Warehouse tech inspires work of art

As warehouse operators digitalize their fulfillment operations, they’re increasingly turning to real-time location systems (RTLS) to track the movement of inventory, vehicles, and workers. These systems, which use sensors tuned to short-range radio signals for tracking, have become a popular alternative to GPS systems, whose signals can be unreliable indoors.

Now, that same technology has been adopted for a different application. It’s being used to track moving objects in an art exhibit at London’s Tate Modern museum. 

In a work titled “In Love With the World,” New York-based artist Anicka Yi has created giant floating objects she calls “Aerobes” and “Xenojellies,” which were inspired by mushrooms and ocean life forms. Yi tracks the inflated, biologized robots with an RTLS system from Pozyx, a Belgian vendor of hardware and software used in warehousing, manufacturing, and other sectors. Enabled by that positioning data, the pseudo-critters in the exhibit appear to react to visitor crowds and interact with each other as they drift around the museum’s Turbine Hall.

“This is a once-in-a-lifetime experience to be able to [exhibit] in Tate’s Modern Turbine Hall,” Yi said in a release. “Poetry inspired me to create an aquarium of machines where technology is everything, the cornerstone of the exhibition. Pozyx’s accurate positioning technology is truly amazing in making this concept a reality.”