Skin Series is a new media artwork that explores the future of human perception, and how emerging possibilities in wearable technology can reinvent our relationship with our environment. The work takes inspiration from the scientific field of sensory ecology as well as the semiotic theory of Umwelt developed by Jakob von Uexkull and Thomas Sebeok, which investigates the communication and signification of organisms within their environment. Using the skin as an interface and venue for experimentation, Skin Series proposes wearable prosthetics that extend our sensory worlds by way of technological intervention. Through this, the work explores the co-evolution of man and technology, framing the two as a hybrid communication system, and draws attention to the role of environmental influence on our sensory perception that, in turn, changes our behavior. The series currently consists of two wearable pieces: the Electric Skin and the Sonic Skin.
The Electric Skin
The Electric Skin is made up of a matrix of custom-designed capacitive touch sensors that act as probes that reach out from the user into the environment. Electrical fluctuations in the environment sensed through the antennas trigger modularly designed control circuits to vibrate on the wearer’s body.
The Sonic Skin
The Sonic Skin contours the human form with a directional sound wall generated from a chest plate of matrixed ultrasonic transducers. The journey of the sound projected from the body is audible to the audience and illustrates in real-time the physical relationship between wearer and environment.
Vivian Xu is an interdisciplinary artist, designer, and researcher. Her work investigates issues at the intersection of biology, technology, material ecology, and design. These works often take the form of objects, installations, wearables, and toolkits that transcend the boundaries of biological and digital media. Her creative practice is informed by emerging practices between the arts and sciences that merges approaches from the studio and the laboratory. Her process is research driven and grounded in design methodology.
Xu’s work has been exhibited at various institutions in China, the US, and Europe, including the National Art Museum of China (China), the Shanghai Symphony Orchestra (China), China Design Museum (China), Power Station of Art (China), NTU Center for Contemporary Art (Singapore), the New York Science Museum (United States), Art Laboratory Berlin (Germany), Kapelica Gallery (Ljubljana). She has also been awarded research residencies at institutions such as SymbioticA at the University of Western Australia (Perth) and the Max Planck Institute for the History of Science (Berlin). Her work and practice have been profiled by media such as VICE Creators Project (China), Global China Television (China), Elle magazine (USA), Tagesspiegel (Berlin), Neural Magazine (Italy), and CLOT Magazine (EU). In 2022, her work The Silkworm Project was selected for the Lumen Prize for Art and Technology Hua Awards Shortlist.
Xu is currently an Assistant Professor of Design at DePaul University in Chicago. She also co-directs the Design, Technology, and Radical Media Lab with Benjamin Bacon.
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