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Flexible Display

February 24th, 2009 tagsArt, Business, Innovation, New Media, Social Media, Video userMark Kizelshteyn

Ever imagine a touch screen made out of flexible foam? Well, in case you didn’t, the Impress is just that.

impress_3d_modeling_3

This concept is brought to us by DIS.PLAY and is a touchscreen with an added layer of soft, flexible foam. The foam brings a whole new tactile experience to the screen. Although, the screen is not like traditional displays we know of today, it is the first step in adding a new visual method for data interaction. As PSFK writes, “It takes away the rigidity of a traditional touchscreen and enables a more robust interaction with data presented onscreen. Impress has all the regular features of a touchscreen with the extra parameter of pressure, enabling users to literally squeeze out information and form and mold three dimensional objects.”


impress – flexible display from Sillenet on Vimeo.

One of the most interesting components of the screen is the novel approach to 3D modeling. As you can see in the video, one ostensibly molds the foam and the 3D environment responds to the pressure. It allows for a far more intuitive approach to 3D modeling.

The screen is an art piece in and of itself. Aesthetically, it is simple and understated, but allows for unprecedented interactivity. I’d love the opportunity to work with this screen — strip it of functionality and let the imagination run free — and develop interaction with 2D art, virtual worlds, sound (as we see in the video)….

It will be interested to see how this product develops. What popped in to my head as I watched the video was the feedback one felt while touching the foam. I believe this will be a natural step in this products evolution. Tactile feedback will facilitate a more integrated experience in interacting with digital objects.

This is an intriguing piece of technology.

[via PSFK]

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1 Comment

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Art must have as its primary purpose the existence to be art. Your very answer which includes the suggestion that this is merely a tool to produce three dimensional modeling negates any artistic definition it may have. And before you respond by saying any object can have artistic properties, let me just remind you that we talk about the artistic qualities of a chair differently than we do those of a paintings. An object like this falls much more into the former than the latter. Lastly why is turtlethink so quick to celebrate a creation that calls our current model rigid? How can we possibly develop if we fail to see the possibilities in front of our faces?

Monet wasn’t a master because he envisioned the next great artistic program, but rather because he could stop and appreciate what others failed to see.

The modernest as Baudelaire described was not the person caught up in the modern, but the person who could stop to appreciate it, the person who was extremely aware of it.

I’d be careful when crossing the world of art and that of technology.

Comment by huysmans on February 24, 2009 11:54 pm

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