Suits, made of audio tape and entirely sustainable, besides potential futuristic scenarios, trigger awareness of environmental urgencies of our present time. 

Dobrila Denegri
Amber Gabrielle performing with CODED SENSATION audio skin

Bodies with technological "attachments", "cybernetic organisms" rooted in our collective imagination since '60s, do not belong to Sci Fi literature any longer; they are becoming integral part of the everyday life. Inevitably, this "smart second skins" capture imaginative and creative potentials of contemporary artists, stimulating them to search for new applications and new meanings.

audio skin

In this direction moves the project developed by Martin Rille, Coded Sensation, postulating the possibility to transform the surface of our body into the "sensible container" of data and knowledge, of words and sounds that can be "released" through bodycontact.
Touching, hearing and feeling thus become equally important as seeing; a synthesis of senses become a way of knowing the world. For the moment it is only a possibility; but that is exactly what art should do: envision possibilities and open perspectives, allowing us to became aware of our present and even more of our hypothetic future.

Many senses, like the eyes, ears, tongue or nostrils are scattered over a small area while the sense of touch covers the whole body.

The sense of touch is the first to develop in a newborn, allowing them to experience the world and form their earliest memories. This makes touch the sense most closely linked to human emotion.

Coded Sensation is realized through applying an ultra-thin sheet of chromium oxide onto the surface of fabrics and storing information through a magnetic modulation. As like in audio-tapes this technique is extremely sustainable.

Frequency, Beats and Voices are stored on the surface of these coded fabrics. The reading head has an electromagnetic coil that detects the magnetic changes in the chromium oxide. These magnetic changes are then turned into sound

Cooperation


Max Frey – KINETIC ART
Amber Gabrielle – CHOREOGRAPHY
Michael Hammerschmid – PHILOLOGY/LITERATURE
Sarah Hyee – DESIGN/CLOTHES
Hannes Köcher – DIGITAL ART

Performers Amber Gabrielle, Julia Hausberger, Milan Mladenovic, Adam Mühl, Kelly Nash, Johanna Rille

Illustration Flora Hauser

Thanks to Marit Burger, Thomas Grill, Janos Karpati, Peter Kozek, Wolfgang Lehrner, Paul Leitner, Gregor Petri, Johann Scholz, Lisa Truttmann, Salazar Quas, Elisabeth Wildling

Seeing sculptural and performative works by Martin Rille make us believe that future is closer than we think: it corresponds to a time-dimension in which we are able to "unfold" our stories through sensible body-films that make us "speak" through the movement, guide us in a sort of a sensuous dance enhanced by mysterious music and noise produced by dark and shiny "sound" suits.

Functional Aesthetics.

Functional Aesthetics, the sequel to Seymour's highly acclaimed book Fashionable Technology (Springer 2008), explores state-of-the-art artistic and design examples with a focus on their aesthetic and functional aspects. Chapters such as Context as Prerequisite, Body Sculpture, or Transparent Sustainability provide in-depth studies of visionary projects between the poles of fashion, design, technology, and sciences, which could stimulate new developments in the blossoming field of Fashionable Technology.

ISBN 978-3-7091-0311-3
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