Garth asked a great question today, in relation to the question of our respective desires for the project: not sure exactly what he said – but it was something like – ‘How do we (as interaction designers) get to experience through touch?’

How do we get to experience through the touch we facilitate as makers in responsive electronic art systems? This translated into pragmatic questions around how do we, as makers of senor-based works, get at the processes happening during a tactile,intimate encounter, such as provided during a somatic bodywork session (i.e. the Feldenkrais hands-on work known as Functional Integration). Many of us are hoping that Catherine and Maggie will be able to help shine some light on this – one way or another.

For me this was one of the core motivations behind the development of the TTTB concept in 2006 – so important because its still so relatively unknown.

So what then of the pragmatics? Some areas that strike me as good starting points would be to compile an inventory of fundamental structures and life skills developed during infancy and early childhood: those basic reflexes and motor skills that underpin our ability to sense and act in the world – orienting our selves to the world/self, finding stability, responding to novelty/threat etc. My first experience of Feldenkrais Functional Integration started with a lesson on falling: I was asked to explore ways of falling, and see if I could find a way of falling that felt easy, soft and enjoyable – which seemed odd at first – since I had come because of a problem I was having with abdominal tension. What surprised me was how such a simple process – falling repeatedly – could reverberate so intensely at a much more personal level.

Its this capacity for body-focussed experiences to elicit intense personal realizations that is compelling me towards research into this area of touch and movement sensation

we started talking about mouths and wearables at some point today. and it brought to mind: SWAMP – aka. studies of work atmospheres and mass production – www.swamp.nu

these guys (doug easterly and matt kenyon) whom i met recently when we presented our work at ISEA in the same session work with a range of traumatising performative art experiences.

i have recollections of asking about traumatising art experiences today at some point. i think that there can be a focus on rewarding art experiences – although, reflecting on the works in the mirror states exhibition now, i realise that many of these works aren’t exactly “fun” and “inviting”. david rokeby’s VNS growls and hisses as you move into the active space – and one woman who walked there got a fright the minute this occurred. mari velonaki’s bird fish is a heart-wrenching story of unrequited love between two wheelchairs that litter handwritten notes across the floor. and alex davies’ dislocation had a teenage girl let out a scream this afternoon in the space when one of the virtual bodies came a bit too close to her. none of these works are warm and fuzzy and make me want to curl up next to them.

but i do want to spend time with them (the more distressing and challenging works), much more so than sickly sweet cute japanese animated girls.

i think i’m really interested in developing challenging art pieces that push people into zones of discomfort and risk bringing about a potentially negative experience and response. but that doesn’t have to be the case. of course just because the content/concept of the work is hard to cope with doesn’t mean that the response is negative. here i’m thinking about my own response to the gusen sound walk (audiowalk.gusen.org) i undertook at ars electronica last year. the sonic material was heartwrenching – but it did change my world. i still think about this work every few weeks.

so getting back to my point – we were talking about interactive works using the mouth today, and it reminded me of the SWAMP guys who have developed a work – called the Consumer Index – with a barcode scanner placed in their mouth and wires that run through a hole pierced in matt’s cheek (thats dedication to your art…). then he wanders through wallmart scanning barcodes with an open mouth.

i’m almost too exhausted to communicate my desires – and so what comes out now are the very basics…

so for starters, i desire:

an interface that doesn’t attach my fingers to a keyboard and lock the rest of my body into some frozen form. not just an interface for “performing sound” but an interface for being and working in the world, that takes into account my love for (and of) technology and doesn’t just require me to step away from the computer and do some stretching and yoga classes.  i’m looking for a way of real integration between physicality and technology on a day to day level. one that doesn’t have me tangled up in cords, hunting out power points in strange locations in strange buildings all around the world or have me constantly hunched over a laptop in a bed somewhere. i want tools that are as easy to work with as when i’m lying in a bed reading a book or scribbling a few notes on a scrap of paper. this is what i want.

