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Silvers Alter took the form of a large projection of 22 men and women. This population of people was changed - or evolved - by the audience's presence and movement within the gallery space.
When the audience selected a person, information about their eyesight - to date, one of the few things that scientists have learnt to decode from DNA - appeared over a background image of samples provided by that person (the DNA of four of the individuals indicated some form of defect with vision). Sound was taken from the individual's dialogue and from their internal body sounds - valves opening and closing, heartbeats and digestion.
When a number of visitors were in the space, selection was by mass: more people choosing an individual on the sensors determines their selection. This person then 'mated' with the last selected individual to create a digitally generated composite, a new 'being' who had never existed before.
Death happened to the least often selected (the least 'popular'). You saw their image fading and you could change your mind. By selecting this individual you could save their genetic line from extinction.
(nhm.ac.uk/cleanrooms/)
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