UNFIXED

New Media Art

Type

Interactive Digital Art and Creative Computing

Location

London, UK

Year

2024

Links

Unfixed is an interactive art project in collaboration with YKK and Peut-Porter, exploring the non-binary nature of the natural world through queer-ecology. Featuring 3D digital creatures like a butterfly, lizard, mushroom, and jellyfish, set in environments such as air, earth, forest, and water, the project allows viewers to interact with these beings. Using conductive fabric linked to Arduino sensors, audiences can morph and transform the creatures in real-time within Unreal Engine environments. My main focus was developing the mushroom creature in the forest, emphasizing the connection between human interaction and nature's fluidity.

Concept and Idea

Unfixed draws from the philosophy of queer-ecology, challenging rigid societal norms by embracing the diversity seen in nature, where animals like clownfish and lizards demonstrate non-binary traits. Inspired by the mysterious and unknowable nature of the Cthulhu mythos, the project urges us to confront what is often feared or misunderstood, just as we must come to terms with the fluidity of life. By allowing audiences to interact with the creatures, the project symbolizes our relationship with the unknown and the ever-evolving dynamics of the natural world.

Creative Process

The creative process for "Unfixed" involved collaboration with dancers to explore non-binary motion, which was then translated into 3D models of the creatures through clay sculpture, drawing, and digital design. This proof of concept phase of the project is focused on the mushroom creature, which morphs between human and fungal forms, blending the organic with the digital. Technically, the interaction was made possible using conductive fabric sensors connected to Arduino, programmed in Unreal Engine to create dynamic, real-time changes in the creatures’ form and environment, making the audience's interaction central to the artwork's evolution.