Fragile Balances was created as a companion work to Fish-Bird. Velonaki wanted to create two new embodiments of Fish and Bird that would act as avatars to enable the activation of their dialogues in locations remote from the robots. She believed that the fact that the wheelchairs didn’t look at all technological contributed to the element of surprise and subsequent engagement.

In Fragile Balances Velonaki chose to design another object with a non-technological appearance, although it had to house highly-technological electronic modules. (See also Fragile Balances: Circle E).

Circle D is comprised of two luminous cube-like wooden objects that appear to be floating above the surface of a lacquered structure that perches on impossibly slender legs. Each object is comprised of four crystal screens where ‘handwritten’ text appears, wrapping around it conveying a playful sense of rhythm. The text represents personal messages that flow between the virtual characters of Fish and Bird, and in that sense each object is a physical embodiment of a character. The objects can be lifted from their wooden stand and handled freely by participants.

If a gallery visitor picks up one of the cube-like objects from its floating base the text becomes disturbed and barely readable, influenced directly by the movement of the visitor’s hands. The sensitive structure of the personalised messages flowing between the two fictional characters remains disturbed as long as the visitor moves or turns the object quickly or abruptly. The only way that the participant can allow the messages to again flow around the object is to handle it with care - gently and softly cradling the object in his/her hands in concert with the rhythm of the ‘handwritten’ messages.

If visitors do not handle the luminous cube objects, the work stands on its own as a complete sculptural piece containing an internal kinetic element - the moving text. Circle D was never intended to be a ‘gadget’ or a game that gives rapid gratification; instead, the intention was to use the cube as an interface to slow people down, by creating an almost meditative space where pausing becomes rewarding.

Text M. Velonaki. Human-robot interaction in prepared environments: Introducing an element of surprise by reassigning identities in familiar objects. In N. Lee (ed), Digital Da Vinci: Computers in the Arts and Sciences, Springer, 2014, pp. 21–64.