Pressure Project 2: One for All, All for one

Posted: March 9, 2026 | Author: | Filed under: Pressure Project 2 | Tags: , , | Leave a comment »

I named my cell One for All, All for One because it is built around the idea that an individual, and communities as a whole are constantly shaping each other. The cell itself is a constan conversation between the oneself and the communal archive. It takes a live video feed and layers it over a slideshow of images showing communities and people from different parts of the world.

Then interactive sound enters the picture. A glitch effect driven by audio input levels determines how much the live video overlay fractures. The louder the audio, the more the live layer breaks apart and reveals the slideshow underneath. Alongside this, I built in an internal LFO paired with an Edge TOP to create a rhythmic pulse, something I called a “heartbeat”. Even without external input, the system works fine and feels alive.

The audio module of the system which controls the switch
The video module, which overlays video input with the slideshow using the switch. Also shown here is the module of the glitch effect, which uses noise, displace, ramp, texture3d, and time TOPs. The Edge TOP is applied on the very final video output recieved from all of the revious processes.
The signal module which plugs into Edge TOP

The structure is modular and layered, and honestly not that complicated. There is a live video input, and a media player (which controls the slideshow) which plug into a switch. The output of the switch goes into a glitch system, and a pulse system. Each could be replaced without breaking the overall logic. The audio input, live video input, and the signal (LFO) are designed so that they could be overridden by an external network signal as well. The cell has its own system, but it is designed to connect, following the true concept of one for all, all for one.

The External network of the Cell which enables it to communicate with other cells in the network. It includes audio input/output, video input/output, and signal input/output.

Reflection:

When all the cells assembled, things became unstable. Signals were constantly dropping and connections were dying. For a while, I thought something was wrong with my cell because nothing would show up (it was a problem with the input signals I was getting). When I finally got it to work, very interesting emergent behaviors appeared. The glitches danced to different rhythms. Video overlays ended up in very interesting stacked outputs. It was interesting because I did design my system while being aware that it had to be plugged into a bigger system. However, I did not envision the results I got during testing. What I controlled alone became either amplified or distorted by others. The network did not just combine outputs. It reshaped them. I think where my careful planning fell off was the heartbeat. I had not accounted for the fact that other cells can have signals of different types. Instead of a steady pulse, I got an irregular signal input, which changed the whole heartbeat effect. At first it felt like something went wrong. My cell was no longer just reacting to my inputs. It was reacting to everyone. That is exactly what One for All, All for One means. Each cell affects the others. Each signal influences the collective behavior. My cell had a life of its own. In the network, it learned to respond, adapt, and sometimes surrender to the collective.

Project File: pp2_Zarmeen.zip