HAPTIC DIARY

PORTO INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE ON MUSICAL GESTURE AS CREATIVE INTERFACE, CITAR - RESEARCH CENTRE FOR SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY OF THE ARTS, March 17-19 2016, pp. 79,80

Haptic Diary: Researching Gesture as a Multi-Sensory Haptic Feedback

Esthir Lemi, Stefania Serafin

ABSTRACT

Haptic Diary: The Sound of Water is an artistic project work-in-progress. As an approach and research in human perception, art and technology, this diary-project has the form and the functionalities of a haptic book that aims to engage haptics in an engaging process following necessities that amateur users wish for.

The first is the significance of pseudo-haptic in order for the amateur to feel engaged and follow the link of interaction. When the user presses a button she gets feedback information. In this sculpt-book and within its pages, feedback occurs mechanically, both digitally and analogue. Within the book there are materials that give a tactile feedback and some form of interaction with the aim to stimulate the user continue and connect all parts together creatively by following the pages. In this effect, the series of feedback encourages the users to absorb the information from their diverse range of senses and “read” the “ text” that is neither written nor narrated. Similar to poetry this book is a manual of the epicurean regard that “all senses are true”. The elements of the book are: vibration, buttons, audio samples, percussion, texture variety, poetry, fragrance, sculpt elements and colours.

The second is to connect classic rules of no-stage performance knowledge concerning interaction and failure. The problem with failure is that it is unpredictable, while in the artistic demonstrations and through the use of technology the wish is the most spontaneous interaction to be achieved. In case of a software bug a performance fails -unless the feature of failure is pre-programmed and periodical. The insecurity of a possible flaw is a main problem in engineering. The purpose of this artistic-(haptic)-object is the technological part to get emerged by the aesthetic e.g. the book will remain functional and give feedback even if it is damaged as a feature. Moreover the aim of the process is to connect this constructive procedure with reference to Adorno’s terminology to gesture and Nietzsche’s Hautlichkeit (epidermality, possesing a skin).