Marlon Barrios SolanoInterdisciplinary artist, researcher, and educator · Art, AI, creativity, cognition, and embodimentMaker in Residence, Center for Arts, Migration + Entrepreneurship at the University of Florida

Projects

Extraordinary Alien

A soft body that answers the hand

Extraordinary Alien 2 · part of Born in Latent Space

Open the live appBorn in Latent SpaceOriginal versionGitHub

Extraordinary Alien was the name for my green card application. That name became an allegory of extraordinariness. The piece plays, ironically, with being taken or not taken by the United States as a valuable artist.

The creature is a soft body drawn in the browser. The webcam tracks the hand. The index finger and the thumb push the body, pinch it, and change its color. The spacebar shows or hides the springs and starts the sound.

This page is Extraordinary Alien 2, part of Born in Latent Space. The creature is built with p5.js, Toxiclibs, and MediaPipe, adapted from The Coding Train’s soft-body character, by Daniel Shiffman, and from nahuelgerth.

Extraordinary Alien, a pink soft-body creature answering the hand
The creature rests on the face. Its eyes follow the hand.
Extraordinary Alien, a pink soft-body creature answering the hand
A pinch draws the soft body out into a trail.