Intimate Transactions: haptic feedback system

Full description

RESEARCH BACKGROUND
Interactive, multi-user games are largely engaged with via keyboards and a mouse. While we are now seeing devices such as the popular Wii consoles, in 2004, when the project was undertaken, forms of interface design that involved bodily movement were uncommon. This research project explored ways in which movement informed by dance practices and the like may enable a greater sense of intimacy in contexts of remote contact.

RESEARCH CONTRIBUTION
Intimate Transactions by Pia Ednie-Brown and Inger Mewburn formed part of the Intimate Transactions, Transmute Collective. It is a multi-user interactive installation that allowed two people in remote locations to interact simultaneously using bodily movement. This was augmented by corresponding visual, auditory and haptic/vibratory information. The project was groundbreaking in a media art context for the nature of its interface. It has been recognised internationally for its excellence and innovation within the genre of new media art.

RESEARCH SIGNIFICANCE
Intimate Transactions was awarded an Honorary mention in the 2005 Prix Ars Electronica Competition and has been shown in more than 20 locations around the world including Transfigure//Body Exhibition, Australian Innovation Festival, 2005, Melbourne and Brisbane; 'The National Review of Live Art/New Territories Festival, Glasgow; The Ars Electronica Festival, Linz, Austria and Artspace, Sydney and Performance Space, Sydney. The project has been reviewed extensively, such as in Artlink (vol 25:3), Realtime 72, and M/C Reviews (media-culture.org.au) as well as featuring in a book. The project was part of Pia Ednie-Brown's doctorate (2008), which was subsequently shortlisted for a RIBA President's Award for Research - Outstanding Thesis.