Tardigotchi
JA
August 06
Remember that Tamagotchi craze during the 90s when it was all about pixelated digital animals inside little plastic screens? I had one that where the egg would either turn ‘good’ or ‘bad’ depending on how you treated it, and mine grew into a devil-bat-thing every time. Still not sure what that says about me today.
Anyway, if you miss those days of fake food, hunger bars and annoying beeps, Tardigotchi might be the answer. This art/media project has just the right amount of weird science, digital theory, steampunk and a general wtf to make it work. Created by art collective SWAMP and Tiago Rorke, Tardigotchi explores our emotional connection towards seemingly cold, computerised objects and questions whether having a living creature inside a device makes us more interested in sustaining it.
Simply put, the project creates two pets – a real-life tardigrade and a digital reflection of it. According to Wired:
[A] tardigrade is a common and hardy microorganism measuring less than half a millimetre long and commonly (and wonderfully) known as water bears or moss piglets. They are water-dwelling, segmented animals with eight legs and they apparently walk in a way that resembles a bear’s gait, hence the “water bear” nickname.
The owner must care for both pets simultaneously. By placing the brass tank in a docking station, you can feed both the digital ‘gotchi’ and tardigrade ‘moss-water’ at the same time. It also has social networking capabilities, and an email: tardigotchi@tardigotchi.com. Moreover:
[S]ending an email to the virtual character triggers a heating lamp, relaying a momentary signal of warmth to the tardigrade, while prompting the pixelated tardigrade to recline and soak up animated sun rays.
Have a look at this video for more.
Tardigotchi_English from Studio Bureau on Vimeo.
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Comments
06 Aug 10 at 10:51
Though I was never into tamagotchi as a kid (it was a girl thing at our primary school—we were out playing marbles or yo-yos) I love the concept. And what a beautiful machine! All gears and brass (:
...06 Aug 10 at 11:40
We had the marble and yo-yo craze too – lunch times spent with everyone trying to master that ‘around the world’ trick. Lots of bruises and broken science beakers…
...06 Aug 10 at 12:52
Heh, I remember the ‘Around the World’. I was a master of the ‘x-Leaf Clover’ trick, where you flicked it out and then back as many times as you could in a row while slowly working your way in a 360-degree circle.
I also recall the ‘Grasshopper’ trick the lame kids who couldn’t do anything else would perform: basically you just threw your yo-yo down at the ground so that it skipped up back off the grass, caught on itself and returned to your hand. No skill involved! Heh, anyway, I’ll stop derailing this thread with yo-yo remembrance.
(P.S. Was anyone else surprised to hear a New Zealand accent from the narrator of that video? I know I shouldn’t be, but sometimes I am taken aback when something as cool as this project is somewhat local)
...06 Aug 10 at 16:40
See for us that was ‘walk the dog’ – I think where you literally just tried to skim the yo-yo across the ground. I had a yellow ‘tornado’, which was great until all the other kids got these smart ‘brain’ yo-yos that basically did your tricks for you. Then I was totally out of the game. Ok enough yo-yo nostalgia for now.
The designer, Tiago Rorke, and Douglas Easterly (SWAMP) are both from NZ.
...09 Aug 10 at 16:45
Holy shit, I had a green Tornado! High five for having obviously good taste in yo-yos! :D
Okay, stopping now. :)
...10 Aug 10 at 9:15
Oh snap! No one else I knew had a Tornado. Clearly I should have named this post yo-yo nostalgia instead of Tardigotchi.
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