The Egg that Knew Too Much

Interactive Sculpture, 2009

The Egg that Knew Too Much is an interactive sculpture where a person’s movement towards a glowing egg is a cause for anxiety. Reaching for the egg makes it cluck and pulse with more agitation, only returning to a calmer state once it’s sure no one else is around. Surrounded by other eggs, it senses the fate that’s in store as it awaits its turn to be cracked. The glowing pulse of light acts as a sort of heartbeat, imbuing the egg with anthropomorphic qualities, while at the same time making it appear more artificial.

The interactivity functions via input from a photoresistor on the egg carton that detects changes in light. Opening the carton, or gesturing towards the glowing egg, activate the pulse of a small motor and LED imbedded inside it. The sculpture is connected to a circuit board that runs a program made in the Arduino physical computing environment, which controls the frequency of the LED and motor pulses.

Role: concept, fabrication, circuitry, programming. Programming assistance from Aaron Geman.

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