TRACES

Participatory Installation
Unity3D, Azure Kinect

Created by whatsoftdata for Make It Soft, the first exhibition of SoftRx.

Traces (2022) reimagines the guestbook as a living ecosystem. Humans are themselves composed of dynamic internal ecologies—microbial worlds shaped by food, environment, medication, and, most importantly, the people with whom we interact. Extending this logic to space, the work asks: How do human beings fit into a site? If a site is a living organism, does each visitor become a kind of cell within it?

In Traces, the time a visitor spends with the installation and their proximity to the sensing system are translated into a form of spatial intimacy. Each visitor contributes a “Soft Cell”—a small digital self that remains in the space, interacts with others, and coalesces into a collective organism. Through the ritual of leaving these traces, the ecosystem grows and shifts with each encounter, embodying the engagement of those who complete the space.

Experience Flow

  1. Stand beneath the sound dome.
    When the camera detects your presence, a loading bar appears, and you are transitioned into the system.

  2. Your Soft Cell is generated.
    whatsoftdata’s algorithm analyzes your height, clothing, pose, and movement to create your digital clone.

  3. Each Soft Cell has a unique musical note.
    Your presence becomes both visual and sonic—strike a pose and listen.

  4. Time becomes intimacy.
    The longer you remain under the dome, the more Soft Cells you leave behind.

  5. A collective ecosystem emerges.
    Soft Cells mingle, accumulate, and compose a growing musical landscape—the guestbook as a living, evolving organism.