SoftVoss & OctoAnemone

The live footage of the talk, including the Q&A, can be viewed on the session page, VISAP: Papers 2.

Abstract

Human skin exchanges real-time energy, such as temperature, humidity, and pressure, from its surrounding space. What if our skin can listen? SoftVoss is a morphing artificial skin that changes its appearance by real-time sound. SoftVoss brings sound material into a body architectural space that perfectly represents the show’s theme--Mingling Spaces. In general, skin as the outer layer of a body protects our inner body from the environment. SoftVoss responds to the space through a new dimension of senses: aural. As an artificial skin, SoftVoss becomes a medium for visual communication with the soundscape. SoftVoss used the information of sound morphology–the transformation of sound material–to shape the feather-like wearables. The realization of SoftVoss has three main components: sound materials, control system, and soft structure. Sound material, captured by microphones, is the input data to control the piece. The four channels of sound materials activate the four layers of feathers using the real-time input. The sounds captured from different source directions activities the specific layer of the feather. SoftVoss visualizes the sound information through a 3D morphogenesis of wearable art. This work received successful recognition at my solo exhibition at the GlassBox Gallery at the University of California, Santa Barbara, in 2021.