EMILS: Effervescent-Material-based Interactive Life-like Sculpture from X-nature has earned an invitation to participate in the 2023 Ars Electronica Festival, renowned as one of the premier global digital art festivals. The whole series X-nature and Theater of Future Puppet are prominently featured in the exhibition “Diffusion Couple of Art and Technology” at Kaohsiung Museum of Fine Arts Station (KMFA), running from December 23, 2023, to March 3, 2024.
The performance of “Theater of Future Puppet” – Aggregation and Embodiment, Virtual and Physical Puppet Manipulation, and Human–Computer Interaction Theater – provided in the “Diffusion Couple of Art and Technology” closing ceremony combined with IoTtalk technology and robotic arms for dancers to perform an interdisciplinary performance in terms of humans and puppets conversation in the immersively projected virtual reality. This performance covered the interdisciplinary trend of future technology and design that caused a sensation once it was showcased. Of note, the VR manipulation works developed by the “Theater of Future Puppet” team followed the future trend issues such as metaverse and virtual reality, etc., and were also one of the 106 venues for scientific research activities specifically elected by NSTC. The overall project utilized VR technology, robotic arms, eye movement monitoring, motion capturing technologies, etc., to reinterpret the traditional puppet show culture, fostering audiences to experience the entertainment and aesthetic of manipulation from a new perspective. The VR manipulation for this “Diffusion Couple of Art and Technology” Exhibition at KMFA transformed from the initially head-mounted display into the current immersive projection. With bare hands to manipulate the virtual puppets and the improved smartphone controlling methods, these improvements adapted to the exhibition venue that can simultaneously accommodate more audiences.
One of the works of the “X-nature” project is Animabotany. It combined with the philosophy of interior design, industrial design, ecological design, etc., and utilized the technology to detect the perception phenomenon of the human voice, tactile sense, and temperature, demonstrating the corresponding relationship between the technology and the natural environment.
EMILS: Effervescent-Material-based Interactive Life-like Sculpture applied the man-made non-newtonian fluid–Slime to their sculpture medium. By pressurizing air to the Slime to randomly produce air bubbles, the work automatically transformed into a dynamic sculpture that changes constantly. By producing various ductility from the different proportions of the Slime mixture and the air bubbles with different densities and sizes, the work displayed every time changed slightly. With the projected images on the work, this work tried to present the transformation of organic life with inorganic fluid materials. It was the first creation in the art field that was presented by the dynamic change of multiple slime air bubbles.
“Diffusion Couple of Art and Technology,” displayed at the Kaohsiung Museum of Fine Arts Station, gathered the most forward-looking national techno-art teams and led their audiences to image and reflect upon how the future technology will affect and change the natural environment and living environment with the latest technology, which especially outstands the abundant strength of techno-art and innovative design in NYCU.
Exhibition Date: 2023.12.23-2024.03.03
Exhibition Venue: Kaohsiung Museum of Fine Arts Station (KMFA)