DMPL Studios / Work / Digital Mechanism of Antikythera
Digital Mechanism of Antikythera
An interactive digital model of the ancient Greek computer, built with Arduino, Python and creative coding, and featured in the Apnea exhibition and by the Municipality of Symi.
- Discipline
- Interactive, creative coding
- Built with
- Arduino, Python, creative coding
- Featured in
- Apnea exhibition
- Featured by
- Municipality of Symi
About the project
The Antikythera mechanism is the oldest known analogue computer, a corroded set of bronze gears that modelled the heavens. The wreck that held it was found in 1900 by sponge divers from Symi. This project rebuilds the mechanism as something you can operate rather than read about.
Arduino, Python and creative coding turn the gearing into an interactive digital model that visitors drive themselves.
The work was featured in Apnea, the contemporary art exhibition dedicated to Symi and its sponge divers, which connects the Antikythera mechanism with contemporary artistic practice, and by the Municipality of Symi.