Ideas
Starting Point
In real-life presence the hypertrophy of the optical sense inhibits the perception of the haptic presence. Also, our surroundings tend to fade away in times of polarized societies and contactlessness.
In our project we want to convey proximity, presence, and communication beyond the means of exchanging information. Bidirectional human to human interaction through technology, a "social medium" where it does not matter who is on the other side. – Telepresence on two different (social?) places through a non-image-based system, communicating closeness via feeling and haptic.
Concepts to balance
Balancing accuracy, complexity (expenses, labor), recognizability, immersion vs conceptual and technical simplicity, transparency.
Technical
- telepresence with non-audiovisual senses (sensor / acteur)
- air presence through cloth with touch / fans, nozzles, mechanical
- warmth through thermometer / Peltier-Elements
- touch through fur through capacitive touch / static charge
- input and output of human interaction use the same medium
Related works
David Bowen - tele-present water[1]
Christoph Kilian - Tuchfühler / touching silk[2]
Aaron Sherwood - Firewall[3]
Rafael Lozano-Hemmer - Remote Pulse[4]
Daniel Rozen - Mirrors [5]
Concept 01 - "Windfang"
“Windfang” is an interactive art-installation in which telepresence is achieved through the interaction with cloth. At two locations a large piece of cloth is hanging from the ceiling. The viewer standing in front of the first piece of fabric can interact with it by pushing and pulling it, the movement of the fabric is then captured by an optical sensor and reproduced on the second cloth using multiple fans and vice versa. Therefore the presence of the viewer is transmitted to the other viewer through the movement of air. In real-life presence the hypertrophy of the optical sense inhibits the perception of the haptic presence that might be felt through sudden changes in air pressure or the slight breeze caused by the movement of a body This installation focusses on this presence, using cloth and air as the medium of transmitting this presence to spaces beyond its reach and establishing telepresence with the purpose of communicating closeness rather than mere information.
