How To Explore Haptics Through the Artistic Process
We welcome as Guest Editor Laura A. Dima, Laura A Dima is a Romanian-born interdisciplinary artist who graduated from Gerrit Rietveld Academie in 2015 with a degree in Inter-Architecture. She is currently based in Amsterdam, where she creates multimedia installations that combine performance, technology, and academic research. Dima's works explore cultural norms surrounding intimacy, touch, and privacy, with notable pieces including "The Finger Rub Rug," a sculpture in the shape of a mattress with 1300 silicone replicas of her partner's fingers placed in an isolated white room and accompanied by a spatial soundtrack, and "Future Affair," an interactive installation that allows participants to give and receive affective touch through a caressing robot and a control panel sculpture.
Dima has been curated at various events, given guest lectures and workshops at the crossroads of art, technology, and design, and exhibited in public and semi-public spaces. Some of these events include Dutch Design Week (Eindhoven), University of Technology Delft (TU Delft), University of Twente (UT), EDRi (European Digital Rights organisation Bruxelles), Sandberg Institute (Amsterdam), OPA (Ontwerp Platform Arnhem), Niet Normaal INT (Utrecht), ArtEZ (Arnhem), and CanHaptics (Canada).
In addition to her artistic practice, Dima directs a multidisciplinary team that includes engineers, craftspeople, and design specialists, all of whom contribute to the realisation of her creative vision. Her team is actively engaged in academic research and has published research papers based on their projects, including two papers for WorldHaptics Conference 2021 in Vancouver, and has presented their work during the EuroHaptics 2022 conference hosted by the University of Technology in Hamburg. You can find her work at lauraadima.com
How I Embarked on the Artistic Journey of Haptics
My fascination with touch and socially mediated interactions led me to delve into haptic technology—an ever-evolving field in design and engineering that, in my opinion, remains underrepresented in the world of fine arts. My aspiration is to bridge this gap and present innovative ways of experiencing art. Working with haptics came naturally to me; it was not something I actively sought, but it was the perfect medium through which I could effectively convey my message. However, I always remembered that haptics alone are not enough to create impactful work. The foundation of any artwork or device lies in a well-thought-out concept, with the technical implementation following suit. This was confirmed to me while attending haptics events. While I was impressed by the technological advancements showcased, I often missed a sense of purpose and practical application that made me feel somewhat alienated within the field. At the same time, I found myself on the other side of the spectrum—I knew precisely what I wanted to achieve with haptics and technology but lacked the technical expertise to bring my ideas to life. And this is how my collaborations with various experts from academia and research started.
Touch and Art:
Touch and art may not commonly be associated, and neither are engineering and art, but these are precisely the topics that fuel my passion when creating my pieces. My interest in touch was sparked by a profound moment when I watched a video of visually-impaired children experiencing classical marble sculptures in a tactile museum in Greece. Their embodied encounter with the cold and chiselled torsos created a deeply sensuous experience that seemed absent in much of contemporary art. This sparked my curiosity to explore the effects of physical contact with different materials and structures at a sensory level. My research then delved into interpersonal connections, taboos, and emotional transferability through lifeless material. I experimented with (digital or simulated) touch, using the act of touch as a catalyst for introspection and transformation. Through my art, I aim to prompt audiences to reconsider touch as a forgotten aspect of art and a powerful means of communication, which has not been adequately considered as a valid sense for aesthetic experience compared, for example, to audio-visual input.
Examples of Artworks:
Two of my projects, "The Finger Rub Rug" and "Future Affair," are prime examples of how my ideas manifested into artworks. "The Finger Rub Rug" is a multimedia installation featuring a sculpture made of 1300 silicone fingers moulded after my partner's fingers, placed in an isolated white room. Visitors were invited to go inside and interact with the fingers - touch, walk, or lay on them. Alone, inside the installation, they experienced an undistracted attunement to the silicone replicas. The rug emitted vibrations that pulsated in rhythm with a heartbeat, slightly slower than the human average, and many participants felt an extra heartbeat in their chests, unconsciously calming them down. "Future Affair," developed during the lockdown, deals with haptic frameworks such as mediated social touch, remote touch, and research on the C-Tactile Afferents, which are low-threshold unmyelinated afferent nerve fibers that respond most vigorously to slow stroking touch. It is an interactive installation with two isolated hubs: one contains a ceramic control panel sculpture, and the other hosts a 'caressing machine' with three heated robotic silicone fingers. The elements are digitally connected, and participants can give and receive affective touch remotely, exploring whether these artificial elements are able to trigger the same hormonal responses akin to those experienced through human touch.
