Image Credit: photo by David Weng @ 2025 ACM SIGGRAPH
At SIGGRAPH 2025, the Art Gallery brought together works that explore how technology can express presence, perception, and life itself. Among them, “ChoreoFin: Breathing in the Ocean” by artist and researcher Akira Nakayasu and team presents a kinetic dress that moves with the slow, rhythmic quality of breathing. Drawing from aquatic biology, mythology, and wearable design, the work invites viewers into a quiet, embodied form of interaction — one that unfolds through proximity, attention, and shared rhythm rather than explicit control.
SIGGRAPH: Tell us about “ChoreoFin” in your own words. How did the piece evolve from concept to exhibition in the SIGGRAPH 2025 Art Gallery?
Akira Nakayasu (AN): “ChoreoFin: Breathing in the Ocean” is a kinetic dress that expresses the sculptural beauty of fins and gills found in aquatic creatures through slow, breathing-like movement. While fins and gills are biological organs with clear functions, they are often perceived by humans as ornamental forms. This work explores the ambiguous boundary between biological function and decoration by translating these elements into a wearable form. It also draws inspiration from mythological and hybrid beings that exist between human and non-human bodies.
While I had previously been interested in kinetic dresses, this project began in earnest when members of Joshibi University of Art and Design proposed taking on a kinetic dress challenge together. From the early stages, our discussions focused not on simply creating a dress that moves, but on what it means for a dress to move, and how that movement could carry conceptual necessity. By bringing together kinetic expression and fashion design expertise, the overall direction of the work gradually took shape. In particular, the dress design evolved through close collaboration with fashion designers, allowing the movement mechanisms and garment form to develop simultaneously.
In terms of realization, it was natural to build upon the tentacle-like soft actuators that I have been developing in my previous research and practice. These actuators are better suited to subtle and slow motion than to fast or dramatic gestures. Working within these constraints led us to focus on delicate bodily processes, and this is how breathing emerged as a central theme. As we studied aquatic life, we began to see the movements of fins and gills as visual cues through which observers perceive a living organism’s breathing.
This way of understanding fins and gills as both biological and ornamental forms aligned naturally with the nature of dresses as primarily decorative garments. Fins and gills, much like the features of ornamental fish, are often appreciated for their aesthetic qualities rather than their biological function. This perspective informed the development of ruff-like forms resembling gills, which became a key motif in the dress design.
At the time of submission, the work consisted only of the upper body, with motion concentrated around the neck. After the project was accepted, the lower body was added, along with new actuated elements around the waist that evoke fin-like movement. Through this process, “ChoreoFin” evolved into a full-body kinetic dress, completed for exhibition in the SIGGRAPH 2025 Art Gallery.
SIGGRAPH: How do you believe “ChoreoFin” contributed to broader conversations at SIGGRAPH about art, technology, and human-computer interaction?
AN: I see “ChoreoFin” as a work that proposes a different form of interaction from those based on explicit input or control. Rather than asking viewers to perform specific actions, the piece responds quietly to simple bodily behaviors such as approaching or stopping, gently drawing attention to the viewer’s own bodily rhythm and sense of presence.
Breathing itself is a subtle action that is often difficult to perceive unless one pays close attention. To convey both the delicacy and the sense of mystery associated with this movement, the tips of the tentacle-like actuators emit light. As viewers approach the work and the movement slightly intensifies, the color of the light gradually shifts from cool tones to warmer ones. This change is not designed as a clear feedback signal, but as a quiet way of sharing a sense of distance and bodily presence.
“ChoreoFin” is also not presented as a kinetic dress alone. In the exhibition, the dress is placed at the center of the space and surrounded by multiple kinetic flowers, with blue lighting and ambient sound inspired by the deep sea. These elements together create an environment that evokes a marine organism standing within its surrounding vegetation. Viewers engage with the work not as a single object, but through their experience of the space as a whole.
The spatial design that frames the kinetic dress, as well as the process of viewers approaching the work, changes the impression of the object itself. From this perspective, I believe that enriching interaction in artworks involves not only the work itself, but also the relationship between the work and its surrounding space.
In this way, “ChoreoFin” suggests that interaction does not always need to be explicit, goal-oriented, or object-centered, offering an alternative way of thinking about the relationship between art, technology, and human-computer interaction.
SIGGRAPH: “ChoreoFin” draws from aquatic biology, mythology, and wearable design. How did these references shape both the visual form of the dress and the behaviors expressed through its motion?
AN: In “ChoreoFin”, references to aquatic biology, mythological beings, and wearable design shape the form, material qualities, and movement of the dress. Fins and gills are functional biological organs, yet from a human perspective they often appear ornamental. This ambiguity between function and decoration informed the layered, ruffled structures of the dress and its slow, breathing-like motion.
Formally, the upper body around the neck is inspired by gills, while the lower body around the waist draws from the image of fins. These references are not intended as biologically precise representations, but as sources of inspiration that assign different meanings to different parts of the body.
In terms of material, the fin-like elements are made from metal-coated fabric. While the surface has a metallic sheen, the fabric retains its flexibility and breathability. As the material moves, subtle changes in reflection occur depending on the angle of light. Even though the exhibition lighting itself remains static, the movement of the fabric produces delicate shifts in luster, evoking — though not directly imitating — the surface qualities of aquatic organisms.
The kinetic flowers placed in the exhibition space are made using the same materials and the same tentacle-like actuators as the dress. As a result, the dress and the flowers behave as different forms belonging to the same ecosystem. Their shapes are inspired by imagery such as flowers blooming on the seafloor, animal-like forms resembling sea anemones, or imagined entities born from the “eggs” of the kinetic dress. This ambiguity between plant, animal, and artifact reinforces the sense of a shared, living environment rather than a single isolated object.
Through these overlapping references, “ChoreoFin” takes shape as an ornamental form that also carries a quiet sense of life and presence.
SIGGRAPH: Motion is central to the work. Can you describe how the fins’ movements were realized and what you hope they communicated to viewers?
AN: The movements in “ChoreoFin” are not intended to emphasize motion itself, but to convey a sense of state and presence, similar to that of a living organism. The primary movement is a slow, cyclical motion with a period of approximately four seconds, resembling a calm, steady breathing rhythm. This represents a stable and resting state.
When viewers make larger or more sudden movements nearby, the behavior shifts. The fins begin to vibrate rapidly, several times per second, evoking a startled or alert response. After a random duration of several seconds, the movement gradually returns to the stable breathing rhythm. Rather than repeating a single loop, the work transitions between states in response to its surroundings.
These changes are not triggered by explicit commands or deliberate control. Viewers often realize only afterward that their presence and movement have influenced the behavior of the piece. Through this approach, “ChoreoFin” treats motion not as a means of communication or function, but as a way of sharing a sense of life, fragility, and attentiveness with those who encounter it.
Inspired by works like “ChoreoFin: Breathing in the Ocean”? Artists are encouraged to submit to the SIGGRAPH 2026 Art Gallery and join a global community exploring new forms of expression at the intersection of art, technology, and interaction.
Akira Nakayasu is an artist and researcher whose practice centers on kinetic art using soft actuators. Through subtle, breathing-like movements and expressions that respond to bodily perception, he explores the boundary between living organisms and artificial systems.
