Marta Guitart: Please, Touch Me …
Artist(s):
Title:
- Please, Touch Me ...
Exhibition:
Creation Year:
- 1993
Medium:
- Interactive Installation
Category:
Artist Statement:
The computer is more than an object. It can also be seen as an icon and a metaphor suggesting new ways of thinking about ourselves and our environment. Computers raise questions about what it means to be human.
Cybernetic systems consist of an entire array of machines and apparatuses that exhibit computational power. Such systems contain a quotient of (albeit limited) intelligence. They are all “cybernetic” in the sense that they are self-regulating systems within predefined limits.
The interactive installation “Please Touch Me … ” consists of seven Macintosh computers installed in a dark room. Each machine stands on a wooden cuboid, playing a computer-generated animation of a heart shape. These hearts move rhythmically, shrinking and expanding according to a human breathing sound, which is different in each computer.
The viewer establishes some kind of relationship (interacts) with the machines by approaching them individually and touching their “touch screens.” The computers respond to being touched by changing the rhythm and intensity of the breathing. These qualities represent the idea that computers have a condition associated to them, so they can express passion, anger, and all sorts of different human feelings. The response changes depending on who is interacting with the computer, and when the interaction occurs. With its own “personality,” each machine responds differently from the others.
