Often, I wonder how much broken desires live right under our skin. Resting there well protected, till we find the means and tools to articulate them and bring them to the surface, play with them outside of ourselves. Transhumanism advocates and challenges the ideas of extending ourselves and using technology to enhance the human body and mind, aiming to overcome physical and mental limitations and ultimately improve the human condition.

But "skin" also works in a metaphorical sense, as it is the social shell that holds us together, a protective layer, being challenged in its fragility ever so often. Song Xin and her collaborator Rosie Muhan Yuan embody these aspects of fragility, technology and futuristic desires as part of their performance series "Skin And Bones" (2024). Moving and interacting with wearables both artists examine the facets of human skin conditions and continuous changes we face through technology in our bodies. Questions of transforming, becoming and evolving meet muscle-triggered sounds and visuals which propose a multispecies worldbuilding between shadows and lights.

The series is following on an experimental interface examination, carried out in Song Xin's "SCAR" (2022) where the artist uses a MPR121 interface connected with five pins tied to scar-like patterns made from conductive thread. These patterns act as "switches," triggering a video through Processing when touched and activating a water pump with prolonged contact, symbolizing life force.

The scar patterns, representing burns and surgical scars, are sewn onto white canvas and leather, with leather's texture mimicking skin and enhancing the tactile and visual experience of the installation. There is a tactile curiousity and braveness in Song Xin's work, and at the same time a subtle fear that swims in the subconscious of her performances and installations.

““Futures made of virtual insanity, now
Always seem to be governed by this love we have For useless twisting of our new technology Oh, now there is no sound
For we all live underground””

— Jamiroquai – Virtual Insanity, 1996

Entering the cave with Song Xin can be seen as a journey into a symbolic subterranian space where the self and ego converge. Much like secret passageways to an underworld – passing by uncanny, dark and mysterious surfaces and objects – we are faced with the powerful forces of our desires in the realms of technology, which will eventually emerge into the world of light.

Caves have always been a symbol of mystery and confinement, which aligns with a long history of video game environments. As a space they hold metaphorical significance in both the physical world and digital environments. Will there be light? Will we find a way out and through?

The cave is also a represenation of our subconscious, a seeking for stability and security through the daily complexities. On the spectrum between light and shadow, subterranian and terrestrial Song Xin wants to "step out from behind the computer" and materialize playfulness and fears in real life, challenging our safe spaces.

Other than the song's lyrics suggest above, we will hear the echoes of the past and leave our traces for the future. And they are loud: Bringing back the touch in the formerly detached, Xin uses her body as a medium, to summon the ghosts of our underlying feelings and desires and thereof creating live-mythologies through embodying narratives with aspects of game storytelling. "I want to explore both games and performance, they’re the same. Players act, game systems act, and performers do the same ... a way of testing reality.", states the artist in a recent interview.

"I fear technology, and this fear comes from my clear awareness of being in this game. I am both the player and the set object. No matter what I do, I am still operating within the system. The question is, in such a game, how do we find the cracks, how do we break the system’s pre-set rules?"

Song Xin's most recent live performances, at Somers Gallery (London) or Dock11 (Berlin), blend collaborative sound making and visuals in space, exploring and growing her understanding of her always-evolving relationship between technology and the body.

The interactions with lights and objects, virtual environments and soundscapes, become a playground to deliberately lose control and shift boundaries between the virtual and the "real", sensing for the ruptures – scars – in the cave's stone-hard skin, so the light can interrupt the darkness before it gets to comfortable.