Journal of Robotics, Networking and Artificial Life, Vol. 1, No. 4 (March 2015), 253-256

Parallel Relational Universes – experiments in modularity
Luigi Pagliarini 1,2, Henrik Hautop Lund 1
Centre for Playware, Technical University of Denmark, 2800 Kgs. Lyngby, Denmark2
Academy of Fine Arts of Macerata, Via Berardi, 6, 405111 Macerata, Italy
luigipagliarini@gmail.com
www.playware.dk
Abstract: We here describe Parallel Relational Universes, an artistic method used for the psychological analysis of groupdynamics. The design of the artistic system, which mediates group dynamics, emerges from our studies of modular
playware and remixing playware. Inspired from remixing modular playware, where users remix samples in the form ofphysical and functional modules, we created an artistic instantiation of such a concept with the Parallel Relational Universes,
allowing arts alumni to remix artistic expressions. Here, we report the data emerged from a first pre-test, run withgymnasium’s alumni. We then report both the artistic and the psychological findings. We discuss possible variations of suchan instrument. Between an art piece and a psychological test, at a first cognitive analysis, it seems to be a promisingresearch tool.
Keywords: Art, Playware, Modular Technology, Remixing Playware, Social Art.

I. Introduction
Parallel Relational Universes (URP) is an attempt, bothartistic and scientific, to conceive a method to investigate
the small groups psycho-dynamics expressed throughout
a Relational Modularity logic into a graphical modality.
The project is located in between an artistic conception
and a psychological need of a new method for small
groups’ analysis, since it aspires at catching the“essence” of a group by materializing and framing thesocial interaction into a unique graphical expression
resulting from a collective action. All of that, to look fortangible artefacts that might be “witnesses” of small
groups’ dynamics readable throughout a Psychology ofShape analysis. In other words, the basic assumption isthat the emerging shape might reveal the psychologicalstructure of the related group.
URP was inspired by different artistic, psychological andinformatics sources as the Cadavre exquis [1], the Pittura
Stocastica [2], the Tree Testing Tool [3], Modular Tiles[4], Remixing Playware [5].
Such playware is defined as intelligent hardware andsoftware that creates play and playful experiences forusers of all ages [6, 7], and R&D in playware has led tonumerous applications in various areas such as
rehabilitation [4, 8], playgrounds [7], education [9], art[10], and sport [11]. In all such cases, users interact withthe playware as a free and voluntary activity that they
engage in for the pleasure of play, even if the activity
may be shown to have collateral effects e.g. in terms ofhealth and skills. It has been proposed that modular
playware is of particular interest to develop solutions forsuch varied areas of application, since modularity may
facilitate easy assembly and adaptation of the playware todifferent interaction modalities [12]. We can view themodular playware as enabling the user to remix withmodules to combine and construct new playware
solutions.
Indeed, the proposed design of the artistic system, whichmediates group dynamics, emerges from our studies ofmodular playware [12] and remixing playware [5].
Inspired from remixing modular playware, where users
remix samples in the form of physical and functional
modules, we created an artistic instantiation of such a
concept with the Parallel Relational Universes, allowing
arts alumni to remix artistic expressions.
Remixing playware has been defined [6, 7] to allow
sampling and remixing of both physical and functional
aspects of a system. Such remixing playware has anumber of distinguished features which include: userconfigurable modularity, which allows the users tointeract and manipulate with samples; user-guided
behavior-based system, which allows compositions to

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Luigi Pagliarini, Henrik Hautop Lundemerge from the way performers interact with the“instruments” that provide the primitive behaviours;
intelligent sampling as the ability of creating samples thatallow anybody to remix with the samples ensuring anengaging outcome.
When created in the right manner, playware can mediatesocial creativity, as exemplified with the MusicTiles
MagicCubes, which allow anybody in an easy andintuitive way to remix music samples according to theirindividual taste [5, 13]. Designing and developing thesamples in large, soft forms as 1m3 cubes pushes theusers into social interaction, since a user will only be ableto control one instrument (sample set) himself, and will
have to coordinate actions with other people tocreate/perform a remix. As a social playware, such asystem explores the cooperative creativity: theMagicCubes seamless push the users into social play
dynamics resulting in the users interacting andcooperating in their play to create and perform theircollective new hit song versions.

on a continuum of interpersonal relational, emotional andaffective forces.
After that, we asked participants to paint the canvases in
two specific colours, black (or white) as background andwhite (or black) as foreground. We strongly, but notstrictly, suggested (C. almost-a-rule) to cover 50% of thespace with the foreground colour leaving the resting 50%
for the background.
Finally, we introduced the unique must (A. rule) which isthe continuity of the sign (or gesture/geometry) on eachand every side of the module-borders where a module
collide with other modules (see Figure 1). In other words,
each canvas border has to shape a continuous drawing
with the neighbourhood and each and every executor has
to negotiate such drawing with all of its neighbours.
There must be a perfect continuity in each direction,
north, east, west, south, south-west, etc.

