Warmth Tessera

Commissioned by UNIQLO, Warmth Tessera is a video art piece collaborating with pop singer / producer Akini Jing. It takes the square shape from HEATTECH visual identity and uses it to visualize thermal energy generated through human body. It shows the transitional process of image space getting filled and warmed up by heat.

Technically, an infrared thermal camera is used to simultaneously capture the heat data of Akini Jing’s body during the dance video shooting. The heat data is later aligned and mapped to the standard camera video footage, and eventually fed into a customized program to generate visual art. The generative system is designed and implemented using Processing. Its core element is a tessellation based on 2-D tree map. The wire frame structure morphs and subdivides itself with Akini’s dance moves. Meanwhile, based on captured heat data, squares that represent thermal energy are getting released from her body. The heat squares travel between cells in the tessellation, spreading out over the whole image space until saturation is reached.