Kevin Li | FerroFORMS: Ferrofluid For Display & Interaction

 
FerroFORMS is a study enhancing the understanding of how ferrofluid can dynamically change
form and appearance and how a digital model can be used to reconfigure a physical
manifestation to produce new interactive organic forms.
FerroFORMS is uniquely attractive because it challenges and blurs the lines between the living and nonliving world, our bodies and the machine. Ferrofluid is metallic liquid made of nanoparticles and so exhibit the properties of magnetism found in nature — it becomes spiky in the shape of the magnetic field. Yet, its liquid form allows its behavior to be merge, combine, and transform with nearby pools creating uniquely organic forms and patterns. This is done through the mechanical machine which is the matrix of electromagnets. The grid-like structure of a matrix creates aesthetic constraints, but also allows for the creation of these patterned, organic forms. When our body interacts with this system, we challenge the traditional notion that our body is separate from the machine. The machine is extended by our own body, the organic form of the ferrofluid is enhanced and extended by the machine and the ferrofluid becomes an extension of our own senses through both organic and mechanical means.
The goal of the project is not only to technically build the display that allows for interaction with matter, but also to experiment with how to create modulating ferrofluid patterns that are viscerally responsive to audience interaction. The interaction is important because FerroFORMS is an interactive art project, which means it uses audience participation. Interactive art challenges the traditional idea that the viewer should be passively looking at an artist’s creation.
FerroFORMS hopes to contribute to the fields of programmable matter, fluid computation and display, and the study of transformable materials. It also aims to show how we can use kinetic interfaces with context-aware feedback systems to transform tangible materials and create interactive art.
It hopes to study interaction in the context of the body, the machine, and the natural world with the realization that technology has allowed them to be synchronized together.