“Bodymaps: Artifacts of Touch (The Sensuality and Anarchy of Touch)” by Schiphorst
Conference:
Type(s):
Entry Number: 06
Title:
- Bodymaps: Artifacts of Touch (The Sensuality and Anarchy of Touch)
Program Title:
- Electric Garden
Presenter(s):
Collaborator(s):
Description:
Bodymaps: Artifacts of Touch is a computer interactive sound and video installation. The piece uses a specially designed sensor surface embedded with 15 electric field sensors, which operate very much like 15 theramins, and 8 force-sensitive resistor sensors, which detect touch, pressure, and the amount of force applied to the surface.
These sensors lie beneath a white velvet surface upon which are projected images of the artist’s body. The surface yearns for contact and touch. Its rule base is complex and subtle, impossible to decode. The effect is dis- turbing, erotic, sensual, and subjective.
The intent of the work is to subvert the visual/objective relationship between the object and the eye, between click and drag, between analy- sis and power, to create a relationship between participant and technolo- gy that transgresses rules of ownership and objectivity, and begs questions of experience, power, and being.
The piece and interface was designed by Thecla Schiphorst, researched and engineered by Infusion Systems, programmed by Ken Gregory and Grant Gregson, and constructed by Hanif jan Mohamed and Ewen McNeil.
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