All that happens in Coded Sensation is generated by touch. Hands sinuously caress bodies and objects that are completely covered by a shiny and iridescent black cloth, from which sounds emanate. The special fabric is created by applying a thin sheet of chromium oxide (the same used in cassette tapes) onto a simple tissue. The artist, Martin Rille, has recorded different kinds of audio data on the cloth, including stories, music, poetry and vocals. Through a specific head stitched on the gloves, the caresses of the performers read the recorded contents, turning them into audible sounds. The result is a unique scratching of buzzes, sounds and bursts of words: information that only becomes physical and perceptible through this sort of hyper-skin. Despite its futuristic suggestions (the lightness of the movements suggest obscure fluctuations in the absence of gravity), the generated atmosphere is full of a primitive, raw and overwhelming sensuality. Perhaps because touch is the first sense used by man to explore surroundings, here the act takes on an atavistic quality. When touching the work, you can experience the notion of the other, and therefore a most exciting sound sublimation.
Chiara Ciociola