Certainty of the Flesh is a large-scale transparent LED sculpture by WangShui — a mesmerizing, continuously shifting simulation that evokes synthetic life and explores themes of transformation, identity, and the porous boundary between the organic and the artificial. Originally commissioned by Haus der Kunst, I led the technical development of the sculpture’s first iteration, helping shape its system architecture and interactive behavior.
In 2025, the work was reinstalled as part of Soft Robots at Copenhagen Contemporary. My role shifted to lead the planning, adaptation, and onsite execution of this technically intricate piece in a new environment.
For the Copenhagen installation, I oversaw the end-to-end planning and integration of the sculpture’s hardware and software systems. I built a custom Unity-based media server and refined the simulation engine to ensure optimal performance on a large transparent LED screen.
To support the museum’s operations team, I designed a highly user-friendly control interface, allowing non-technical staff to monitor, adjust, and reboot the system as needed with minimal friction.
During the install, we encountered a visibility issue caused by fluctuating ambient light in the gallery space. I quickly developed and deployed a custom light-sensing solution using a microcontroller and OSC protocol to send real-time data to Unity. This enabled the simulation to dynamically adapt its brightness and color in response to its surroundings, preserving the sculptural clarity and elevating the sense of living presence.
I also performed critical on-site repairs to the delicate LED panels, ensuring full system stability and longevity in a high-traffic, multi-week exhibition environment.
The result was a deeply immersive, technically responsive installation that evolved with the space around it. The addition of dynamic environmental feedback gave the sculpture a heightened sense of agency — reinforcing the themes of nonhuman perception and fluid embodiment that define WangShui’s practice.
By integrating artist intent, audience experience, and robust engineering, Certainty of the Flesh at Copenhagen Contemporary pushed the boundaries of responsive media sculpture and demonstrated the value of flexible, collaborative technical direction in the exhibition of complex digital work.