Isolation Machines
Walnut, 3D printed PLA, optic fiber, arduino-controlled. All steps, including fabrication, 3D modeling, programming, and photography done by me.
The larger robot has three tiers of ribs that move in and out, as if breathing. If a performer is standing within the structure, the bottom two tiers of smaller ribs sense her breathing and the machine breathes along simultaneously.
Machine 1 senses when the wearer lowers her head, and responds by pulling the wearer's shoulders up. Machine 2 slowly pulls the wearer's hand into a fist.
Both small machines are wired with lights that pulse according to the wearer's heartbeat.
![](https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/bf3e641d031d8e884698a577c1f8d6d021abdb21da5e92a451718d2ca37a7b15/BreathWeb.jpg)
![](https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/a7bc0ee634bf55c452176db8519ef473a4e5e93e95903a63479b99873050d4f0/Breath-2web.jpg)
![](https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/24e6adb117fd0cbf6747e8dde04cd20a2e0be1b25a6cd5f3f0c518aea51cbd0f/Breath-3web.jpg)
![](https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/bdc48f37145382d45a5630f970f1a5ece07cbebe6ee675e93e643fa0a00f85fc/Breath-5web.jpg)
In this piece, I’m addressing the way technology mediates and externalizes people’s relationships with their own physicality. The wearer’s breathing is made noisy and very visible: they experience their own externalized biology, and the self-consciousness of calling attention to themselves by mere breathing. The wearer must contend with the discomfort of being surveilled and taking up space even as they breathe: the minimum action required for their survival.
Other viewers may surveil the person’s breathing as well, forcing them to encounter intimate biological data about another person.
![](https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/fd1527f070c088dc0ee38163fe158c1093beeb6cbccef33b78cb1908b9dfbd8d/shouder1med.jpg)
![](https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/6fbed933d2c3387c77a2ce7a971cad2b0c54eb77bbc9a1d2080e5910d1c2f160/shoulder2PR.jpg)
![](https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/8bbc4c7b31d90fc1fd19ab8a27cf946b7c217b833121cf12925c2db70853abac/Hand1.jpg)
![](https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/4d4e1f9711cd4630128a2f734ce412ce9e675d2738610ed4cd3f99c23e94f280/hand2med.jpg)
![](https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/fff556be3d5422fe7ef1163ecde4ac5771fd80a6f313d241584125977f8db4cd/Arduino.jpg)