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Ogle This 3D-Printed Outfit At Your Own Risk

Behnaz Farahi's 'Caress of the Gaze' knows exactly where your eyes are.
GIF and images courtesy the artist

If always knowing when somebody was staring at you was a super power, Behnaz Farahi's new project, Caress of the Gaze would qualify as a bona fide super suit. The architect and interaction designer married a camera, a facial tracking algorithm, and responsive skin of 3D-printed spikes that broadcast to the world exactly where your eyes are straying to. "The idea was to create an artificial skin inspired by nature, which could become an extension of our actual skin, while providing novel forms of interaction between our body and the surrounding environment," Farahi tells The Creators Project.

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"What if our outfit could recognize and respond to the gaze of the other?" she asks in the project's description. She tells The Creators Project, "To me the future of fashion lies in its promise of being dynamic and interactive with the wearer. Wearable computing and advances of wearable technologies are also changing the notion of our bodies by allowing our bodies to become augmented, enhanced and expanded in terms of their functionality."

Her slick, sci-fi execution, developed in collaboration with Autodesk and Pier 9's artist-in-residence program, is the latest in a series of projects (namely the snakelike Ruff and brain-powered Synapse) oriented around making our clothing more lifelike. Not to mention it's definitely worth the gazes it measures. But the most interesting idea is what would happen if this technology were applied to everyday t-shirts and jeans—then, you'd know for sure if he was really was just reading the quirky slogan on your graphic tee. Farahi says, "In this sense, fashion can facilitate new ways of communication and enhance embodied experiences."

See more of Behnaz Farahi's work on her website.

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