Lucy McRae: The body as canvas, tool, and medium
Artist and designer Lucy McRae speaks with designboom about identity, wearable technology, and exploring body futurism.
Stock photo for illustration only, not from the actual event
- Lucy McRae treats the human body as a canvas, tool, and medium to explore the future.
- She leads Future Sensitive, a speculative lab bringing together scientists, artists, and designers.
- Notable works include Swallowable Parfum, a cosmetic pill making the body produce its own fragrance.
- A new fashion collection is set to launch in Los Angeles in 2027, inspired by films and artworks.
The human body serves as both the starting point and testing ground for the speculative practice of Lucy McRae. Through sculpture, film, conceptual fashion, and experimental design, the artist explores how technology might transform how we inhabit ourselves and relate to others. Her work treats the human body as a medium through which possible futures can be experienced and questioned.
McRae leads Future Sensitive, an art-led speculative lab uniting scientists, artists, and designers to explore body futurism and post-nature futures. Her interest developed through physical training, design research, and technological experimentation. After studying interior design at RMIT, she led a far-future design research lab at Philips from 2006 to 2010, focusing on wearable technologies such as emotional-sensing dresses and electronic tattoos.
Stock photo for illustration only, not from the actual event
That experience established a recurring question in her work regarding what happens when technology becomes inseparable from the body. McRae shares with designboom that she has investigated complex science for two decades, noting that technology ultimately lands on the body and describing it as her canvas, tool, and medium.
"The body has been my canvas, tool, and medium."
Lucy McRae
For the British-born Australian artist, the body makes complex technologies easier to understand and imagine. This idea informed Compression Cradle, presented at the 2019 Milan Triennale exhibition Broken Nature, curated by Italian author Paola Antonelli. The work later inspired a visual reference in Blade Runner 2099, for which McRae designed a crèche and birth bags for replicants.
Context Note: Speculative design serves as a vital tool that translates abstract future concepts into tangible physical objects. Bridging conceptual art with mainstream science fiction like Blade Runner demonstrates how avant-garde ideas can permeate broader cultural dialogues.
Stock photo for illustration only, not from the actual event
Her work also questions where the body ends and technology begins. In Swallowable Parfum, developed alongside synthetic biologist Sharef Mansy, McRae imagined a cosmetic pill prompting the body to produce its own fragrance. Conceived as a fictional beauty commercial, the project attracted real interest from pharmaceutical brands, turning a conceptual product into a market signal.
This interest shapes her approach to fashion as well. McRae recently completed a collection for Future Sensitive, drawing inspiration from costumes in films and artworks to create everyday wear. Set to launch in Los Angeles in 2027, the collection explores how clothing expresses ideas about the future and alters self-perception.
Source: designboom
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