Ephemeral Face — Interactive 3D Sculpture & Installation
Interactive installation for Topatopia 2024 festival: a sculpture of 200 vertices and over 600 meters of thread deforming an elastic fabric into a living, percussion-reactive face.
In this interactive installation, each vertex of the 3D sculpture is a thread pulling on an elastic fabric, gradually deforming it until the contour of a living face emerges. Over 600 meters of thread and 200 physical vertices unite in this piece created for the Topatopia 2024 festival.
Elastic Topology and Spatial Tension
The artwork emerges from the dialogue between computational geometry and the physical resistance of tensioned materials. A monumental elastic membrane is suspended outdoors from a perimeter timber framework. From each of its more than 200 computationally calculated 3D vertices, an individual line extends across the space to mechanical tension pulleys.
As each thread pulls on the membrane, the flat surface fractures into three-dimensional space, lifting eye sockets, cheekbones, nose, and lips into a tangible sculptural relief. Natural wind, ambient light, and gravity actively participate in the physical mesh, dissolving the boundary between the virtual model and bodily presence.
Precision Videomapping and Acoustic Reactivity
At nightfall, a calibrated projection mapping system casts the original polygonal wireframe directly onto the deformed membrane. This is not a flat canvas projection: it precisely aligns with the physical anchor points of each thread, revealing the mathematical skeleton of the face while endowing it with gaze, breath, and life.
Interaction comes alive through acoustic percussion instruments installed at the foot of the sculpture. As festivalgoers play the drums, real-time audio analysis converts sonic impulses into dynamic light waves, subtle facial expressions, dilating gazes, and ripples through the digital mesh, transforming observation into a shared sonic and visual performance.
Complicity and Collective Craft
Raising an aerial installation of this technical and structural complexity in open nature was a profound team endeavor. More than 600 meters of high-resistance lines had to be measured, anchored, leveled, and tuned to withstand changing weather and outdoor winds.
Endless gratitude to the talented team at Topatopia for making this possible with their collaboration, dedication, and unconditional support. And to Meli Rose (@melirosetuc), for her unconditional complicity, creative vision, and tireless dedication side-by-side through every step of this journey.
Project Credits
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Topatopia Festibala
Production, venue, and community hosting
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Meli Rose
Unconditional complicity, on-site assembly, and production
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Carlos Adrián Serna
Artistic direction, computational sculpture, projection mapping & interactivity