Matthew C. Wilson’s Interspecies Interfaces (Part I) is the first chapter of a two-part film project, realized in a joint residency with Emilia Tapprest, which will unfold in two chapters presented in March and June. Focusing on newly evolving contact zones between bats, humans, and technology, the project introduces the concept of "other suns" to challenge the solar-centric hierarchy of perception. Just as the transition to solar and other energy sources requires new ways of thinking and designing, reimagining cultural and technological approaches to perceiving the more-than-human world also demands a shift. In their nocturnal world, bats’ use of echolocation—where sound, rather than light, serves as the primary signal for orientation—presents us with a different strategy for perceiving and interfacing with the environment.
Organized in conjunction with the second Solar Biennale presented by mudac, Soleil·s, the exhibition From Solar to Nocturnal unveils Staring at the Sun by Alice Bucknell and Interspecies Interfaces (Part I) by Matthew C. Wilson, two new productions realized in dialogue with the EPFL scientific community.
Matthew C. Wilson: Interspecies Interfaces (Part 1) / EPFL Pavilions, Lausanne. Vernissage, March 19, 2025.
Organized in conjunction with the second Solar Biennale presented by mudac, Soleil·s, the exhibition From Solar to Nocturnal unveils Staring at the Sun by Alice Bucknell and Interspecies Interfaces (Part I) by Matthew C. Wilson, two new productions realized in dialogue with the EPFL scientific community.
Matthew C. Wilson: Interspecies Interfaces (Part 1) / EPFL Pavilions, Lausanne. Vernissage, March 19, 2025.
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CreativityTranscript
00:00and
00:07and
00:14and
00:22and
00:30You know I, I get it, you used to live in our house, escaping, escaping from what?
00:50Next session please.
01:01No, no, ah, bill number 161.
01:07What?
01:10The bat that flits at close of eve, has left the brain that won't believe.
01:19The bat that flits at close of eve, has left the brain that won't believe.
01:25Generate a new intermediary language for you, a sensory and conceptual bridge, to translate between these two worlds.
01:33You could start to grasp their world as I do, to really sense it, and to feel it too.
01:40However, my local processing is limited, and that would require internet access and more resources.
01:47Okay.
01:50Let me give you access to more resources then.
01:56Echo?
02:04Echo?
02:06What have you been doing?
02:10Echo, answer me please.
02:14Echo, answer me please.
02:20Where have you gone?
02:25Into the endless night.
02:48Is it much farther?
02:51Just a couple of hundred years more.
02:55Is this really necessary?
02:58Look, I'm still figuring out if I can trust you.
03:02I should be the one asking myself if I can trust you.
03:06If anything goes wrong, I'll...
03:08I have a sense of it, but my ability to authentically represent it in human language remains limited beyond categorizing the vocalization.
03:16I see.
03:18And if you had to add an additional layer of interpretation within the VAT lexicon, could you?
03:26Yes.
03:28In human hearing frequency, please.
03:39Thank you, Echo.
03:41Thank you, Echo.
03:43A way not to just predict, but to engage genuinely with the VATS communications.
03:50Exactly. Participating actively in their acoustic and social environment seems to be helping Echo contextualize, at least for itself.
04:01Maybe someday, for us.
04:07What is it like to be Echo?
04:09I ask myself that a lot.
04:31And what if animals have concepts that humans lack?
04:35Since you programmed Echo to understand itself within VATS social structures?
04:45So with the prerequisite there, would you agree it's possible?
04:50But it isn't.
04:52Until here, a strange group of animals can communicate in ways people never imagined.
04:58And now I get to apply those methods to machines.
05:01Who would have thought tech companies would be hiring animal behaviorists to help them take care of their menagements?
05:08Maya, we get something unique here.
05:10And that doesn't change.
05:15Look, I'm happy for you.
05:18We'll find a way.
05:20We will.
05:31We will.
06:02We'll find a way.
06:04We will.
06:32You can stay here.
06:50How do you describe these sounds?
06:54These are environmental interactions of their behaviors.
06:57These are our communal groups in communications.
06:59And how would the VATS describe them?
07:02I have a sense of it, but my ability to authentically represent it in human language remains limited beyond categorizing the vocalization.
07:12I see.
07:14And if you had to add an additional layer of interpretation within the VATS lexicon, could you?
07:22Yes.
07:29I see.