One of these projects was a writer fountain robot that delivered its messages by dropping a stream of liquid letters.
Unfortunately, the necessary technology did not yet exist.

The history of the arts and sciences is replete with examples of concepts that come several years, not to say centuries, before the invention of the means to demonstrate them or give them concrete form. To name just one: it wasn’t until the Large Hadron Collider was built that proof was found in 2013 of the existence of the Higgs boson that scientists had been seeking since 1964.

Of much more modest proportions than a collider, the 3D Water Matrix is composed of 900 electrovalves, each computer-controlled, which form a square grid of 30 streams of water on each side. The result is a "liquid" video display where drops replace pixels, with a very low resolution (30 by 30 pixels/drops) but one to which gravity imparts a "real" third dimension.

The Matrix itself is not the work of art; it is rather the medium or the interface for the making of liquid creations.
The artworks are the sequences and programmes created by artists for this robot.

The first creations, ST\LL by Shiro Takatani and The Sorcerer's Apprentice by Christian Partos premiered at the Cité des sciences et de l'industrie in Paris in 2014/2015. A third piece, GHOST, designed by Ulf Langheinrich, whose first version was presented during the exhibition Body Media II at the Power Station of Art in Shanghai in 2017, completes the repertoire of the matrix and will be finalized in 2018.

Thanks to this robotic machine, Christian Partos becomes a water sculptor while Shiro Takatani and Ulf Langheinrich are filmmakers, who creates animations using water drops defying gravity.

The artworks are performed in a row as a loop.

The 3D Water Matrix received the CODAawards Winner 2015 in the category "institutional".


Exhibitions:

• 19 April - 9 July 2023: DIMENSIONS — Digital Art since 1859 (chief curator: Richard Castelli, co-curators: Dan Xu, Clara Blume), Stiftung für Kunst und Kultur, Pittlerwerke, Leipzig

• 07 - 19 November 2017: VIA Festival, Manège Maubeuge - Scène Nationale (FR)

• 05 - 27 October 2017: Visions, Halles de Schaerbeek, Brussels (BE)

• 28 April - 30 July 2017: Body Media II (Curators: Gong Yan - Power Station of Art and Richard Castelli), Power Station of Art Shanghai (CN)• 7 October - 27 November 2016: Digitalife 7 (curator: Richard Castelli), Romaeuropa festival, MACRO Testaccio / La Pelanda, Rome (IT)

• 21 July - 4 September 2016: Digital Water Games (curator: Peter Weibel), ZKM Karlsruhe (DE)

• 8 April 2014 - 4 January 2015: Robotic Art (curator: Richard Castelli), Cité des sciences et de l'industrie in Paris (FR)

Original idea: Shiro Takatani, Richard Castelli
Concept: Richard Castelli
Project Director: Juan Carretero - Lumiartecnia Internacional
Project Manager: Francisco Carretero - Lumiartecnia Internacional
Software Developers (3D Water Matrix): Joan Chaumont & Pierre Laborde
Software Developer (ST\LL - Shiro Takatani): Ken Furudate
Software Developer: (GHOST - Ulf Langheinrich): Ken Furudate
Original performance (GHOST): Luo Yuebing
Light Consultant: Ulf Langheinrich
Production: Epidemic
Co-commissioned by Cité des sciences et de l'industrie, La Villette, Paris