Dmitry Morozov's tattoo scanner plays sounds that he can alter by moving his arm. Piotr Malecki

Dmitry Morozov's tattoo isn't just about looks, it's about sound. The Moscow-based artist has a hefty 8- by 3-inch barcode stretching down his left forearm, and when he scans it with the right gadget: music.

Morozov grew up studying guitar and is a self-taught engineer. “I wanted to combine two passions—electronic music and robotics—and I already had tattoos,” he says. Morozov created the barcode in Photoshop and modded a scanner with two black-line sensors, a stepper motor, and a Nintendo Wii remote.

As the motor guides the sensors along his tat, the length of each bar dictates the duration of the sound; if he moves his arm, the Wii's accelerometer detects the shift and distorts the tone. It's a little … monotonic, and not everyone is impressed—many Russians associate tattoos with criminal culture. But Morozov is determined to change their minds. “I try to explain the theory and technology of the art and body, and then most people respond positively,” he says. Sounds like progress.