* i also desire collaboration with the other geeky techs in the room  – that’d be you three boys (george, garth, jonathan) – who have experience with body sensing systems. part of this is that i want to work on phase 2 of the backpack and while the basic proximity sensing that i’m using at the moment seems to give a real and quite in-depth experience to the users/audience – i’ve always had the intent to have “people sensing” and “anxiety sensing” as part of the system. these were my initial ideas and of course budget/time has prevented this part from happening so far…

Notes from a discussion facilitated by Lizzie 2008 08 16

1) RESONANCE - something that has been raised that resonated especially with me was the concept of ‘People as mirrors’.
The idea of situations where people become the mirrors, instead of machines mirroring people: the process of organizing oneself-body in relation to a task (mirroring) – and how this connects in some way to the work Jonathan is doing with task oriented interactions for physiotherapy – finding out ons position/shape in relation to another – then connections between mirroring and empathizing – how this plays out in social interactions between people.

2) DESIRE - a desire (my desire), for a skill, method, experience etc. that I want to engage with over the coming 12 months.

To facilitate self-discovery and reflection in audiences through the use of touch (touching and being touched) – proximal modalities. To evolve a practice that engages people (and me as both maker and audience) through dialogues involving sensations of touch, movement, and communications (spoken, gestural expressions, graphic communications etc).

3) AN OFFERING – where I can make a contribution
In relation to my own practice as an artist-researcher – bio-sensing – research and development strategies for application in creative arts contexts – working with body experience in exhibition settings, then

Important discoveries regarding:

1. The need for calibrated systems, (how you come to know the material/dancer you are working with – and how this knowledge is translated into the artwork.
2. The limits of what can be achieved in relation to measurement and translation of things like ‘emotions’ i.e. the machine cant tell what you are thinking.

In relation to me as the producer – supporting research and collaborations within the ensemble.

4) Some reflections on the discussion around resonances, desires and offerings:
Communicating out from my own body - Catherine Truman.

This is something I’ve been wondering about in my own process – inside the process of translating sensor data into sounds and visual displays – having a strong sense of physical identification with the sounds I’m manipulating during that mapping process – getting lost in particular sounds, and the pleasure of that immersion/envelopment. When this happens, I’m reminded of the pleasure and deep satisfaction that this practice brings to me as an artist, but then also a sense of frustrations that I’ve not been able to implement this level of unity and fluidity in the artworks to the extent that I want.

This brings me back to the offering – what I now know to be important, only by way of realizing mistakes I’ve made so far: the need for artists to know the sensor data as a material – in the same way as a traditional artist/craftsperson knows their material – as points of contact between me, the work and the participant.

Another analogy that comes to mind is that of a costume maker, making costumes for a dance performance – thinking about the costume as a prosthesis, or talisman/amplifier, that amplifies and/or transforms certain qualities of action/presence. In order to for this costume to work – it has to embrace the dancer’s body in one way or another. Knowledge of the data – is knowledge of the form we are making – that is – knowing the way the participants actions – and the machines subsequent reading of these actions by way of various sensor data variables – are bound to a certain range of possibilities (i.e. my heart wont ever beat at 500 beats per minute, my will bend mostly in one direction only).

Without an understanding of this bounded form – the quality and extent of this contact becomes highly tenuous – this is the problem I’ve been struggling with for the past four years now – and its at the top of my list for the next 12 months, in addition to Thinking Through The Body.

I would be quite interested to explore the use of thermal imaging as one way of gathering somatic responses in a public installation.

Possible sources for such technologies include:

1. Infratech cameras for medicine
2. Wikipedia on Thermography

cheers,  garth

photo: lian loke

Three foci:

1. Resonances: Experience
2. Desires:  how do we get at physical experience?  How is experience represented in physiology?
3. Offerings:  An experience of Sonic Gesture; knowledge about sensing systems and the qualities and limitations of the resulting data.

I am very interested in delving deeper into the nuance of sensed experience.  To understand better how I can get data from the body that reflects small nuances in changes of body state (felt experience) without being invasive.  Thinking Through the Body represents un-voiced engagements – qualities of interaction that are internal, complex, multifaceted and dynamic. The sensate body…. the sensitised body…. how can we measure the changes in these somatic states.

