Suits, made of audio tape and entirely sustainable, besides potential futuristic scenarios, trigger awareness of environmental urgencies of our present time.
Dobrila Denegri
Bodies with technological "attachments", "cybernetic organisms" rooted in our collective imagination since '60s, do not belong to Sci Fi literature any longer; they are becoming integral part of the everyday life. Inevitably, this "smart second skins" capture imaginative and creative potentials of contemporary artists, stimulating them to search for new applications and new meanings.
audio skin
In this direction moves the project developed by Martin Rille, Coded Sensation, postulating the possibility to transform the surface of our body into the "sensible container" of data and knowledge, of words and sounds that can be "released" through bodycontact.
Touching, hearing and feeling thus become equally important as seeing; a synthesis of senses become a way of knowing the world. For the moment it is only a possibility; but that is exactly what art should do: envision possibilities and open perspectives, allowing us to became aware of our present and even more of our hypothetic future.
Dobrila Denegri
Many senses, like the eyes, ears, tongue or nostrils are scattered over a small area while the sense of touch covers the whole body.
The sense of touch is the first to develop in a newborn, allowing them to experience the world and form their earliest memories. This makes touch the sense most closely linked to human emotion.
Coded Sensation is realized through applying an ultra-thin sheet of chromium oxide onto the surface of fabrics and storing information through a magnetic modulation. As like in audio-tapes this technique is extremely sustainable.
Frequency, Beats and Voices are stored on the surface of these coded fabrics. The reading head has an electromagnetic coil that detects the magnetic changes in the chromium oxide. These magnetic changes are then turned into sound
Cooperation
Max Frey – KINETIC ART
Amber Gabrielle – CHOREOGRAPHY
Michael Hammerschmid – PHILOLOGY/LITERATURE
Sarah Hyee – DESIGN/CLOTHES
Hannes Köcher – DIGITAL ART
Performers Amber Gabrielle, Julia Hausberger, Milan Mladenovic, Adam Mühl, Kelly Nash, Johanna Rille
Illustration Flora Hauser
Thanks to Marit Burger, Thomas Grill, Janos Karpati, Peter Kozek, Wolfgang Lehrner, Paul Leitner, Gregor Petri, Johann Scholz, Lisa Truttmann, Salazar Quas, Elisabeth Wildling
Seeing sculptural and performative works by Martin Rille make us believe that future is closer than we think: it corresponds to a time-dimension in which we are able to "unfold" our stories through sensible body-films that make us "speak" through the movement, guide us in a sort of a sensuous dance enhanced by mysterious music and noise produced by dark and shiny "sound" suits.
Dobrila Denegri
The Garment as Amplifier of Fantasy.
Chapter 2 of Functional Aesthetics. Visions in Fashionable Technology, Sabine Seymour, SpringerWienNewYork 2010, pp. 54–81, doi:10.1007/978-3-7091-0312-8_2
“The expressive value of fashionable wearables can be greatly heightened through the integration of technology. By incorporating electronics into a garment, we can transform traditional fashion elements such as color, texture, and cut to include movement, touch, light, sound, and interactivity as new aesthetic interaction interfaces. This novel characteristic of being dynamic spurs imaginations that far exceed current explorations.”
The chapter opens with Bernhard Leitner’s Sound Suit (1975) and presents Coded Sensation on a double page. Seymour writes: “The human skin has a large number of sensory capacities calling for a diverse set of sensors and actuators for the body.” She showed the work at the book launch at TEDxVienna, December 2010.
ISBN 978-3-7091-0311-3
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Martin Rille
Mag. art., born 1982. Lives and works in Vienna. Transmedia Art, University of Applied Arts Vienna, diploma 2009, class of Prof. Brigitte Kowanz. Member of IG Bildende Kunst since 2010.
