The 23rd Player
A Behavioral Ball
Project by Samuel Bianchini, 2012
Conception and fabrication of the first mechanical and electronic (Polytech Lille) prototype: Jean-Bernard Tritsch in collaboration with Thomas Dienne, Yohann Dhondt, Pierre Bareau and Thibault Le Gall
Technical advisor: Cyrille Henry
Project coordinator: Antoine Villeret
Coproduction (2011-2012): L’Entorse; Ville de Lille / dispositif Ville d'art du futur
Partners: City of Villeneuve d'Ascq; Université Lille 1: Polytech Lille, Espace Culture at Université Lille 1, Laboratoire de Mécanique de Lille (LML), Laboratoire d'Automatique Génie Informatique et Signal (Lagis), Lille, Laboratoire d'Électrotechnique et d'Électronique de Puissance (L2EP), Lille; Zinc, Friche de la Belle de Mai, Marseille
Thanks to Belkacem Ould Bouamama, Julien Carrel, Philippe Delarue, Patricia Lefebvre-Legry, Jacques Lescuyer and the LOSC Lille Métropole
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The 23rd Player - A Behavioral Ball, Samuel Bianchini, 2012
“Playmode” Exhibition, MAAT (Museum of Art, Architecture and Technology), Lisbon, Curators: Filipe Pais and Patrícia Gouveia, September 2019.
Photograph: © Samuel Bianchini - ADAGP
To download this image in HD (Tiff), click here
The 23rd Player - A Behavioral Ball, Samuel Bianchini, 2012
Photos taken during the first test run of the first prototype, Wednesday 16th May 2012, during the festival La quinzaine de l'entorse and Mix'cité, University Lille 1 campus football ground.
How can one play soccer with a ball that, far from moving in function of the kicks it receives, has its own capacity for movement, or better still, behavior? Placed on a soccer pitch amongst the players, this ball moves mostly in relation to them - avoiding them, dribbling and sometimes causing trouble by aiming for their feet. What’s more, contrary to the usual rules the players are not allowed to touch the ball; they are only allowed to try and influence its movements, to perhaps try and kick a goal.
Between sport and artistic creation, this project proposes a new take on both the rules and the central object of soccer: the ball. By elevating the status of this object and transposing onto it a rule usually found in museums – ‘don’t touch’ – the whole dispositif is turned upside down. It remains a physical activity and a game, except the action is organized according to rules that resemble ‘prison ball’ just as much as soccer.
At the crossroads of artistic creation and the most exacting scientific research, the creation of an object of this kind requires the implementation of particularly prospective technologies and is thus part of today’s keen research into communicating objects and new forms of dispositifs augmented by behavioral capacities.
The project is designed in two phases, leading to two different creations:
1 – The 23rd Player: A Behavioral Ball
Here, the ball is directed by remote control by a 23rd player, comfortably seated on the edge of the pitch, joystick in hand, represented on the field by the ball he controls
2 – Free Play: A Behavioral Ball
In this phase, the ball is autonomous; its movements are driven by a computer linked to a control desk which directs the ball according to the players’ positions and movements.
The 23rd Player - A Behavioral Ball, Samuel Bianchini, 2012
the first test run of the first prototype, during the festival la quinzaine de l'entorse and mix'cité, University Lille 1 campus football ground, Wednesday 16th May 2012
Video - 2min 31s - High band request
Images : Aline Capelle et Vincent Penin
Editing : Anne Lemarchand
To download this image in HD (Tiff), click here
To download this image in HD (Tiff), click here
To download this image in HD (Tiff), click here
The 23rd Player - A Behavioral Ball, Samuel Bianchini, 2012
Photos taken during the first test run of the first prototype, Wednesday 16th May 2012, during the festival la quinzaine de l'entorse and mix'cité, University Lille 1 campus football ground.
To download this image in HD (Tiff), click here
To download this image in HD (Tiff), click here
To download this image in HD (Tiff), click here
To download this image in HD (Tiff), click here
The 23rd Player - A Behavioral Ball
Samuel Bianchini, 2012
“Playmode” Exhibition, MAAT (Museum of Art, Architecture and Technology), Lisbon, September 2019
Curators: Filipe Pais and Patrícia Gouveia
Photographs: © Samuel Bianchini - ADAGP
To download this image in HD (Tiff), click here
To download this image in HD (Tiff), click here
To download this image in HD (Tiff), click here
The 23rd Player - A Behavioral Ball
Samuel Bianchini, 2012
“Playmode” Exhibition, CCBB – Centro Cultural Banco do Brasil, Belo Horizonte, March - June 2022
Curators: Filipe Pais and Patrícia Gouveia
Photographs: Tiago Nunes
To download this image in HD (Tiff), click here
The 23rd Player - A Behavioral Ball
Samuel Bianchini, 2012
“Playmode” Exhibition, CCBB – Centro Cultural Banco do Brasil, Rio De Janeiro, July - October 2022
Curators: Filipe Pais and Patrícia Gouveia
To download this image in HD (Tiff), click here
The 23rd Player - A Behavioral Ball
Samuel Bianchini, 2012
“Playmode” Exhibition, CCBB – Centro Cultural Banco do Brasil, São Paulo, October 2022 - January 2023
Curators: Filipe Pais and Patrícia Gouveia
Photograph: Camila Piccolo
To download this image in HD (Tiff), click here
To download this image in HD (Tiff), click here
To download this image in HD (Tiff), click here
The 23rd Player - A Behavioral Ball
Samuel Bianchini, 2012
“Playmode” Exhibition, CCBB – Centro Cultural Banco do Brasil, Brasilia, February - April 2023
Curators: Filipe Pais and Patrícia Gouveia
Photographs: Bruno Salgado
