Kirk Mueller, a new media artist, transforms decorative silkscreened wallpaper into dynamic, pattern-changing skins for your walls with the help of the arduino, smart and conductive inks.

Mueller's first experimentation (pictured above) used a layer of conductive paint in combination with ordinary ink to create an interactive wallpaper that responds to touch. I'm not quite sure what the exact output is — perhaps at this stage in the project it doesn't really matter...

Silk-screened Conductive Ink

Stenciled Conductive Ink

Conductive Ink mixed with colored inks

Mueller thoroughly documents his experimentation working with conductive ink (silkscreening, stenciling handpainiting, etc) on his flickr stream. It's great to witness his process — his success and his failures — using this new material. The end result is a beautiful interactive baroque wallpaper that is rich in texture and vibrant in color.



His latest project, STD wallpaper incorporates thermochromatic ink, conductive ink, and heating elements to show and hide layers of screen printed ink on the wallpaper. In this piece when the user touches the wall, STD viruses start appearing (almost bleeding) through the wallpaper.

If you're interested in experimenting with conductive inks, here a few resources below:

Y-SHIELD from LessEMF

CuPro-CoteTM PAINT D from LessEMF

Conductive Marker from LessEMF

SPI Supplies® Brand Conductive Carbon Paint from SPI