Chrissy Brimmage



About


Chrissy Brimmage is a multidisciplinary artist investigating consciousness and reality as shaped by intersubjectivity, contemporary technoculture, and sociopolitical systems.

They have exhibited work at the Atlanta Contemporary, Frieze Fair New Yorrk (presented by P·P·O·W), Asian Arts Initiative, VMF Winter Arts, and more. They are a former resident of IMMENSIVA, Laboratory Interactive Art Residency, and The Recurse Center.

Brimmage currently lives and works in Brooklyn, NY, by way of Atlanta, GA.



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Dermasonic Grief (2025)
3D Printed PLA, Arduino Uno, GSR Sensor, Speaker, Breadboard, Wiring, Elastic Bands, Magnets, Data



Skin-Reading Grief Instrument
Skin-Reading Grief Instrument


Skin-Reading Grief Instrument Demo
Experimental Music Score


Credits

Documentation assistance: Amanda Brimmage
After the loss of my sweet cat, Ichi, I prototyped a skin-reading grief “instrument” featuring a Galvanic Skin Response (GSR) Sensor, inspired by old school gramophones and the sphygmograph, a former iteration of the modern day polygraph test (which features GSR sensors).

The GSR sensor enables skin to be “read” via electrodes that measure the electrical resistance of skin in response to emotional stress. Using an Arduino, I could then map those readings to a range of frequencies, output them as tones via an embedded speaker, and then amplify the sound through the printed gramophone horn.

I wore the “instrument” during a grief ritual, which resulted in over 17,000 skin-readings that I later plotted into an experimental music score. The score mixes the traditional 5-bar staff with a contour plot to capture the duration of the ritual (854 seconds), as well as the range and intensity of the readings.

The purposeful absurdity of the score and “instrument,” as well as the sonification of my skin in distress gave form and attention to my disenfranchised grief, and affirmed the palpability of the loss.


Skin-Reading Grief Instrument
Skin-Reading Grief Instrument


©2026, Chrissy Brimmage