‘Agnihotra’ is my endeavour to harness the knowledge of the expressions of the prehistoric tradition and to transmute it into a system powered by a microcontroller and a vibrant matter source. I attempted to reimagine an archaic sacrificial ritual as a modern mechanism: a machine for feeding the fire.

In the fire ritual performed by the system, the device serves a sacred intermediary to connect with the divine, as an interface to find, acknowledge, and honour gods. They are rare and precious, and therefore it is for human seek out and to venerate them. The system involves scale sensor module that serves as a modern altar. Once offerings are made by the audience, this sensor transmits an electronic signal to a microcontroller. The microcontroller then commands a stepper motor to adjust the flow of flammable gas from a propane tank, modulating the flame’s intensity according to the weight of the offerings. This digital orchestration culminates in a fire transformation, curating a mysterious light that bathes the space in an ethereal glow.

The mechanism of the sacrifice machine materialises the invisible data, rendering it visible through a tangible, sensory experience. This can be seen as analogous to signs and wonders in biblical terms, to the appearance of the invisible inside the visible world. In other words, as the divine manifests in the physical realm, the digital file in the sacrifice machine transforms digital signals into a concrete, physical phenomenon—fire and light. This interplay of the visible and invisible parallels the nature of digital images, where digital code guarantees the identity of the image on both material and technical levels, the revelation of the same data in every act of its reproduction. The digital file, despite being a material entity, remains inherently invisible; its essence is not perceived directly but through its manifestations.

The installation and testing of the artwork within HfK property was prohibited by the Rector’s, despite my best attempts to bring safe technical solutions and propose multiple alternatives and solutions. The video work depicts the interaction with the the mechanism as a performance.

Credits: photo by Hsun-Hsiang Hsu (Pi)