In my "Consent Pods" I explore the ethics and mechanisms of consent in haptic technology and beyond. The artwork involves once again active participation from two participants simultaneously, who must work together to establish and maintain contact by holding the devices. Consent is essential in this interactive installation, and participants can halt consent if they wish. The first prototype requires the participant to switch a button on one device to activate the other device, indicating ‘consent’ to the other participant. When consent is given and the pod is being touched, the colour gets brighter and warmer, turning from blue to pink with prolonged touch. The interaction triggers a steady heartbeat, and bodily heat and simulates a breathing pattern. Crucially, the interlocutor has the power to halt consent, an action that turns the pod red and sounds a loud alarm. The 'no consent' alarm will be heard throughout the room, drawing the attention of passers-by. The heartbeat is played through a small transducer, a haptic speaker that can only be felt by the person touching the pod, creating an intimate context between and user and the object. This project raises questions about consent in an increasingly technologically mediated world and aims to develop more nuanced methods of giving consent through various sensorial channels. And that is what I am currently exploring when creating an improved version of this piece.
In the future, I envision developing installations and spaces where people can explore shifting phases of mediated intimacy, building on the framework of "Future Affair." The artworks will serve as intermediaries in newly reformulated relationships, offering new perspectives on privacy, consent, intimacy, and trust. My goal is to evoke emotional responses that typically occur between people without the interference of a medium.
My Journey with Haptics:
Of course, my artistic journey with haptics hasn't been all smooth. I often find myself investing more time than other artists in figuring things out, and sometimes I don’t even manage to find a solution. Even though I have a clear vision of what I want to achieve, sometimes I encounter various challenges along the way. But I guess technicalities are something even haptic experts can relate to. Amidst all the difficulties, there's so much fun in creating with haptics—especially when I'm figuring out how to translate an experience into tangible materials powered by technology. One memorable instance was when I wanted to replicate the sensation of touching someone's humming neck in a sculpture. I was on a mission to find that specific vibrating frequency, and it was quite a funny experiment! While touching one’s neck while humming, we compared various vibrational motors in the studio. We tried different ways of attaching them to ceramics which by the way, really changes the way the vibration is experienced until we finally and intuitively achieved that desired effect. We did not use any measurements or try to find out the exact frequency or explain why it felt right. And this is mostly how I work with these tools—in a very intuitive manner until I get the desired results.
Speaking of ceramics, I've had quite the adventure in making their surfaces conductive so I can incorporate touch buttons on the surface of the sculptures. After numerous explorations with glazes and several unsuccessful firings, we came up with a rather simple and straightforward solution—little holes through which we could feed wires after the firing. Later I could cover that area with metal leaf which expanded the conductive area. Although this is quite a good solution, I'm sure at some point I will try creating a conductive glaze for ceramics - if that doesn’t exist by then.
For me, haptics is not just about creating vibrations or interfaces; it's about crafting the perfect ingredients for the exact experience I want to offer my visitors. It's a fascinating journey of trial and error, where a vibrational motor may be the ideal solution in one case, but in another, it might not be quite the right solution. When designing the interaction for the consent mechanism on "Future Affair,” my initial attempt was using a rather powerful vibrational motor for the “no consent feedback,” but that didn't deliver the desired effect even when set at its most aggressive vibration. I even mounted the sculpture on springs to add flexibility and mobility, but even then, it was a disappointment. In the end, we settled on using a servo motor, which gave the sculpture more effective feedback by pushing it along with a specific sound caused by the metal springs, a squeaky sound that could be interpreted as a short "ah aah" – or a "no no.” The sculpture moved away from your fingers when you attempted to touch it without consent, as in a force feedback mechanism, and then it turned off completely until consent was given again.
Temperature has also played a big role in my work and I found myself including heating wires in most of my pipes. Especially in the "Future Affair" installation's caressing machine, when I carefully studied the right temperature for the robotic silicone fingers, aiming to strike the balance between not feeling like cold, lifeless silicone and not being overly warm as if something was broken or wires are heating up. Eventually, we settled on around 33 degrees as the right temperature. The moment when people first made contact with the bodily warm fingers was priceless—they were amazed and a bit confused by how it felt and couldn’t quite put the pieces together because of the sharp contrast between the machine, which looks like a clumsy 3D printer, and the realistic-looking silicone fingers touching on the uncanny valley, and the soft, gentle warm touch they provided.
Conclusion:
Despite the challenges, these little moments of joy and discovery make the journey all the more rewarding. As an artist, I'm constantly pushing boundaries and exploring new possibilities in haptics. It's a world full of surprises, and I can't wait to see where it takes me next. My journey into the world of haptic art has been a profoundly transformative experience, not only because of the lessons I learned but also because of the people I met. It has allowed me to explore the intersections of the human body, artwork, and technology, all while striving to foster connections between individuals regardless of their backgrounds and education. I am committed to doing research with the goal of refining interactive art that celebrates touch as a significant aspect of human expression and communication, and through my work, I hope to inspire a deeper appreciation for haptics in the realm of art and beyond.