For my own sake I place here a definition of Somatic  (see wikipedia.org)

The somatic nervous system is the part of the peripheral nervous system associated with the voluntary control of body movements through the action of skeletal muscles, and with reception of external stimuli, which helps keep the body in touch with its surroundings (e.g., touch, hearing, and sight).

The system includes all the neurons connected with muscles, skin and sense organs. The somatic nervous system consists of efferent nerves responsible for sending brain signals for muscle contraction.

In discussion this afternoon, Maggie spoke of hearing the body  – hearing changes.. I understood this to be a reflection of a sensed energetic state – a change in the energy flow in the limb, a realighnment …. this is the kind of interaction I would like to get closer to.

Here is a definition of the autonomic nervous system (see wikipedia.org) :

The autonomic nervous system (ANS) (or visceral nervous system) is the part of the peripheral nervous system that acts as a control system, maintaining homeostasis in the body. These activities are generally performed without conscious control or sensation. The ANS affects heart rate, digestion, respiration rate, salivation, perspiration, diameter of the pupils, micturition (urination), and sexual arousal. Whereas most of its actions are involuntary, some, such as breathing, work in tandem with the conscious mind. Its main components are its sensory system, motor system (comprised of the parasympathetic nervous system and sympathetic nervous system), and the enteric nervous system.

One option then is to look for changes in involuntary/un-concious control (ie. heart rate, digestion, respiration rate, salivation, perspiration, diameter of the pupils)as a reflection of prescribed voluntary interactions – ie. to make the sensing a biproduct of the act of engagement rather than the objective – this may assist in subjugating the technological layer so that it is not seen as thepoint of engagement, the first point of contact that needs to be navigated through in order to experience the art work.

cheers, garth

Thought this report on BioFeedback apparel might be of interest. Interfaces for biological sensing in art.

The above video interview with Sean Montgomery was recorded at the recent Last HOPE conference where Mr. Montgomery exhibited his line of ‘Vital Threads’ projects.

I have also been using some of the Infusion Systems wireless biosensing systems on another performance project with Hellen Sky.

I thought this links might be of interest: Here is a new MoCAP system that does not use markers on the body – this seems to me to be a revolution in unencumbered motion capture. 

I saw this system at the Organic Motion HQ in NYC last year and was very impressed at the responsiveness  and speed with which it computer the body form within it.Here are some video examples of it in action  Organic Motion data samples and also some discussion of the  biomechanical motion analysis interface 

Optitrack make a cost effective MoCAP system that seems to be reliable and robust, and is portable so makes more sense than say a VICON system for use with dancers in a theatre and for touring a show.

MoCAP example using Optitrack – thought this might be of interest in thinking about what is missing given our Feldenkrais work. 

I’m journeying to a mystery destination with 9 other travellers. None of us speak the same language. What we share is elusive. What’s palpable is willingness to journey together, embrace each other’s origins, knowledge, questions. Our shared charter is to collaborate, bring material from our practices, and maybe unravel from all that’s woven together new possibility. We have exchanged through explorations of Feldenkrais lessons, Laban notation processes, found out about each other’s practices. What stands out for me is how important it is in the midst of all of this to become utterly lost, to fall out of language in the middle of trying to communicate. This is freefall away from the familiar, toward opening to the influence of other views, without losing myself. Fantastic. Maybe another way of thinking is possible. Right now I have no idea what Thinking through the Body is! But I can acknowledge that I danced with an animated wheelchair today! And, I looked upward toward myself projected on the ceiling with my heartbeat animated in sound and visual moving patterns, and felt wonder for some seconds before my analytical mind queried the technology. I am becoming reoriented toward technology, something personal is emerging. I could not have expected this.

I must acknowledge traveller #9, Lucas, who is working “outside” of our interactions, the observing agent (sound & camera), as a major influence on what goes on!