3DVisA Resources

3DVisA Index of 3D Projects: Digital Arts

The Bush Soul by Rebecca Allen

The Bush Soul is an interactive Artificial Life environment. It is one of a number of digital installations created by a team of computer scientists from the University of California in Los Angeles, lead by the digital media artist, Rebecca Allen. Emergence software was used to display, in real time, computer-generated three-dimensional spaces and avatars whose behaviour was modelled on real-life organisms. As Allen describes her project, the virtual characters are programmed to communicate and interact 'through gestures, sound and the emission of energy in the form of light particles. As in real-life, feelings and resulting behaviours can change based on certain interactions or due to time-based events. Complex social environments can emerge from the interaction of simple behaviours.'

Project dates: Bush Soul (1), 1997; Bush Soul (2), 1998; Bush Soul (3), 1999.

Artwork status: Visual material from AL installations is available online on the UCLA website.

Contributors: Rebeca Allen, Department of Design and Media Arts, University of California, Los Angeles, CA, USA, et al.

Exhibitions:

Shown at SIGGRAPH 1998 (Special Interest Group on Computer Graphics).

Sources and further details:

Rebecca Allen’s website.

Mendelowitz, E. (no date), Emergence Software Design: Technical Overview, University of California, Los Angeles, CA, USA.

Record compiled by Anna Bentkowska-Kafel. Last updated: 11 September 2006.

© Rebecca Allen, UCLA and 3DVisA, 2006.