{date: 220118}

Wouldn't that be nice? To describe concisely what “the piece” “is”? Would it prevent it from growing into any direction “it” wants? So what we need is a momentary description, a snapshot. A Rogue then is a thing that lives with you, a multi-sensory and multi-modal object, perhaps sitting on a pedestal or a table, the size somewhere in the magnitude of 40 by 40 by 40 centimetres, emitting sound and image, and taking in sensations of its surroundings, in the prototype probably through touch and light.

It’s a body with organs, their functioning and shape perhaps composed by different artists. We’re creating a structure that hopefully others can work with. This we will see. Is the structure rudimentary enough, so that it is susceptible to the investment of others?

If there are several Rogues in a space, humans could make connections between them by moving small mobile objects from one to the other.

Perhaps a Rogue grows a memory of its place, accumulating sensor data, employing learning algorithms, adopting fragments of data from other Rogues.

{hhr 220126}

Which choices. The sensors—I didn’t want to create a surveillance situation, especially as the rogues might be given for temporary “adoption” to people; for me, this ruled out using a camera or a microphone. The touch and light sensitivity is perhaps more basal, akin to plants or insects.

The size—transportable, relatable for a human next to it (it would be on a pedestal perhaps, or sit on a table).

The actuation—sound and image in a single channel? I am not fond of single channels, but it might be a good constraint to start with. I am thinking that the digital image could be complemented (decentred) by a second “eye” in the form of a strong LED, sitting again beneath a glass orb, perhaps inbetween there is a printed layer. Perhaps to use two sound transducers that are attached on different sections of the ceramic hull. Heat will be generated “per se”. What about scent?