Absences electronic interventions in nature

I'm already used to the smell of plants. Yet that's what struck me the most, when I first arrived arrived, the thick scent of leaves. A green and wet fragrance that took me to the lungs, raising vague memories.

Yesterday, I started some training experiments on the collected data. I use a reinforcement learning algorithm (Q-learning and Sarsa) with a neural network as a function approximator for the Q-values. Basically, this approach allows the agent to learn experience in order to optimize a reward over time. The reward can be anything and, as long as it is consistent, the agent should usually be able to learn it. However, this might take time and if the problem is too complex, or the data too noisy, it might hamper the learning process.

A series of sketches that I made before my arrival at the CAN showing different possibilities with the project. Also, a new sketch made this morning showing the kind of design I'm considering right now. Also attached, my planification grid for the residency (in French).

Ma première "vraie" journée de travail complète s'achève. Je n'ai pas atteint mon objectif du jour qui consistait à construire une maquette du projet et à l'installer dans la cour arrière avant d'aller me coucher afin de recueillir des données. J'ai presque tout fini, mais il m'en reste encore et je suis trop fatigué, j'ai peur de faire une gaffe. Et puis, j'ai trouvé un bon endroit pour installer le projet, alors autant bien terminer la maquette demain et aller la fixer directement là-bas à la place, ça donnera une meilleure idée.

Dimanche brumeux dans les montagnes. Premières analyses avec les panneaux solaires. Le brouillard ne semble pas affecter outre mesure le niveau de luminosité. De plus, comme j'utilise des panneaux anamorphiques, la lumière indirecte est presque aussi efficace que la lumière directe, donc j'obtiens des lectures de voltage autour de 2.85V, donc qui se rapprochent de ce que j'avais mesuré auparavant.

I just arrived at the Centre d'Art i Natura in Catalonia, where I will stay from June 4th-18th to work on a fifth and last intervention as part of Absences. I have to say I didn't expect the place to be so gorgeous. It is also perfecly calm and isolated, which will allow me to work on this last project. But will this really be the last one? I find this concept problematic: how can I plan that this will be the last of the series? Why?

Found some very nice garden lamps at a local store. They're pretty cheap (2.50 CAD each), they're small but they look robust. I opened them. The circuit looks very simple, I actually still don't understand how the LED is switched on during the night and off during daylight.

I'm currently in Toronto to present Absences as part of the 13th Annual Subtle Technologies Festival. This year, the event brings together artists, scientists, designers and architects around the theme of sustainability. If you're around, you're welcome to visit the poster exhibition (Innis Hall, Toronto University, 2 Sussex ave) curated by Lorena Salome.

Tuesday morning came into my mailbox a special package charged with a story. Last February, I made contact with Lulu Keatings to help me with the documentation of my project in Yukon. Lulu is an independent filmmaker who lives in Dawson City. I wasn't satisfied with the footage I shot just before leaving Dawson: the images I took with the DV-cam borrowed to SOVA turned out to be ugly, possibly a light ajustment problem and a dirty lens. So I asked Lulu if she would be up for an adventure in the cold wilderness of Crocus Bluff.

A lot has been going on lately. About two weeks ago, my contact in the Laurentians (aka my neighbour in Morin-Heights) has given me the signal I was hectically waiting for: The frogs are back. And they are millions.