After a friend died from melanoma, Chicago-based artist Joseph Kohnke realized that even small imperfections on the surface of the body could consume one’s entirety, and how markings on the skin can act both as camouflage – increasing chances of survival – as well as harbingers of death.

With Marked, Kohnke explores skin as the indicator of well-being.

The installation consists of a medical examination table with a conveyor belt containing photographs of the artist’s skin. A scanner scans the photos puncturing the paper whenever a mark that could be seen as a flaw or as life threatening is spotted (freckle, scar, mole.) These punctures are then fed through a vacuum system similar to a player piano employing 14 tuning forks transforming them into spatial sound. In the next room, a taxidermied fawn receives the same signals, as lights pop out from beneath its fur.

Some of Kohnke’s works are currently on show at the Art Lab gallery in Beijing’s 798 art district.

Thanks Joseph Magliaro.