Julius Popp has a curious mind

As our world becomes ever more saturated with technology of varying kinds it is inevitable that it will affect the creative world as artists conduct their own research into new possibilities and ways of making their work and conveying their thought processes. One such artists is Leipzig based Julius Popp whose work is currently on show at the Israel Museum, Jerusalem in Curious Minds (until April 30).

Popp's work sits on the boundary between art and science. In Bit.Fall (2005) a machine releases droplets of water from 320 nozzles controlled by computer software and electromagnetic valves. As the droplets fall, word and images selected from the internet are formed, each only visible for no more than a second.

In Bit.Flow, liquid is pumped into a 45 metre long tube. Regulated by software designed by Popp the liquid is dispersed in a pattern which forms readable values at only certain points before it disperses into chaos again.

Julius Popp, Bit.Flow

Popp, who was born in Nuremburg, studied at the Hochschule fur Grafik und Buchkunst in Leipzig and won the Robot Choice Award in 2003. His work has not only been recognised by the art world. MIT's Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory is studying Popp's research into machines and robots which are capable of interacting with the environment - even able to develop a form of artificial consciousness.

This "artificial intelligence" is evident in Micro.Spheres (2003-2005). Visitors walk into a room in which 16 autonomous robots are placed. The robots are acting to a command that drives them to continuously need to be in the spatial centre of their immediate environment. When a visitor enters the room they try to adapt and incorporate the visitor into their order. With Micro.Spheres Popp attempts to address the changing structures of our world and reflect the complex orders and spaces we live in.

Julius Popp, Micro.Spheres (2003-2005)