An e-textile driven participatory, generative art installation
This Tellatuft device is a capacitive e-textile project using sensor data to create generative art.
The individually generated images are algorithmically defined by the outcome of the processed data. These unique numbers are used to define your specific artwork.
The individual graphical outputs are then combined to produce a final piece of generative art.
Inspired by Becky Dodman Wainwright’s Tasseography Textiles and divination process.
What does it make?
The images of each reading and the final produced image is stored as a PNG file and also posted to Twitter @Tellatuft https://twitter.com/TellaTuft
The final composite image of all interactions combined can be seen below.
How does it work?
The device runs from an ESP32 microcontroller which has capacitive functionality and can read multiple analog inputs in real time. There is conductive thread woven inside the tufted segments, which pick up small variations in electrical signals when touched. The sensitivity has been carefully calibrated to detect both gentle touches and firm pushes. The touch data is then sent to Processing software via a serial interface, where its stored in 5 data arrays and used as various parameters to show a live interpretation of the variations of touch. The captured data is then stored and the average of each segment is calculated. The data is then used to generate an image using the data as parameters for colour, size and location of the graphical elements. Each set of data is unique to the user and therefore produces unique outputs for each user or session.
Discover your personal electrophysiology signature through the capacitive TellaTuft machine.
Unlock your unique generative pattern by connecting with the tuft, to reveal a digital representation of your tactile interaction…
