[DISTORTION]
[DISTORTION] was a wearable armour-style physical computing work, consisting of a a mask, shoulder piece and gauntlet. Using pulse & touch sensors, light displays, and voice modulation, the work conceals the wearer’s identity, but simultaneously reveals intimate details (pulse and physical connections). By design, certain elements of communication are made difficult. However, [DISTORTION] brings out other features of a user’s state which are impossible to see in normal corporeal interactions without technology. Light displays in the arm create bright flashes in response to the user’s physical touch and grip using the gauntlet. Lights in the mask blink to the rhythm of the user’s pulse.
[DISTORTION] was an expression of the way communication is altered through digital means, aimed to present the contradictions that digitally augmented interaction creates. It is widely accepted that digital communication does not honestly portray people as they are in real life. Yet many people feel more comfortable disclosing personal thoughts or ideas when operating with the anonymity that digital tools provide. [DISTORTION] was a question about the interpersonal environment technology has created, and whether its role has been to diminish or to further ‘real’ communication.
Created by Alexis Wspanialy and Kathryn Bower.
Featured in the 2019 York University Digital Media Exhibition at the Toronto Media Arts Centre.
Channel 16
Titled after the marine radio frequency, Channel 16 was an immersive audio-based narrative experience. Using ambisonics and projected visuals, the audience is put in the perspective of an unnamed protagonist: a resident from a small rural town searching for answers about the mysterious structure that has been broadcasting radio signals. Alone in an isolated cabin, the protagonist uses a radio to flip through local channels and attempts to catch snippets of secret, confidential information on the structure’s purpose, while a storm rages in the background. They hear strange, mangled voices and experience abrupt radio disruptions; possible hints that their investigative efforts are unwanted. While they flip radio channels, distorted video plays from the television in front of the protagonist, with increasingly bizarre and cryptic visuals. As the piece progresses, the intensity of the distortion and environmental sounds increase, leading right up to the ominous ending.
Created by Alexis Wspanialy and Kathryn Bower.
Featured in the 2019 York University Digital Media Exhibition at the Toronto Media Arts Centre.
Kathryn Bower 