Youyun Shang

A Body Stitched in Traces

This thesis is an installation explores how the transmission of heat can function as a language to express intimacy, memory, and identity across natural, human, and technological systems. Drawing from experiences of relocation, I understand identity as a network of “lines” and “traces” formed through movement, touch, and time. Using a thermal camera, invisible heat residues left by the body are captured, transforming touch into visible memory. Knitting, conceived as a “second skin,” embodies both emotional attachment and bodily contradiction, becoming a medium for self-construction. The work repositions thermal imaging from a tool of surveillance to one that records intimacy, revealing tensions between observation and care. Ultimately, the project culminates in an installation as an “abstract body,” where materials like yarn, metal, and heat flows converge to express the fluid, relational nature of memory and identity.

B1nary Mem0ry
Mapping, Knitting, Projection

Binary Memory explores the fragile traces of digital intimacy in an era where memory is increasingly stored, mediated, and fragmented through code. In this project, personal data—images, texts, and audio recordings—are translated into binary code, then woven into textile patterns. Each stitch, each thread becomes a tactile residue of once-ephemeral moments.