The Infrasense installation, by Montreal-based robotics artist Robert Saucier and artistic group KIT, uses the idea of the Trojan Horse and the Bug as two digitally bound elements turned into physical entities and partially controlled from the Internet again.

9 Trojan Horses move very slowly across a space in a straight line, backwards and forwards. On their back are plastic backpacks (plastic pieces taken from old computers and refashioned into objects which resemble machines) that utter voices at a low level when the audience enters the gallery. Each backpack whispers a different voice.

3 Bugs –made of pieces of plastic from computer casings, aluminium and old scuzzy– are moving fast and manoeuvring around the Trojan Horses looking as if they are trying desperately to hook up to them or discover what they are carrying. One bug is controlled via a handheld device in the gallery, one is controlled from the website and one is pre-programmed. When a bug is driven near to a horse, it triggers the volume of the backpack voice to raise so that their narrative can be heard by audiences in the gallery and by websurfers.

Using 3D figures of bugs and Trojan horses to represent computer viruses, the artists turn the gallery into an interactive game space. Movement of the visitors influences the movement of the bugs and horses but so too does user input from the project website. As the visitor tries to interact with the system in order to access hidden information, questions of control, coordination, and location are raised through the installation.

The work is exhibited till Friday 17th December at the Folly gallery in Lancaster, UK: