Random Neural Firings

A work on canvas. Sixty-four small LED/clicker circuit boards attached to a 4x4 foot canvas backing. Each board flashes and clicks when a simulated-integrate-and-fire-neuron reaches its limit. Each neuron is coupled to its nearest neighbors (the eight surrounding elements) such that there is a tendency for them to synchronize and fire together. The amount of coupling is controlled by the light level: in a bright environment they all pulse at nearly the same time and in the dark they are completely decoupled and each pulse at their own "random" rate. Two other sensors are triggered by passing shadows and cause some subset of the elements to fire immediately, thus putting the system out of balance. The process of re-gaining sync is driven by the indivdual elements and their coupling.