I introduce the concept of Cell Blocks, pliable building blocks that, when connected, allow for structures of higher complexity. These Cell Blocks are potentially new input units that can be coupled with virtual objects or information for increased articulation. Cell Blocks’ unique pairing of physical and digital properties not only allows for new representations of information, but also provides new frameworks for construction. I present three stages in the conceptual development of Cell Blocks: (1) a series of exploratory themes in construction; (2) lessons from 1960s art and (3) contemporary building systems in architecture and technology. Combined, I propose a construction for Cell Blocks based, in form, on the Serial Projects of Sol Lewitt, but incorporating the soft sculpture of Claes Oldenburg and the lighting of Paul Sharits. I conclude by presenting the methodology of constructing Cell Blocks, and lay the foundation for further development of pliable constructions.

Shmoo. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shmoo

If games betray a logic for everyday life , then toy construction kits like Erector Sets and LEGOs, are one way to understand our cultural framework for building. Whether assembling metal beams or connecting plastic bricks, toy kits correspond to a classical geometry of symmetry and perspective. The ancient Egyptian and Mayan pyramids used this same geometry to guarantee structural equilibrium, while twentieth-century architects from Buckminster Fuller to Le Corbusier used geometry to assure synergy and proportion. This tradition of construction is ubiquitous in the modern age, and its shapes are so obvious that they are standard and universal. Yet, these geometries of shape are, as sculptor Sol Lewitt explains in his own art, “relatively uninteresting in themselves,” lacking “the expressive force of other more interesting forms and shapes.”

What are these other more interesting forms and shapes? And what art can we construct with them?

A place to begin is with computation, as its look is open for artistic interpretation . Like thought, computation has no concrete appearance and the monitor is but one way to visualize its workings. Research in physical computing and tangible interfaces provide rich opportunities for reinventing our understanding of data structures, and in turn, our perceptions of space and form. Situated among such research is Cell Blocks. Like its toy predecessors, Cell Blocks are connecting nodes for building. Yet unlike Erector Sets and LEGOs, they are designed with a lighting circuit and flexible form. Connected together Cell Blocks create an amorphous structure whose behavior is impossible to predict with certainty.

Sol Lewitt enthusiasts.