The first pilot study of Parallel Relational Universes [14]was run with an analogical method and conducted withthe alumni of an Italian art school, and its output has
been exhibited to the public as an art piece while, below,
we describe an automated ALife version of the same
concept that allows the widening of the method to larger
and more heterogeneous audiences.

II. Description and Procedure
The first, analogical, version of URP was conceived to be
an “art game” with as simple as possible procedure sothat it might consent to any people of any age to be
involved in the building of the art piece. Indeed, we onlyused a dichromatic scale (black and white) and we gave
users very easy instructions/suggestions/rules. In
particular 3 of them: A. a strict rule; B. an elastic
demand; C. a suggestion (that we then defined as almosta-rule).
The procedure itself was the following one. Once
individualized and chosen a specific group, it wassummoned in a room and given to each component (i.e.
in our first experiment art gymnasium alumni) an
expressive module (i.e. in this case a canvas). Later we
imparted the group of participants with a general
disposition (B. elastic demand) to freely locate
themselves in the physical space so to get close to eachother. We moved from the in part prejudicial idea that thegroup elements would convey to spatial subgroups based

Figure 1.
Tiles’ borders must are continuous.
The A rule has been introduced both for aesthetical
purposes and, mainly, to push people interactivity which
is necessary to highlight the pre-existing and emerging
conflicts. (Those, indeed, are very descriptive of thespecific group dynamic).
Besides
those
described
above,
twomorerules/possibilities emerged from the interaction with thealumni: D. the Good Neighborhood; E. the Teleport.
Shortly, the first one (i.e. D) is a negotiation, whichallows one painter to penetrate (i.e. in a more or lessreciprocal way) into others’ painters canvases. The
second one (i.e. E) is a negotiation, which allows theexecutor to engrave a far canvas with his/her sign. Boththe emerging behaviours where kept because useful forboth the aesthetic aspects and the psychological analysisof the behaviours.

III. Hypothesis and Results
Paintings realized with the URP method will tend to

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Parallel Relational Universes – experiments

structure around an unpredictable shape. On the contrary,
they will be largely descriptive (i.e. in terms of shape) of
most of the group dynamics, while poorly suffering forthe interfering chaotic and occasional intervening factors.
The supervisor can, as well, decide if the painting is to bea unity or can be spontaneously subdivided in islands (i.e.
emerging subgroups).
The theoretical hypothesis serving the entire model isthat the group dynamics will force the execution towards
a specific result, which can be interpreted both under themorphological and the graphical point of view. The twoelements, besides all the aesthetical aspects, will be able
to depict many of the group, such as cohesion,
collaboration, competition, harmony, conflicts, etc. , aswell as to describe most of the group members’
personality as, for example, dominant or gregarious,
weak or strong, aggressive or myths, timid or extrovert,etc.
The URP method discloses and reports, through thesigns, the innumerable groups’ dynamics. It camouflages
with the pictorial context those behavioural rules andregulations that could result heavy, bulky or frustrating inother circumstances. Such an influence will bring to asemiotic drift the whole system, transforming theexperience in a highly descriptive expression of aparticular group in a particular historical moment of itsexistence.
The administration of our relational painting game has
produced appreciable results in, at least, three domains ofknowledge: Education-Pedagogy; Psychology-Sociology;
Art. Although, for this very first trial we have made nomeasurements, all the teachers and professors involved in
the experiment agreed on the extreme efficiency of themethod under the motivational point of view. In
particular, it has been underlined that, educationally, itpushes in a quite gentle way the young students at
dealing with “abstract representations”, a pretty difficult
theme to communicate in normal classes. At the verysame time, pedagogically speaking, it impresses andforces the classes into a cooperative and collaborative
modality that is both practical (i.e. alumni have to do)
and theoretical (i.e. alumni have to understand).
This last consideration drives us directly to the mostimportant aspect of the game, the extremely strong
interactive modality the game carries along with itself.
Indeed, under a psychological and sociological light, theURP method plays with the concept of individuality as
counterweighted to the idea of sociality. The students ego– defined as peripersonal and interpersonal space – issolicited both in terms of virtual and physical boundaries.
More than that, the playful and pitoric spirit of the gamemakes it so that even the weakest personalities can easily
deal with the concept of borders and improve theircapacity in mediating social actions without getting
scared. Therefore, it has to be noticed that, URP for thevery same reasons kind of stimulate the selfconsciousness of both aggressive and remissive
personalities. This makes of it a good candidate has
method to be used in art-therapy.

