Cytokinesis
Han Zhang
Advisor: Luisa Pereira
In an enclosed room where one holds their keys,
the flesh-pink intimacy becomes sticky
a bed splitted to half,
placed at the two poles like two cells divided from the parental whole,
with membranes form between,
dermis like analog screens,
who am I when you are present,
am I still the same person, the same body
that takes up its own space,
or is it eaten by your invasiveness,
What is this invisible membrane
that veils partially of your presence from me?
I am and I become myself,
With your present,
and we are two wholesome beings
body and mind
Abstract
At the genesis of human life, as meiosis unfolds, the delineation between individuals emerges, safeguarding the spectrum of diversity. Just as cells diverge from their parental origins, our distinctiveness crystallizes through the genesis of membranes. The membrane separates us into both subjects and objects. Through the membranes that tear us apart, we get closer to each other. Naming this project as Cytokinesis, which is the stage in meiosis where nuclear envelopes are formed while a cell’s cytoplasm divides to form two new cells, this project aims to cherish the membrane between the reciprocality developed in intimate relationships. With the intertwined call and response experience cultivated between 2 participants, Cytokinesis envisions a beautiful embodiment and a carnal adherence of both equilibrium and uniqueness. Built upon the premise of recreated soft, skin-like membranes with the encounter of hard metal bed frame that signifies an absent body, the project entails a world of reciprocal affects and twist and turns that cumulates in relationships.
Technical Details
By using MQTT, distance sensors and motors to establish the call and response, real-time communication between the two bed frame experiences for the 2 people, I aim to embody the elastic, reciprocal relationship that always plays with a secure distance. Whenever one participant appraoches their end of the sensor, the data will be transmitted to the other installation through MQTT, triggering the motors their to drag the soft materials, and vice versa. In terms of the soft materials, Agar agar based bio material with combination of silicone casted soft material are incorporated to visualize the body, which is the crucial chiasm of such meandering journey.
Research/Context
https://cytokinesis.cargo.site/inspiration
Further Reading
https://cytokinesis.cargo.site/ideation-2
