Older Than Hands
Ananda Gabo, 筧 康明 / Yasuaki Kakehi
Older Than Hands explores nephrite jade, a material formed over 150 million years ago through subduction and metamorphism, as an interface for capacitive touch sensing. Electrodes on opposing sides of a single ancient stone detect the subtle electrical field disturbances of human touch, translating contact into sound that shifts between left and right based on where hands meet the surface. Rather than embedding technology into new materials, the work asks what happens when we listen to a stone that predates the existence of hands by hundreds of millions of years.