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Virtual touch : a study of the use and experience of touch in artistic, multimodal and computer-based environments

Stenslie, Ståle
Doctoral thesis, Peer reviewed
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URI
http://hdl.handle.net/11250/93049
Date
2011
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  • Doktoravhandlinger / Doctoral theses [63]
Original version
Stenslie, Ståle. (2010). Virtual touch: a study of the use and experience of touch in artistic, multimodal and computer-based environments. [Oslo]: Arkitektur- og designhøgskolen i Oslo.  
Abstract
The central focus of this thesis is the use and experience of touch in artistic,

multimodal and computer-based environments. The haptic experience of

touch is an area that has only received limited research-based interest. Touch

is too often seen as the effect, and not the cause of our everyday experiences.

The study aims to provide an improved knowledge of how touch functions

and how haptic storytelling can be used as an artistic medium.

This thesis is divided into seven parts. The introductory chapter presents

the structure of the study and the history leading up the formulation of

research questions and hypotheses. Further it contextualizes the research in a

broader context. The second chapter presents my bricolage of methodological

choices and puts them in relation to art, technology and aesthetics. Here the

thesis is presented as practice-based research focused on my artistic

experiment Erotogod. The third chapter investigates the foundations of touch

through a physiological and psychological approach. Chapter four presents an

alternative haptic history of Virtual Realities through the presentation and

discussion of several technological and artistic works that are computerbased.

In chapter five touch is approached from a theoretical point of view. It

develops a theory of touch based on phenomenology and shows how this

approach advances an embodied thinking. Chapter six presents practice-based

experiments of touch through the Erotogod installation. The last and seventh

part is the analysis and conclusion of my experiments.

The problems addressed concern how it feels to touch and be touched in

multimodal environments, or so called Virtual Realities. Firstly how haptic,

corporeal interaction influence the overall experience of a given interactive

human-to-computer system. Secondly it addresses the role of vibrotactile

stimulation within multimodal, computer-enabled environments. Another

problem addressed is examining the way touch can be used to construct

meaningful haptic content and experiences in the context of art.

The method of solving the problems has been developed through practicebased

research in the arts. The thesis examines and assesses the scope of the

research appropriate to art practice. This is done primarily through the

investigation and assessment of practical art experiments as a working method. Specifically the bodysuit of the practice-based experiment Erotogod

functions as a two-way tactile display, conveying vibrotactile feedback to the

body and interfacing the human to the computer through touch. Erotogod

portrays how touch appears in works of art, and how it affects the artworks.

Theoretically touch is investigated through a phenomenological approach

on the way the world of our experience is constituted for us. This

experimental approach centres on the phenomenon of perceptional

breakdown and how this reveals dimensions of touch. A phenomenology of

touch as it appears here, allows us to understand the interplay between

subjective, felt embodiment and the psychophysically-contextualized work of

art

The main results and applications of the study are firstly that haptic

technologies bridge the gap between the real (corporeal) and the virtual

(immaterial) world, supporting the assumption that the distinction between

the ‘virtual’ and the ‘real’ is not convincing in itself. Haptic stimuli in general

and vibrotactile stimuli in particular, can have the effect of making the virtual

appear more real. Another result is showing how haptic experiences add to

the user’s qualitative experience of a multimodal art installation.

Technologically the thesis shows how higher sensory resolution adds to the

sense of being immersed in a physically ‘real’ virtual world. Important for

future studies is the way my research indicates new possibilities of haptic

expressions that can form general expressions to be used in future forms of

haptic storytelling. Further the thesis presents a long-term documentation and

development of touch-based interactions.

New in this thesis and approach are the combinations of various theories

of touch, and in particular its application to works of art where touch appears

as a genuine artistic medium. It also contributes to the definition of new

practices of inquiry and knowledge-making.

Conclusions: This thesis contributes substantially to knowledgegeneration

about the multimodality of touch within the art field. I hope that it

also opens
Publisher
Oslo School of Architecture and Design
Series
CON-TEXT / Thesis;44

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