Folding Field
Performative Wearable Installation | 2025

Folding Field is a performative wearable system exploring how movement, signal, and material structures shape perceptual experience through responsive light and sound. Developed during the FUNKEN × MAIN Residency at Technische Universität Chemnitz in collaboration with scientists and physicists, the project engages with laboratory research on electromagnetic environments and adaptive material structures.

Electromagnetic sensors were used within laboratory contexts to record field data. These recordings form the basis of the soundscape, which in turn activates audio-reactive LEDs embedded in the wearable structure. Through this system, scientific signals are translated into spatial sound and dynamic light patterns.

The textile structure is constructed using experimental folding principles inspired by origami geometries and Smartlet architectures explored in nano-robotics research. Layered translucent fabrics echo the structural logic of nanomembranes, translating microscopic material systems into a tactile, body-scale configuration.

In performance, movement, signal, and light interact in real time. The wearable operates as a feedback system in which the performer’s gestures continuously influence audiovisual behaviour. Rather than presenting a fixed form, Folding Fieldgenerates emergent visual and sonic structures within installation and live performance environments.

Year: 2025
Medium: Performative wearable installation; responsive light, sound, and movement
Duration: Variable (performance-based)
Dimensions: Wearable / Performative

Photos: Fabian Thueroff