Strange Interface

03

03

sound circuit to grid display

27-channel display with mixed media

Sound becomes the medium that modulates visual media. Frequency signals, detected in real time, serve as the tool that transforms the visual graphics, building an interface of an unfamiliar kind.

Nine transmitting coils on the surface each send a signal of a different frequency. Bring one of the two receiving coils close and it collects the signal being transmitted; by detecting the frequency band of the collected audio signal, the system locates which coil it sits on.

〈Strange Interface〉 connects the boundary between physical and digital media in a new way — an ongoing work that devises strange visual instruments through which the human body and the system come into relation. Through an interface of a new kind, it expands the possibilities of the medium.

The work in operation. 1′30″, sound on. Also on YouTube.
The whole rig lit in a dark room: a folded stack of LED panels rises from a wheeled aluminium cabinet with a row of knobs and a speaker.
Three display planes fold up from the table into a standing screen.
Frontal view in the dark: the display stack reads as a single vertical column of light above the cabinet.
Seen head-on, the three planes read as one column.
The work in daylight: the upper panel tilts back, the middle panel stands upright, the lower panel tilts forward over the table.
《안녕(   )》, Hongik University, December 2025.
Close view of the control panel: six machined aluminium knobs and one toggle switch on a brushed front plate, under a satin acrylic tabletop.
Six knobs and one toggle switch. Above them, the satin acrylic surface the receiving coil travels over.
An aluminium disc engraved with the words COIL, STRANGE_INTERFACE and 64_TURN_180MM_AL around its rim, with a signature at the centre and a cable entering it.
Receiving coil: 64 turns, 180 mm across, etched aluminium.
The coil artwork as drawn: concentric spiral tracks between two circles, labelled COIL, STRANGE_INTERFACE and 64_TURN_180MM_AL, signed at the centre.
Coil artwork as sent to fabrication.
A visitor standing in front of the work, watching a figure appear across the middle display panel.
The camera above the frame feeds the panels; whoever stands there appears on them.
Three visitors gathered at the table of the work, one reaching toward the controls, the panels dense with dithered black-and-white pattern.
Three planes, twenty-seven channels, one pair of hands at a time.
《Audio Morphology》, HAUS 01, January 2026. 1′44″, sound on.
Six-view technical drawing of the rig with standing human figures for scale: side, front and two isometric views showing the folded display arm, the table and the circular coil holder.
General arrangement, drawn against a standing figure.
display panels_27 channel smps_5V 40A receiving card sending box_TB2 com_mac strange interface_coil*9 interface_knob*6/toggle switch*1 small-com_arduino audio out *5 mini dac audio amp module*5 smps_variable voltage speaker_ob-4
Signal path. The coils and the knobs are two separate inputs; only the knobs pass through the Arduino.
Black-and-white view of the exhibition room with the work at its centre, seen through a doorway.
Hongmungwan R724, in the room.

System

Materials
aluminum PCB coils, anodized and laser-cut aluminum, satin acrylic, aluminum profile structure, 27-channel LED display, 3-channel audio, custom electronics and software
Display
27 channels across three folded planes, driven through a TB2 sending box and receiving cards
Coils
9 transmitting, aluminum PCB, 64 turns, 180 mm across; 2 receiving, held in the hand
Controls
6 knobs, 1 toggle switch, read by an Arduino and sent as MIDI
Audio
speaker ob-4; 5 amplifier modules fed from 5 mini DACs
Power
SMPS 5 V 40 A for the display; variable-voltage SMPS for the amplifier modules
Software
TouchDesigner, Arduino

Exhibited

2026.01.03–16
《Audio Morphology》, HAUS 01, 4F, 35 Tojeong-ro, Mapo-gu, Seoul. With Seungju Lee and Sungwan Jo; sound design by Jeongmin Jo
2025.12.01–06
《안녕(   )》, Graduation Show Class E, Visual Communication Design, Hongik University. R724, 7F Hongmungwan, 94 Wausan-ro, Mapo-gu, Seoul

Credits

Visual engineering design
Jaeyeon Kim
Technical cooperation
Sungwan Jo
Video archive
Dongjoon Kang, Gijeong Park