Motivated by the craftsmanship and connections of cultural textiles such as Javanese Batik or Balinese Ikat to their traditional performance arts, we began to apply an artistic approach into technological textile design and merge new materials, sensing technologies, and digital fabrication with contemporary dance and music into one united and harmonious piece of object and performance. In this project, we utilized the additive manufacturing process of machine knitting and electrically-conducting yarns and fabrics to develop large-scale, interactive textile sensate surface. The tapis indeed not only serves for aesthetic, comfort, and insulation purposes, but is also augmented as a responsive skin that bridges the tactile-physical with the immersive-digital world.

Tapis Magique provides a canvas for dancers and sound artists to modulate sound, perform and compose a musical piece based on choreography and vice versa; it also creates an auditory-gestural synesthetic environment that invites and encourages audiences to interact and express themselves with the tapis, experiencing a magical connection that stimulates the body and mind.