conceptual, the photographs punctuate the exhibition bringing in unique views of the physical space in which radiotherapy is performed. The gaze lands upon a suspended atmosphere, almost out of time, where objects turn unrecognisable, and cutting-edge machines stand dormants recalling the sophistication of man made technology.

The lingering light pulls the images in a swing between the sculptural and the architectural, the factual and the imaginative, almost as a guide through an inaccessible space.

In a dialogue between art and science, abstract representation and photography, this exhibition aims at offering a sensitive glimpse into a practice, the one of oncological radiotherapy, that pushes the boundaries of technology at the service of personalised healthcare.

Opening Hours

3 – 19 November 2023
Wednesday to Friday, from 2pm to 7pm
Saturday & Sunday, from 11am to 7pm

Free entry

PUBLIC EVENT – Thursday 9.11.2023

– 18:00 Kult XL Ateliers – Rue Wiertz 23, 1050 Ixelles
Guided visit of the exhibition
with artist Frederik Vanhoutte and Philippe Braquenier, and curator Camilla Colombo.

– 19:00 Espace Lumen – Chaussée de Boondael 36, 1050 Ixelles
Talks & Drinks
Frederik Vanhoutte, artist and radiotherapy physicist: “Materiality, the connection between patient, data and expression”
Prof. Dr. Yolande Lievens, head of the department of radiotherapy-oncology UZ Gent : “Art in radiotherapy”

CREDITS :

Plotter drawings : Frederik Vanhoutte
Research : Frederik Vanhoutte
Photos: Philippe Braquenier 
Produced by OHME

Presented at: Kult XL Ateliers, 3 – 19 November 2023

Vernissage: Thursday 2 November 2023, 18:00 – 21:00
Symposium : Thursday 9 November 2023 19:00 – 22:00

Curation: Camilla Colombo
Production: Ohme
Art Handling: Jean Pierre Bertrand
Photo printing: Laboriver, Jo & Z Lab
Framing: Bernard Wéber
Construction: Aiko Design
Exhibition views: Silvia Cappellari

Isocenter has been produced thanks to the support the Digital Arts Commission of the Fédération Wallonie-Bruxelles.

It is produced by Ohme in the framework of Ohme’s artistic residencies programme, supported by Innoviris and Fédération Wallonie-Bruxelles

Monochromes | Yannick Jacquet & Otto Lindholm

Monochromes is a hybrid project mixing music, light and colour into a chromatic alphabet.

This installation is a collaboration between visual artist Yannick Jacquet and composer/double bassist Otto Lindholm.

At the heart of Monochromes is a series of 12 unique compositions for double bass and looper, each lasting a fixed 5 minutes. Each composition focuses on a specific note of the musical scale, to which is freely associated a luminous hue, thought of as a sound colour. The result is a chromatic alphabet: the 12 semitones of Western music.

Inspired by EMDR and hypnosis techniques, the two artists open up a space of contemplation and introspection, where they aspire to establish a deep connection with sensations and emotions far removed from the current temporal norms of immediate attention.

CREDITS :

Conception, design and production : Yannick Jacquet, Otto Lindholm
Visual composition : Yannick Jacquet
Sound composition: Otto Lindholm 
Sound engineer: Fabien Leseure

AGENDA:

Museum Night Fever at Halles St Géry, 21 Octobre 2023

The Colour Shifts at LaVallée, 03 February – 02 March 2024

Monochromes has been produced thanks to the support the Digital Arts Commission of the Fédération Wallonie-Bruxelles.

It is co-produced by Ohme in the framework of Ohme’s artistic residencies programme, supported by Innoviris and Fédération Wallonie-Bruxelles

An eye is an eye is an eye is…

This audiovisual installation explores the many ways of seeing — animal, human, and machine — by drawing parallels between natural vision systems and the emerging gaze of artificial intelligence.

In the animal world there is an infinite variety of eyes and vision systems, some capable of distinguishing types of light invisible to the human eye, while others can only see in black and white; still others can detect prey running miles away, while others struggle to distinguish their immediate environment accurately or are only sensitive to movement. So each species develops a visual interface with reality that is perfectly suited to its survival.
But how do machines look at us, at a time when the proliferation of cameras in an ever-increasing variety of devices is associated with the rapid development of computer vision, commonly known as ‘computer vision’?

Computer vision is an artificial intelligence technique for analysing images captured by equipment such as cameras. For many, computer vision is the AI equivalent of the human eye and our brain’s ability to process and analyse perceived images.
The neural networks generated by computer vision algorithms learn to link language and the world together, and as they learn they create identifiable patterns, areas of interest in images, and a whole series of criteria and characteristics that enable them to understand the world passing before their eyes.

