betta test

betta fish, motion-activated slip dispensers, turntable

Betta Test is an installation that connects a betta fish tank to motion sensors, each mapped to trigger a corresponding ceramic slip dispenser. As the fish moves through the water, its unknowing gestures activate the system—causing bursts of liquid clay to fall onto a slowly turning pottery wheel. Over time, these interactions generate layered, circular forms—spatial records of behavior unintentionally performed.

The work explores translation across systems: from motion to signal, signal to material, material to meaning. It questions authorship, agency, and the point at which observation becomes interpretation. The fish is not the artist, but the catalyst—its instinct misread by design. What remains is not what the fish meant, but what the system was built to notice.