Atmospheric Front

“A human being is only breath and shadow.”
—Sophocles

Atmospheric Front sees, breathes and lives through sensing. By merging the technological with the handmade, Atmospheric Front engages through spatial immersion, the “intimate immensity” of lived, physical experience and the lo-fi modesty of repetitive craftwork.  Hand knit skins document the imperfections of the handmade. Occasional slips physically record momentary glitches, while canopies overhead project light and shadow.

Existing at the intersection of technology and craft, digital code meets the resistance of everyday materials in the form of cotton twine, wood, cloth, IR sensors, and microcontrollers. Atmospheric Front watches and senses. Reactive to the physical presence, she stretches and sags; her body is made up of a series of individually hand-knit stitches that expand and contract in response to the viewer. Context is highly localized. The exchange between the visitor and Atmospheric Front occupies the scale of the body within the gallery walls. Technology is visible and mechanisms made transparent. Sensors and motors combine to engage a series of responses to human presence. Atmospheric Front is an adaptive, sensing organism.

Hana Kim, July 2012

Conceived and installed in collaboration with artist Shana Kim

Atmospheric Front was made possible thanks to a CulturalDC grant with special acknowledgment to HacDC for their technical collaboration and community support

All photos by Brandon Webster