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# Project Description METAMORPHOSIS: Anatomy of an Extended Self Kiska Huang Summary Final work A designer and creative researcher working across digital systems and physical interfaces. The practice focuses on building hybrid structures that explore the blurred boundaries between the body, identity, and machine loigc - merging silicone fabrication, real-time animation, and interactive feedback. A designer and creative researcher working across digital systems and physical interfaces. The pr... College Central Saint Martins Course BA (Hons) Jewellery Design Graduation year 2025 Metamorphosis is an interactive installation that explores the construction of digital identity through embodied interfaces. A hyperreal silicone head embedded with sensors, a miniature camera, and a microphone responds to audience touch, gesture, and voice input in real time. These physical interactions are translated into movement and speech through a connected digital avatar, created in Unreal Engine 5 and projected through a hologram fan. This projection technology introduces a suspended, translucent presence that is neither fully digital nor fully material, blurring the boundary between the virtual realm and physical reality. By distributing selfhood across material, code, and perception, Metamorphosis examines the feedback loop between the human body and its synthetic extension, raising questions about presence, emotion, and the limits of representation. Final work View Gallery View Gallery View Gallery View Gallery Externalizing Selfhood To rebuild the self, it must first be taken apart. Strip away the skin. Expose the circuits. Unfasten the bones that hold the structure together. What remains is not absence but potential—a space where identity is no longer held within the body but rewritten through systems and signals. The body becomes data. The self becomes code. Yet within this network of silicone, wires, and reactions, something else begins to form. A version of me that moves between presence and simulation, between reflection and response... Research and process System Architecture of Metamorphosis: From Input to Embodied Response This visual sequence illustrates the real-time interaction system developed for Metamorphosis . Audience gestures are captured through Mediapipe and transmitted via OSC protocol using Protokol, enabling the system to interpret physical movement as live input. Within Unreal Engine 5, the MetaHuman avatar is animated through a combination of facial rigging, animation sequencing, and logic-based blend systems. The final image reveals the underlying Blueprint structure, which integrates gesture input, speech recognition, and emotional response into a cohesive interaction flow. The system forms a feedback loop in which the digital self responds dynamically to audience engagement—blurring the boundary between sensing, performance, and synthetic identity. From Mould to Encounter: Materialising the Synthetic Self This image traces the transformation of the artist’s physical body into a synthetic interface. On the left, a sequence of life-casting captures the process of creating a silicone replica using alginate, clay, and plaster moulds. On the right, audience members engage physically with the finished silicone head during the exhibition, pressing, stroking, and testing its material limits. The juxtaposition highlights the full loop of embodiment—how the self is extracted, remade, and returned to others as an interactive surface. The synthetic face becomes both object and subject, prompting reflection on intimacy, touch, and the vulnerability of replication. Share this project Metamorphosis is an interactive installation that explores the construction of digital identity through embodied interfaces. A hyperreal silicone head embedded with sensors, a miniature camera, and a microphone responds to audience touch, gesture, and voice input in r... A link to this page has been added to your clipboard Browse related work Being Human Beyond Human Digital Experiences Futures Materiality Identity Digital 3dDesign 3D Moulding Identity HumanConnection
# Links ## Official page - https://ualshowcase.arts.ac.uk/project/640540/cover ## External - https://www.instagram.com/is_kiskart - https://kiskashiyu.com - mailto:s.huang0120202@arts.ac.uk - https://forms.arts.ac.uk/client-enquiry-form/ - https://portfolio-tools.s3.eu-west-2.amazonaws.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/06/03081329/Kiska-Huang_CriticalText_20014490.pdf - https://twitter.com/intent/tweet?url=https%3A%2F%2Fualshowcase.arts.ac.uk%2Fproject%2F640540%2Fcover&text=METAMORPHOSIS%3A+Anatomy+of+an+Extended+Self - https://pinterest.com/pin/create/button/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fualshowcase.arts.ac.uk%2Fproject%2F640540%2Fcover&media=https%3A%2F%2Fportfolio-tools.s3.eu-west-2.amazonaws.com%2Fwp-content%2Fuploads%2F2025%2F06%2F03141720%2Fe45619c6-5f36-4fbe-9a05-d379b5205627.jpg&description=METAMORPHOSIS%3A+Anatomy+of+an+Extended+Self