The Life of the Mimetic Starfish, 2000-2012

This article is written from the perspective of the artist, programmer, and exhibitor of the Mimetic Starfish, a gestural responsive ALife artwork first created for the Millennium Dome in 2000 and recently exhibited at the Emoção Art.ficial in Brazil in 2012. The author concludes with the suggestion that despite the advances in technology and the ubiquitous presence of touch and gestural interfaces, it is the underlying aesthetic and socially engaging qualities of the Mimetic Starfish that ensure its currency, presence, relevance, and continuing exhibition.