Sensitive Surface
#MotionTracker #Human&MechanizedGesture #SensorialFeedback #ProstheticBody #YaleCenterForCollaborativeArtsAndMedia #SensitiveMachineCan a machine function as a sensory conduit? Unstable Surface is an experimental team project created during Sara Oppenheimer’s workshop, “The Sensitive Machine,” which explores human and mechanized gestures through interaction with prosthetic devices as bodily extensions. In this workshop, my team designed and built a human-powered prosthetic to amplify a participant’s gestures and discover how the prosthetic coordinates shared body movements and sensations. While my team consisted of five different people with different physical quantities (e.g., height and speed), the external mechanism allowed us to work as a single entity. Each participant was influenced by the displacement of other visions and bodies, generating unexpected collective behaviors.
To assess our performance, we worked in a motion capture studio to detect our movements with a motion tracker, which provided another layer of feedback on our collective motion. Pearl markers were attached to our prosthetic to translate our movements into a point-cloud projection. Performing while looking at the real-time point-cloud projection allowed us to better understand and manipulate our prosthetic gestures. The prosthetic worked as a sensory conduit, helping us recalibrate and modify movements as a single entity.
[STEP 1] Creating a prosthetic body / Adding pearl markers for motion tracking
[STEP 2] Performance assessment with a real-time point-cloud projection
[STEP 3] Final performance
Critical Inquiry
→ The Veils of Asian Women
→ Black Rain White Light
→ Mirror Mirror
→ The Digitalization of the Creative Market
Biometrics / Emotions / Sensory
→ Pulse to Light
→ Graphic Language for Emotion-Based Interface
→ Sensitive SurfaceEnhanced User Experience
→ Gesture as Inclusive Interface
→ Natural Sound Mixer
© 2026 Dho Yee Chung