2022

VR, haptic sensors, wearable devices, video

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Visual Artist & Art Direction: Xiyan Chen

Interaction Designer: Xiyan Chen, Sherry Yang

Architect: Sherry Yang, Yilei Guo

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Self or Others is an XR installation that allows players to experience virtual ‘self-touch’. Within the virtual environment, players interact with mirror avatars on a journey that blurs the boundaries between self and other.

 

Questioning the consistency of the possible tactile feedback of virtual objects and the sensations of the corresponding physical objects, sets of wearable devices were designed based on different mechanisms to generate the sense of touch which replaces the original tactile sensation brought to the body by the hand.

 

By speculating on the shifting tactile rules and systems, we are questioning what form will the touching bodies be like in the future? How the visual-tactile experience would affect people's perception of virtual entities and bodies? How to form the sense of body ownership, sense of identity and sense of agency in a world where the virtual and the physical are highly integrated?

 

This project aims to take the virtual self-touch research as a starting point, providing opportunities for the newborns of the 'new tactile era' to re-perceiving their virtual bodies, recreating a new language of touch, and re-shaping their overall self-consciousness.

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