Other/Self

Other/Self is a performative installation exploring the tension between a vision of the self as “quantified” versus a “qualified” self that emerges through the embodied and sensorial presence of the other. The installation consists of an immersive sound, light and haptic experience directly modulated by one of our most intimate and felt bodily experiences: our heartbeat. Two visitors at a time enter a brightly lit enclosed room and put on a set of wearable sensors and actuators. Sitting side by side but facing in opposite directions, the visitors are suddenly plunged into total darkness. Very gradually, each individual begins to barely feel the heartbeat of the other, transferred and transformed into various luminous, acoustic and haptic patterns at varying levels of intensity. As the visitors’ breathing and heartbeats come into synchrony, the sensorial and corporeal encounter begins to change. Rapid, abrupt changes of light, sound and vibration build to an uncanny climax in which the border between self and other, self and environment dissolves.

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Location
STRP Biennial 2017
Eindhoven, Netherlands, March 2017
Material
MDF Box; Pulse sensors; Computers; Custom designed wearables; DMX interface; 2 Clay Paky Stormy LED strobes; Aura Vibrotactile Actuators; Speakers
Collaborators
Conception and Direction: Luis Rodil-Fernández, Chris Salter and TeZ
Sensing/Electronics/Wearables: Joseph Plazak, Luis Rodil-Fernández, Jelle Reith, TeZ
Media Control Software: Sofian Audry and Jeronimo Barbosa
Production Assistance: Garrett Lockhart
Co-Production: BALTAN, STRP and xmodal/Montreal

With the support of the Fonds de recherche du Québec – Société et culture (FRQSC), Speculative Life Cluster/Milieux Institute for Arts, Culture and Technology and The Center for Sensory Studies (Concordia University), BALTAN laboratories and STRP