HEAD	Build          Coffin          Track          Trains          Nerves     Snakes     Dishwash Theory     Non-Biological Intelligence

In function and form, Commuter is a representation of the human organism and the passage of time and mortality. The overall shape of Commuter is a sperm; the overall shape is the human body; the overall shape is a coffin: from the cradle to the grave we are on a journey, a commute, from one place to another.

Commuter is also a working model of the mind, a model which will be the basis for an attempt to create a non-biological intelligence, commonly referred to as 'artificial intelligence': a machine that can sense, think and react in much the same way that humans do.

Commuter is Rob Godfrey's latest installation piece and is in essence a 50 foot / 15 metre long coffin with a 'body' laying within it. This body comprises of trackwork and trains. The complex trackwork inside the coffin mimics the arteries, veins and nerves in the human body. The myriad of white sleepers that the rails are fixed to represent the bone structure. The model trains moving up and down the installation represent the bodily fluids.

An interactive installation  -   Commuter perceives the world around it by means of 64 sensors; 45 of them carried on the trains and 19 at fixed points around the installation. It can detect temperature, light, motion, moisture, vibration, air pressure and sound. Commuter's behaviour is determined by what it senses. For example, if a spectator sneezes the trains might start sneezing as well; or if Commuter is being displayed outdoors and it starts raining perhaps the trains will go into a rendition of Singing In The Rain. Commuter's pattern of movement, light and sound never repeats itself. This randomness comes about because it responds to its surroundings, and its surroundings are never entirely predictable.

This web site outlines how Commuter will be built and how Rob will attempt to give it consciousness. What you will discover on these pages is not only an unusual artwork, it's also a unique scientific experiment.