A single oscillator pulses with a regular rhythm. Sensing others, it adjusts to fall into sync.

It happens throughout nature and culture—with the sounds of crickets, the lights of fireflies, the cells of your heart, a clapping audience, the lockstep of soldiers, the chant of a protest. Equilibrium, however, is elusive—synchrony is never entirely complete or stable.

300 autonomous, pulsing circuits populate a 2,000-square-foot gallery space. Each embodies a nonlinear listening mechanism tuned to its neighbors. The circuits activate spontaneously, but they may also be triggered by the movement of visitors. Cascades of rhythms result as the system negotiates its polymeters.

The installation models mechanical and biological systems. But it also serves as a rhythmic metaphor for human behavior. Sync can be positive, like the way two lovers adapt to each other. Or it can be negative, such as polarization on social media. Here, difference is not a problem to be solved: the process is the point.