TOKYO, JAPAN – UNIQLO has launched new global campaign for its flagship model HEATTECH functional underwear. Inspired by HEATTECH’s moisture and heat-absorbing technology, the campaign uses ‘ThermoArt,’ the world’s first real-time digital art that transforms thermography to a new form of dynamic expression.
With body temperature being an early detection measure for COVID-19, thermographic images now universally evoke negative and bleak sentiment. Using this insight, the team decided to use human body temperature in real-time to create content that warms the mind and body, while showcasing the core appeal of HEATTECH, keeping you warm from your own heat and conveying the importance of staying safe and warm during winter.
Artists including interactive designer and programmer Daito Manabe, visual artist Raven Kwok, and singer, songwriter and music producer Akini Jing collaborated on the campaign. The campaign brings the message of ‘We Stay Warm Together’ to a world facing a challenging winter amidst the ongoing global pandemic.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=COLecjSedJA
Visit the Campaign Website: uniqlo.com/heattech-staywarm/en/
The technology uses three cameras, a color camera that captures real-life images, a thermo camera that detects infrared radiation energy, and a depth camera that measures the distance between objects. The infrared radiation energy of the subject and the motion of the subject are analyzed and visual graphics are generated in real time from the heat distribution data of the human body’s temperature.
Daito Manabe, Rhizomatiks Artist/Interaction Designer/Programmer/DJ, said: “The data captured by a thermocam is usually just tasteless infrared radiation energy and temperature, which is often used as a check for measuring body temperature. However, by not only sensing the data, but also using it as material for creating dynamic and playful graphics, the act of measuring body temperature has changed into something truly exciting.”
The integrated campaign also features behind-the-scenes footage of the renowned artists experimenting with the technology, and an Instagram AR filter for people to experience the ThermoArt using their own smartphone.
Participating Artists
DAITO MANABE – An artist, interaction designer, programmer and DJ based in Tokyo. He founded Rhizomatiks in 2006. He creates works by reinterpreting and combining familiar phenomena and materials from different perspectives. Instead of having goals in achieving a rich expression of high-resolution and high presence, he works in the fields of design, art, and entertainment, focusing on the intrinsic interest of phenomena, the body, programming, and computers themselves that can be discovered through careful observation, and the relationships and boundaries between analog and digital, real and virtual.
RAVEN KWOK – A visual artist and creative technologist. His artistic work and research activities focus primarily on the exploration of generative visual aesthetics brought about by computer algorithms and software processes. He graduated from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (RPI) in 2014 with an MFA in Electronic Arts. He has exhibited and screened at media art and film festivals around the world, including Ars Electronica, Electronic Language Festival (FILE), Vienna Independent Shorts (VIS), Punto y Raya (PyR), Resonate and Fiber.
AKINI JING – A singer, songwriter and music producer. Born in Yunnan Province China. She focuses on thoughts on space, technology and people. She is also a songwriter and music producer and has collaborated with music talents who have sold more than 10 million copies. In 2019, she began her career as Akini Jing, a cyborg with a unique and impersonal perspective. Her cyborg concept album, Plastic Heaven, was released in the fall of 2020.
