Just Noticeable Difference (JND)

Just Noticeable Difference (JND) is a sensory environment for one person at a time lying in total darkness. The installation is based on Gustav Fechner’s concept of the just noticeable difference: the ability to perceptually detect the smallest changes in sensory stimuli. During a set time period, visitors experience an extraordinarily wide range of visual, auditory and tactile sensations that challenge how we perceive the smallest degrees of change in sensory stimuli over different levels of intensities. Just Noticeable Difference explores the gaps in seeing, hearing and feeling, the fluctuation of noise and order, and the play between embodied sensation and sense-making.

Location
Muffathalle, Muffatwerk Munich, Germany June 2013
Lille 3000, Tri Postal de Fives Lille, France November 2012
Exhibition Emergencias, Art & Arquitecture Programme of Guimarães 2012 European Capital of Culture. Guimarães, Portugal June-September 2012
CTM.12 Exhibition Kunsterlhaus Bethanien Berlin, Germany February 2012
TransLife 2011 National Art Museum of China Beijing, China July-August 2011
Elektra 12 (2011) Usine C Montreal, Canada May 2011
Mois Multi 12 Recto Verso/Meduse Quebec City, Quebec, Canada
MetaMorf 2010 Biennale for Art and Technology Trondelag Senter for Samtidskunst Trondheim, Norway October-November 2010
TodaysArt 2010 The Hague, Netherlands September 21-22, 2010
ISEA 2010 PACT Zollverein Essen, Germany August 2010
EMPAC (Curtis R.Priem Experimental Media and Performing Arts Center) Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute Troy, New York February 2010 (World Premiere)
Material
MDF structure, Computer, 12 channel Russound amplifier,12 Clark Synthesis Vibrotactile Actuators, LEDs, Perspex, Custom hardware and software
Collaborators
Just Noticeable Difference (JND): An installation by Chris Salter in collaboration with Marije Baalman and Harry Smoak
Concept/Direction: Chris Salter
Sound Design: Marije Baalman/Chris Salter
Sensing/Programming: Marije Baalman
Light: Harry Smoak
Production Management/Artistic Assistance: Brett Bergmann and Matthieu Tremblay
Installation Construction: Jan Ohl (Holzwerkstatt, Berlin), Duncan Swain and Justine Chibuk (Montréal)
Technical Direction (Europe): Thomas Spier, Marije Baalman, Bram Giebels

Funded with support from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada (SSHRC) and the Conseil des arts et des lettres du Québec (CALQ).