During the Paris Biennial of Architecture and Landscape, the Augures exhibition showcased Programming the Perpetual Unknowns, an interactive installation blending drawing and automation. This project, a collaboration between APPAREIL and the Institute for Advanced Architecture of Catalonia, was technically realized by Loco Machines. Resembling a game, the installation featured a dynamic fictional city and a constantly changing sand landscape, adapting and evolving with each other. As the landscape alters, the city evolves, and as the city expands, the landscape reshapes, in a perpetual quest for balance.

The setup included sand, fans, color sensors, and an algorithm, creating a space where technology and AI intersect. Initially, eight fans erode eight sand hills, spreading the sand around. Sensors detect these changes, influencing the fans' activities, which either turn on or off depending on the sand concentration. This process results in a self-reorganizing, geological-like movement of the sand.

A camera captures this evolving landscape, and an algorithm translates it into a dynamic map of tiny square clusters, resembling neighborhoods. This map, projected alongside the sand, is continuously updated to reflect the city's layout based on the movement of the sand. The algorithm limits the clusters' sizes, creating open spaces and streets, further adding to the dynamic nature of the cityscape.

Programming the Perpetual Unknowns metaphorically reflects the intertwined relationship between humanity and nature, suggesting a new era where both are part of a single ecosystem. This interactive exhibit demonstrates how changes in a simulated environment, represented by shifting sand formations, correspond to alterations in a dynamic architectural drawing, and vice versa. Symbolizing the rapid changes in our world, like climate change and social dynamics, it urges a reevaluation of our relationship with our environment and its evolving nature. This blend of art and technology poses open-ended questions about our interaction with, and impact on, the ever-changing world.