Figure 2.
Aesthetical results.
Under the artistic point of view, URP instantiates a newapproach to modularity that allows users to play with theshape (i.e. intended as painting and painting content) in a
deep and articulated way. In other words, it proposes anescape from canonical painting shape (see Figure 2),
opening up to a number of geometrical solutions, which
can be perceived as unlimited.

IV. Discussion
As a matter of facts, the URP method idea is to build aprojective test that can measure groups’ dynamics (i.e.
cooperation, collaboration, etc.) – psychodynamics ofgroups is reported in [15]. Such a method, indeed, could
catch particular structures of groups’ cohesion (i.e.
opening, esteem, trust, etc.) and desegregation (i.e.
closing, mistrust, depreciation, etc.) returning them bothin the form of geometry and in the form of interrelational aesthetical contents. That is why, besides any
possible aesthetical consideration, the authors’ interest
was focused on building an instrument able to measureand predict psychological aspects of groups, and under
this point of view this first attempt can be considered agreat success. The hope is that in future we will be able
to reiterate such an experiment with different groups ofdifferent ages so to properly measure, analyse and define

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Luigi Pagliarini, Henrik Hautop Lund

unkown clusters of behaviour that can be found in small
groups.
Indeed, the encouraging results obtained with theanalogical instantiation of the URP method has driven us
to move on to an automation of it, which could facilitateand speed up the testing.

3a3bFigure 3a and 3b.
Two e-URP screenshots

At the moment a first instantion of such algorithm, called
e-URP has taken its first steps, as shown in Figure 3aand 3b.

Acknowledgement
The author would like to thank Antonello Tolve,
Parallelo 42°, the teachers Pierpaolo Serini, Amalia
Ricci, Maria Valori, Silvia Volpe, and students of theIstituto Statale d’Arte “Bellisario-Misticoni” of Pescara,Italy.

Interactive Communication, 2014 RO-MAN: The 23rdIEEE International Symposium on (pp. 49-55). IEEE..
[6] H. H. Lund, and C. Jessen, “Playware - Intelligent
technology for children’s play.” Technical Report TR2005-1, June, Maersk Institute, University of Southern
Denmark, 2005.
[7] H. H. Lund, T. Klitbo, and C. Jessen, “Playware
Technology for Physically Activating Play,” Artificial
Life and Robotics Journal, 9:4, 2005, pp. 165-174.
[8] H. H. Lund, “Modular Playware as a Playful
Diagnosis Tool for Autistic Children.” In Proceedings ofIEEE International Conference on Rehabilitation
Robotics, IEEE Press, 2009, pp. 899-904.
[9] H. H. Lund, P. Marti, “Physical and Conceptual
Constructions in Advanced Learning Environments,”
Interaction Studies 5:2, 2004, pp. 269-299.
[10] H. H. Lund, M. Ottesen, “RoboMusic – A BehaviorBased Approach,” Artificial Life and Robotics Journal,
12: 1-2, 2008, pp. 18-23.
[11] H. H. Lund, T. Thorsteinsson, “Social playware formediating teleplay interaction over distance.”
International Journal Artificial Life and Robotics, 16:4,2012, pp. 435-440.
[12] H. H. Lund, P. Marti, “Designing Modular RoboticPlayware.” In 18th IEEE International Symposium on
Robot and Human Interactive Communication (Ro-Man2009), IEEE Press, 2009, pp. 115-121.
[13] Pagliarini, L., & Lund, H. H. (2012). MagicTiles.
ALife for Real and Virtual RoboMusic. In Proc. of 17thInternational Symposium on Artificial Life and Robotics,
ISAROB, Japan.
[14] Pagliarini L. Universi Relazionali Paralleli, Rivista
di Psicologia dell’Arte, N.25 in stampa (2014).
[15] Di Maria F., Lo Verso G.. La psicodinamica deigruppi. Teorie e tecniche. Cortina Raffaello Ed. (1995)

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