Designers Xuedi Chen and Pedro G.C. Oliveira have conceived X.pose, a wearable data-driven sculpture that changes opacity to expose a person’s skin as a real-time reflection of the data that the wearer is producing. X.pose is an exploration and commentary on the current internet culture of our generation and the relationship we share with our data.
Individuals carrying smartphones and connecting with services such as Google or Facebook have agreed, often without conscious consideration, to policies that grant these service providers explicit rights to harvest and utilize personal data on a massive scale. Based on account activity logs, Google clearly knows where their users are, have been, and possibly even where they’re going. Google can most definitely paint a clear portrait of any of their users.
A server and mobile app were built to collect Xuedi, the designer’s geolocation data over time to use as the basis for a personalized 3D printed flexible mesh. Using arduino and bluetooth, the app communicates with a layer of reactive displays that reflects the trails of information that she produces. These displays are divided up into patches that represent neighborhoods and change in opacity depending on the wearer’s current location.
Depending on the site she is most near too, the spot on the body will pulse, revealing the fact that her data is being collected and simultaneously exposing her skin. As her data emissions are collected, the wearer becomes more and more naked.
all images © ROY ROCHLIN