The desert of Southern California is a wasteland of military bombing ranges and toxic waste, beautiful vistas and endangered species, and now three artificial life entities called ap0201. Martin Howse and Jonathan Kemp built semi-official looking devices at a research station run by the Center for Land Use Interpretation.

They hacked out what might be confused for remote meteorological stations, but are actually far more ambiguous devices. They are solar powered and have been designed to operate for a minimum of three years within harsh environments. Over this period the devices modify their own instruction code in response to environmental changes. They communicate with each other, listen to military jets, birds, and the wind. Their displays do not provide observers with useful data, yet they communicate a sort of technical authority. Quixotic as they appear, they nonetheless present a challenge to our self-importance, as oblivious to our curiosity as are the desert tortoises or cacti that share their space.

The work has just been awarded the First Prize at Vida.
See also 2 other Vida awardees: LiveForm:Telekinetics and Irresolute robots and the awesome Poultry Internet.