The installation An eye is an eye is an eye is an eye hijacks the images generated by these ‘observing’ machines to turn them into the medium of a visual and poetic narrative, written in real time, questioning our ability to make sense of the visible, our perception of reality and our relationship to the imaginary.

Damien Petitot, An eye is an eye is an eye is an eye, video still, 2023

CREDITS:

Conception, direction : Damien Petitot
Computer vision : François Bronchard
Co-Produced by OHME

An eye is an eye is an eye is an eye has been produced thanks to the support the Digital Arts Commission of the Fédération Wallonie-Bruxelles.

It is co-produced by Ohme in the framework of Ohme’s artistic residencies programme, supported by Innoviris and Fédération Wallonie-Bruxelles and presented by Ohme with the support of FARI Ai For the Common Good Institute.

R€¥€R$€ | Laura Colmenares Guerra

REVERSE is a 30′ Virtual Reality piece that deepens into the complex situation of Amazonia. More than half of the Amazon region, 66 per cent of it, is subject to permanent pressure due to human extractive practices such as oil and mineral exploitation, road infrastructure development, ranching, agricultural activity and hydroelectric plants. Deforestation, burning, and loss of carbon stocks are proof of the large-scale transformations taking place in Amazonia.

The ancestral Indigenous Peoples’ and the biome of the Rainforest are endangered by the rapid deforestation and exploitation of natural resources. The extractivist practices operating in the region have caused irreparable damage to these vital ecosystems, threatening the survival of countless species of plants and animals. The loss of these valuable resources impacts the local communities who rely on them for their livelihoods and has far-reaching global consequences. It is imperative that we take action to protect and preserve the Rainforest and its inhabitants before it’s too late.

REVERSE underlines the tensions present in the territory, where human, cultural and environmental aspects rub with power, economics and multinational interests in a context of climate stress in which importance of preserving this unique ecosystem is vital for the survival of the current life on Earth.

CREDITS:

Conception, direction, production, Laura Colmenares Guerra
Unreal developer, François Zajéga
Unreal environment & lighting, Samson Michel
Animation & compositing, Laura Colmenares Guerra
CG & VFX supervisor, Laura Colmenares Guerra
Sound design & Music composition, Loup Mormont
Amazon sound field recordings, Jana Irmert
Studio recordings, Antonin Simon
English VO, Emma Dingwall
French VO, Sarah Hebborn
Text editor, Camilla Colombo
Dutch VO, Nina Mallants
Portuguese VO, Fernanda Stefanski
Spanish VO, Laura Colmenares Guerra
Text corrections and translations, Anne Vereecken / Elly Mc Donald / Joachim Devillé / Santiago Colmenares Guerra
REVERSE, Co-Produced by OHME

Presented at:
Ríos Trilogy, KULT XL Ateliers | 12 May – 13 June 2023

The Ríos Trilogy has been produced thanks to the support of Flanders State of the Art and the Digital Arts Commission of the Fédération Wallonie-Bruxelles/Officiel

R€¥€R$€ is co-produced by Ohme in the framework of Ohme’s artistic residencies programme, supported by Innoviris and Fédération Wallonie-Bruxelles and presented by Ohme with the support of the Commune d’Ixelles

κῦμα

The Ancient Greek term κῦμα (pronounced Kima) means wave, the physical movement on the surface of a liquid layer.

In physics, a wave describes dynamic disturbances of a physical quantity around a position of equilibrium. By controlling the vertical position of each of the twenty-five spheres, κῦμα produces a discrete 3D levitating choreography. Randomly activated fans interact with the spheres, disturbing their movements by blowing from above: the choreography patterns are broken, becoming unstable or even chaotic. A control loop feedback mechanism counteracts this tendency towards chaos; its efficiency varies over time, highlighting the impact of its action.

This artwork allows to introduce and explain basics of control system design and automation science which deal with the modelling, analysis, identification and control of dynamic systems. It focuses on controlling a system to comply with precise requirements such as execution time, precision and stability.

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Thanks to the mathematical equations defining the physical laws of the system, κῦμα controls itself through the real-time processing of multiple signals from sensors and motors. The analogue signals of the physical system are used as raw data to generate digital visuals reinterpreting the movements, disturbances and deviations of the spheres and airflows.

Midway between kinetic art, digital technology and creative coding, κῦμα sheds light on two hidden sciences that permeate our daily lives: automation and control theory. Dealing with the modelling, analysis and control of dynamical systems, they allow to reduce human intervention in engineered processes and machines, assuring levels of precision and stability beyond our reach. Are these complex technologies, with their far-reaching potential, revealing the desire to control our surroundings? How much power holds in their hands, they who can emerge patterns and structures out of chaos?

CREDITS :

κῦμα is a creation by Ohme and its lab team: François Bronchart, Florian Jehin, Teo Serra, Raoul Sommeillier.

Visuals by Frederik Vanhoutte.

With the precious help of: Laurent Catoire (SAAS – ULB), Christophe Mertens (SAAS – MobiDaLab – ULB), Geoffrey Vanbienne (BEAMS – ULB)

And the support of Brussels School of Engineering – ULB

Presentations:

Exhibition Muables (Exporama) by Electroni[k] at Théâtre du Vieux St-Étienne (Rennes), 23/06/23-30/07/23
Exhibition Out Of Order, 2022 – Pilar
Exhibition Order of Operations, 2021 – Ohme x Bozar
I Love Science Festival, 2021 – Innoviris

Ιρις/Iris

Exploiting the physical characteristics of thermocromatic crystals, Ιρις/Iris is an installation playing on the principle of the non-existence of colours outside the interaction of matter and light.

The inner surface of the installation is traversed by hot and cold air flows, which heat and cool the liquid crystals. This change in temperature physically intervenes at the structural level of the material, modifying the arrangement of the molecules, thus creating the colour shifts. The changing colours then become traces of the air itself, visualising flows of heat and cold invisible to the naked eye.

As the greek Greek goddess and messenger of the gods Iris, who, descending from Mount Olympus to bring a message to earth, was leaving rainbows as a sign of her passage, Ιρις/Iris reveals in her everchanging colours the traces of the changing air fluxes that invest the installation.

CREDITS:

Conception and realisation (thermochromic crystals): Nicolas Klimis, Guillaume Schweicher
Conception and realisation (thermodynamic system): François Bronchart, Raoul Sommeillier
Design: Francois Bronchart, Raoul Sommeillier
Woodwork: Thomas Raa (Aiko Design)

Presented at:
COULEUR/LUMIÈRE exhibition, La Maison des Arts de Schaerbeek | 16 September – 6 November 2022
Opening I Love Science Festival by Innoviris, Tour & Taxi, Brussels | 14 October 2022

PRESS:

Couleur/Lumière, Ohme à la Maison des Arts à Schaerbeek – A la croisée des arts et des sciences // Interview // RTBF – MUSIQ3 – Culture / 17.09.22

La couleur n’existe pas en soi // Guy Duplat – La Libre // 18.09.22

Ιρις/Iris is conceived and produced by Ohme

Partner: Laboratoire de Chimie des Polymères (ULB)

Supported by: Innoviris, Fédération Wallonie Bruxelles, La Maison des Arts de Schaerbeek

Spotlies

Spotlies is conceived as a warning against oversimplifications, lack of knowledge, bad faith or misinterpretation that can transform statistical visualisations, to the point of radically changing their meaning.

Data are essential information to objectivise situations, communicate scientific facts, support our opinions and guide our decisions. Numbers do not lie. But the ways they are collected, represented and interpreted introduce an element of subjectivity that can distort the reality of the facts, alter our reasoning and mislead our judgement.

Through a series of three recognisable situations, reminiscents of animation films sets, short stories come to life thanks to a layer of microprojections animating the scenes.

These scenarios tell short stories we all know: the evening news, a politician’s speech, a youtuber’s video content. They all support their arguments with graphic representations that can deceive their audience. A heterodiegetic character then comments on the scenes to point out errors in data visualisation and share some tips on how to spot the lies.

In a post-pandemic world, data, infographics and numbers have entered our daily lives. Faced with this information overload, how can we all develop mental tools to sharpen our critical thinking skills?

CREDITS:

Yannick Jacquet (1980) is a video artist, scenographer and visual artist whose practice puts technologies at the service of the human being.

Bots Conspiracy is a Brussels-based artists collective composed of the brothers Manu and Laurent Talbot, working across a variety of disciplines including film, dance, theatre and digital arts.

Original concept & scientific direction: Raoul Sommeillier (Ohme)
Artistic direction: Camilla Colombo (Ohme) & Yannick Jacquet
Visuals: Yannick Jacquet
Videomapping: Yannick Jacquet & Manu Talbot (Bots Conspiracy)
Animation, mechanics, electronics & coding: Manu Talbot (Bots Conspiracy)
Video editing, Sound design, 3D design & scenery : Laurent Talbot (Bots Conspiracy)
Voices: David Scarpuzza & Alice D’Hauwe
Video recording: Estefania Huygen (LaRégieTV)
Special thanks to Crafteke

Presented at:
Tell All The Truth But Tell It Slant —, Face B | 25 May – 9 July 2023

Spotlies is produced by Ohme

Supported by Innoviris