Sensorial Involvement and Space Encounter
We wear the skin; the skin clothes the senses.
We wear the space; we are involved, and space has us;
"Through body senses, one gains information about the body, which can lead to bodily experiences of various types” (Eilan et al. 1995)16. I believe our senses are the crucial bridge for conducting toward space. By touching, seeing, hearing, smelling, we provide the world with information about the states of our body. For example, "touch is said to process many types of properties including texture, temperature, solidity, humidity, contact, weight, pressure, force, vibration, and so on.”17 Lauren Constantin states that: "Our bodies are radiating data, constantly radiating data. Our bodies are radiating data loudly, continuously, honestly, and individually."18
However, “we use the body, but we rarely reflect upon it.”19 The body constantly, both consciously and unconsciously, spreads and delivers our data into the environment, but we normally do not pay much attention to this information. It is like the body always throws questions to us to give us the chance to rethink, while at the same time, it responds with answers to itself.
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A idea sketch,2019. Kinetic wearable sculpture is the receiver and when it receives the data from one another device, the 3D surface of clothes will move and rotate through the various data. One another device is the sender,which perceives the biodata of temperature, heartbeat, and motion then delivers to the sculpture installation. Meanwhile, it radiates the data to space and interacts with the changeable visual projection.
I am fanatic of how body information can create art. Our skin wears the sensorium. Through devices placed on the body, we can collect the bodies data and then visualize it. Therefore, I added these "MADtechers elements" into my artistic projects. I started making instruments that were more accessible and intimate with our bodies. One was a wearable device, the glove I made, which was installed with pressure and flex sensors and was covered by cables and circuits. When you bent your fingers or pressed (touched) something, the data was sent back to the monitoring system and influenced/ interacted with visual patterns. The graphic changed based on the different data that were sent from those wearing the sensor devices. Through the help of the external device, audiences can feel more engaged and can be shown how our senses turn into data by becoming visible. The glove device designed was a good starting point, because we use our hands a lot, such as touching to feel an object. Plus, most of the nerves of the upper limb gather inour hands. My glove helps the performing audience visualize all of the data that their fingers and hands are absorbing in seemingly everyday situations. We would normally not think about all of this data, but the “MADtechers elements” help us reflect on how our bodies’ unconsciously spread into our environments. We begin to understand that I know and feel the material through my hands. It is like "to experience one's body is to experience the body parts as one's own, as part of oneself.”20
Another try-out project that related to data was "Watching You.” (︎Check the links here). I used a Webcam to detect the audience's movements and existence within a space. When the audience approached the screen and camera, there were more interactions happening. The visual patterns would change into dense lines and particle effects if people move closer to the camera. On the other hand, the images would disappear as people exited. The existence of people in that particular environment were turned into numbers and graphic visualizations. The project evoked interesting questions for me. For example, how does the body encounter space? How does space record the track of the body?
16.The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy,” BodilyAwareness”,First published Tue Aug 9, 2011; substantive revision Wed Oct 7, 2015.https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/bodily-awareness/ 17.Ibid., 18.Lauren Constantini,” Wearable Tech Expands Human Potential”, TEDxMileHigh https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FESv2CgyJag 19.The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy,” BodilyAwareness”,First published Tue Aug 9, 2011; substantive revision Wed Oct 7, 2015.https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/bodily-awareness/20.Ibid.,
We wear the skin; the skin clothes the senses.
We wear the space; we are involved, and space has us;
"Through body senses, one gains information about the body, which can lead to bodily experiences of various types” (Eilan et al. 1995)16. I believe our senses are the crucial bridge for conducting toward space. By touching, seeing, hearing, smelling, we provide the world with information about the states of our body. For example, "touch is said to process many types of properties including texture, temperature, solidity, humidity, contact, weight, pressure, force, vibration, and so on.”17 Lauren Constantin states that: "Our bodies are radiating data, constantly radiating data. Our bodies are radiating data loudly, continuously, honestly, and individually."18
However, “we use the body, but we rarely reflect upon it.”19 The body constantly, both consciously and unconsciously, spreads and delivers our data into the environment, but we normally do not pay much attention to this information. It is like the body always throws questions to us to give us the chance to rethink, while at the same time, it responds with answers to itself.
A idea sketch,2019. Kinetic wearable sculpture is the receiver and when it receives the data from one another device, the 3D surface of clothes will move and rotate through the various data. One another device is the sender,which perceives the biodata of temperature, heartbeat, and motion then delivers to the sculpture installation. Meanwhile, it radiates the data to space and interacts with the changeable visual projection.
I am fanatic of how body information can create art. Our skin wears the sensorium. Through devices placed on the body, we can collect the bodies data and then visualize it. Therefore, I added these "MADtechers elements" into my artistic projects. I started making instruments that were more accessible and intimate with our bodies. One was a wearable device, the glove I made, which was installed with pressure and flex sensors and was covered by cables and circuits. When you bent your fingers or pressed (touched) something, the data was sent back to the monitoring system and influenced/ interacted with visual patterns. The graphic changed based on the different data that were sent from those wearing the sensor devices. Through the help of the external device, audiences can feel more engaged and can be shown how our senses turn into data by becoming visible. The glove device designed was a good starting point, because we use our hands a lot, such as touching to feel an object. Plus, most of the nerves of the upper limb gather inour hands. My glove helps the performing audience visualize all of the data that their fingers and hands are absorbing in seemingly everyday situations. We would normally not think about all of this data, but the “MADtechers elements” help us reflect on how our bodies’ unconsciously spread into our environments. We begin to understand that I know and feel the material through my hands. It is like "to experience one's body is to experience the body parts as one's own, as part of oneself.”20
Another try-out project that related to data was "Watching You.” (︎Check the links here). I used a Webcam to detect the audience's movements and existence within a space. When the audience approached the screen and camera, there were more interactions happening. The visual patterns would change into dense lines and particle effects if people move closer to the camera. On the other hand, the images would disappear as people exited. The existence of people in that particular environment were turned into numbers and graphic visualizations. The project evoked interesting questions for me. For example, how does the body encounter space? How does space record the track of the body?
16.The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy,” BodilyAwareness”,First published Tue Aug 9, 2011; substantive revision Wed Oct 7, 2015.https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/bodily-awareness/ 17.Ibid., 18.Lauren Constantini,” Wearable Tech Expands Human Potential”, TEDxMileHigh https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FESv2CgyJag 19.The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy,” BodilyAwareness”,First published Tue Aug 9, 2011; substantive revision Wed Oct 7, 2015.https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/bodily-awareness/20.Ibid.,