Works
Coded Sensation, 2008–2012 – performative installation, wearable audio skins; data stored on the garment becomes audible only through touch
N2-Blaster, 2012 – performance with Flora Hauser
Mirror, 2015–2023 – canvas and object, from photographs by Arabel Karajan
Facet Eye (Observe L’Espace), since 2011 – helmet with 2,400 fibre-optic facets for 360° vision, supported by Huber+Suhner
Unravel – kinetic wearable, magnetic tape
UV-reactive installations; piezoelectric floor, in development
Koexistent #1, #2, 2005/2006 – laser installations with mirrors
Gynomorphe, 2004 – single-channel video
Look at Me, 2003 – single-channel video, found footage
Collaborations
2026 – costume and wearable-sound design for THE LAST FIRST GARDEN, a digital opera by Yury Revich; produced by MY ARTS, Vienna, submitted to the FEDORA Prizes Biennale 2027 (FEDORA – KEARNEY Digital Prize)
2021–2024 – with the artist Flora Hauser and internetband: performing and technical support on the music video 5in1 (2021); camera and editing for performance documentation; contribution to the work shown at mumok in „nominiert …“ Vordemberge-Gildewart Stipendium 2022
2015–2024 – ongoing collaboration with the Transmedia Art department, University of Applied Arts Vienna
2020 – artistic assistance, Arabel Karajan
2009 – Pions, dance performance, Dschungel Wien
2007 – Interconnect, ORF Landesstudio Vorarlberg – assisted Willi Kopf building the sculpture, over two years in his studio
2006 – Bits and Pieces_2, Dietheater, Vienna
2004 – Fakts, Cosmos Theater, Vienna
Publications
Functional Aesthetics: Visions in Fashionable Technology, Sabine Seymour, SpringerWienNewYork, 2010, chapter The Garment as Amplifier of Fantasy. ISBN 978-3-7091-0311-3 · shown at TEDxVienna 2010
Spaceship Earth, exhibition catalogue, Centre of Contemporary Art Znaki Czasu, Toruń, 2011
20 Jahre Transmediale Kunst, De Gruyter, 2018
Blossoms of a MULTITUDE, Transmediale Kunst / University of Applied Arts Vienna, 2011. ISBN 978-3-9502891-6-9
Raumzeitpunkte sind Ereignisse, Transmediale Kunst / University of Applied Arts Vienna, 2008. ISBN 978-3-85211-149-0
Exhibitions and performances
2012 – Coded Sensation, Mostra SESC de Artes, nine performances, 19–23 July, São Paulo
2012 – Margaret Guthman Musical Instrument Competition, Georgia Institute of Technology
2011 – Spaceship Earth, curated by Dobrila Denegri, Centre of Contemporary Art Znaki Czasu, Toruń, Poland
2010 – Coded Sensation, NEU/NOW Festival, curated by Brigitte Kowanz, Nantes
2010 – One Night Exhibition and live Sessions, public space, Lower Austria
2009 – Coded Sensation, Reed Exhibitions Messe Wien · Viennafair · Lange Nacht der Museen, Galerie White8, Villach
2009 – Sounding Encounter, diploma presentation, Alte Markthalle Wien Mitte
2009 – The Essence 2009, University of Applied Arts Vienna
2008 – sensationen, curated by Peter Kozek, University of Applied Arts Vienna
2008 – This Sensation is Audio, University of Applied Arts Vienna
2008 – Untraceable Memories, premiere of Coded Sensation, Nitrianska galéria, Nitra, Slovakia
2006 – Trinity, performance with Amber Gabrielle and Rupert Huber, Kunsthalle Wien, Project Space
2006 – Koexistent #2, Technisches Museum Wien
2006 – Look at Me, Kunst am Campus, Graz
2005 – Koexistent #1, MAK – Museum of Applied Arts, Vienna
2004 – A, Museum of Contemporary Art, Belgrade
Grants and awards
2009/2010 – Ö1 Talent
2009 – Otto Prutscher Fonds
2007 – Emanuel & Sofie Fohn Scholarship Foundation
Press
Ausstellung für eine Nacht, 2010
Brigitte Borchhardt-Birbaumer, Altbekannte Namen und ein Flirt mit den Müttern, Wiener Zeitung, 2009
Anne Katrin Feßler, Wir malen eure Krise nicht, Der Standard, 2009
Sabine B. Vogel, Die Presse, 2009
art-magazin.de, 2009
Der Standard, 2009
ORF/3sat, Kunst und Krise, 2009
Archive Documented at basis wien, Archive and Documentation Centre for Contemporary Art
Contact mr@martinrille.com