The hypnotic future of jewelry
By Brittney MacDonald, Life & Style Editor
When I hear people talk about the future of technology I am always fascinated by the various gadgets and doodads that may seem like science fiction, but are very real possibilities. Practical things like the ability to safely clone human tissue for organ transplants and skin grafts, as well as chemical additives that can render even the most stagnant and toxic water suddenly drinkable—all seem fascinating—but who’s to say that the future of technology has to be practical? What if it’s just pretty?
Neclumi is an interactive, holographic projection you wear as a necklace. It is currently in development by the people over at panGenerator, a new media and art collective who are responsible for the highly regarded piece, Macrofilm—currently on display in the Museum of the History of Polish Jews in Warsaw.
The necklace is controlled via an app on your smartphone, and is made possible by a miniaturized projector (called a picoprojector) attached to the wearer’s chest.
The necklace has four separate modes that interact with the wearer in different ways.
The first is the airo, which basically acts like a pedometer. Visually it creates a centre seam down the throat that tiny comets float out of, moving in opposite directions. How many comets there are as well as how fast they move is relative to how quickly the wearer is walking. If the wearer is standing still, the projection manifests as tiny dots of light all over the wearer’s neck, like stars.
The second mode, called roto, is reactive to the rotation of the body. The image projected is of a sphere with a swirl that turns and rotates in response to which direction the wearer is facing, as well as how quickly they turn around. To add to the necklace aesthetic, bright dots flank each side of the projected sphere. They move and rotate as well. The entire visual is slightly dizzying and very hypnotic.
The third mode is movi, which is an accelerometer, meaning it responds to body movement but in a different way than roto and airo do. The movi looks like vertical lines projected to wrap around the wearer’s neck, but the force of the wearer’s movement alters their waves. It is reminiscent of rippled water, as each movement jars it, and then it slowly fades back to being still.
The fourth mode, and my personal favourite, is sono. Sono measures ambient noise produced either by or in the vicinity of the wearer. It projects a circle onto the clavicle that then has straight lines that reach out in varying levels all around it. How far these lines go is all dependent on how loud the sound is.
All of the visuals offered by the Neclumi are stunning and enhanced through HDMI technology. Though not available for retail purchase quite yet, a working prototype has been constructed and an online video displaying the technology is available to view. The project is currently open to crowd funding via their website, Neclumi.com