There is a long history of thinking about technology and media as extensions of the body. According to this idea, the hammer is an extension of our hand, the car an extension of our feet and the telescope an extension of our eyes. In this workshop we will focus on our senses and investigate the artistic potential of augmenting them. We will talk about different schools of thought about human perception, and fantasise about how it would be to have animal senses. We will talk about research that has been done into developing artificial eyes for blind people and will think about cyborgs. We will discuss artists who are interested in revealing things we can not normally perceive and we will wonder if it is even possible to understand things we have never perceived before. In the workshop we will develop small, wearable devices with the aim to change how we perceive. These devices can be optical, acoustical, mechanical, electronic, digital, conceptual, magical or other. For those interested in electronics, there will be the opportunity to build a simple haptic interface and investigate how this can be used in combination with an arduino and a sensor, in order for it to become a wearable extra sense.

This opening paragraph was uttered by artist Joost Rekveld at the start of the workshop: Sensory Augmentation and Obstruction. The workshop provided examples of attempts to understand non-human perspectives, as the sensory worlds of most animals are almost completely inaccessible to us. It considered research into the development of artificial eyes for blind people, cyborgs and the intimate relations between human beings and technological devices. The group examined projects by artists and designers who address, for example, the web of invisible relations within an urban environment and reveal things we cannot normally perceive.

A discussion was hosted considering whether it is possible to understand things humans have never perceived before. Utilising wearable devices, participants experimented with the perception of their surroundings. Taking inspiration from two early video works by Steina and Woody Vasulka (‘Telc’ and ‘Reminiscence’, both from 1974), participants translated the output of various types of sensors to real-time visuals. As a practical starting point Android phones in cardboard ‘virtual reality’ viewers were used, with the possibility of extending the interference with other senses and devices. Participants used their self-built devices during short field trips around Amsterdam, in which they were encouraged to be aware of one’s self-inflicted sensory modifications. The workshop ended with an informal public presentation. 

About Joost Rekveld

Rekveld is an artist in distribution at LI-MA, and part of the UNFOLD research team. His abstract films have been shown world-wide in a wide range of festivals and venues for experimental film, animation and expanded cinema. Amongst others the International Film Festival Rotterdam, Ann Arbor Film Festival, Tate Modern and Centre Georges Pompidou. He has realised several installations and was involved in many collaborative projects with composers, music ensembles, theatre companies, dance companies and artist’s labs. Rekveld has a long history of curating programmes about abstract animation, visual music and the interaction between art and science.