Response
ITP Spring Show
May 2024
Real - Time Experience
Credits
Art Direction + Production + Fabrication + Graphic Design: Audrey Chou
Creative Technologist + Interaction + Budget Planning: Spencer Harris
Touch Designer + Fabrication: Iris Wu
About
Humans exist and work collaboratively. This is borne out not only by the entire history of our species, but also down to our anatomy, including how we respond to another’s presence physically. The idea of being “in sync” with another person has long existed in popular culture, but recent studies of neuroanatomy have demonstrated that this synchronization occurs in a tangible way - the rhythm of the brain’s neurons changes to mirror that of others sharing an experience or gaze.
Recent developments in technology, including texting, FaceTiming, and other “telepresence”-mediated forms of communication, have presented a challenge and an evolution to the way we communicate. This leads to a question: given how we have evolved, and how we communicate, what are we gaining - and what are we losing - from these new forms of tech?
Our piece Response aims to investigate the effect of new media on interpersonal connection by reframing an existing experiment through a new lens. Two participants are invited to sit, facing away from each other, and are then asked to stare at the other through a screen while their face is recorded and streamed on their partner’s stream. At the same time, code measuring the sine distance between their alpha brainwaves is being run, powered by data from 2 Muse EEG headsets. The stronger the synchrony between the participants, the more vibrantly visuals developed in TouchDesigner and projected around the two participants are displayed. The experience ends when the participants’ brains are over 80% in sync, and time is recorded.
Key Skills:
Production Planning, Art Direction, Digital and Physical Fabrication, Graphic and Interaction Design
Research source: Jason Snell, Suzanne Dikker
Text by: Spencer Harris
Special Thanks: Brett Peterson, Ean Herrera, Noa Kirschbaum
︎︎︎ Video Documentation
︎︎︎ Graphic Documentation