Ken Rinaldo - Augmented Fish Reality 2004

Interactive Installation ’Augmented Fish Reality is an interactive installation of five rolling robotic fish-bowl sculptures designed to explore interspecies and transpecies communication. These sculptures allow Siamese Fighting fish (Betta Splendons) to use intelligent hardware and software to move their robotic bowls - under their control. Siamese fighting fish have excellent eyes which allow them to see outside the water. They have color vision and seem to like the color yellow. Small lipstick video cameras mounted under two of the bowls image the interior of the fish bowls as well as humans in this environment and these images are intercepted with video transceivers and projected back to the walls of the installation and give human participants a sense both looking to the interior of the tanks and feeling as if they are immersed in the tanks. More info: