Cento, an augmented reality (AR) project created by Nancy Baker Cahill, is on view at the Whitney Museum of American Art from the 8th floor terrace. This installation marks the museum's first audience-built AR project. Commissioned by the Whitney, Cento is a hybrid bioengineered, futuristic creature whose form evolves through the participation of the museum’s visitors.
According to the artist, the creature is “presented as an experimental, living test for evolutionary fitness in the face of the sixth extinction.” Confronting the climate crisis, Cahill invites the audience/participants to consider the sixth extinction. Using Cahill’s custom AR app, 4th Wall visitors can view and contribute to the project by placing feathers on the creature’s body. Visitors are able to incorporate one of the 12 distinct feather types onto the creature, each possessing unique properties designed to enhance its chances of survival in a progressively challenging environment. With every input, Cento's serpentine body evolves, enhancing its ability to engage with a continually expanding community of contributors.
Cento's transformation over time highlights the importance of collective participation and collaborative efforts. The project is titled from the term for a collage poem that weaves lines from various poems; it serves as a nod to the creature's inter-species origins.
Nancy Baker Cahill is an interdisciplinary artist whose hybrid, new media practice examines systemic power, consciousness, and the human body. Through her practice, she crafts immersive experiences, video installations, and blockchain projects grounded in the rich history of drawing. Cahill is the Founder and the Artistic Director of 4th Wall, a free AR public art platform. Her works are held in the collections of the Los Angeles Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles; Whitney Museum of American Art, New York; The Museum of Art and History, Lancaster; RFC Art Collection, Miami; and 0x Collection, Prague.
