Can a bio-responsive gen­er­a­tive art instal­la­tion foster inter­per­sonal syn­chro­niza­tion and connection?

JeL is a bio-responsive, immer­sive, inter­ac­tive, gen­er­a­tive art instal­la­tion designed to encour­age phys­i­o­log­i­cal syn­chro­niza­tion between the imm­er­sants. In this project, we will be explor­ing how novel forms of inter­ac­tion can be included in immer­sive tech­nol­ogy to foster the feel­ing of con­nec­tion between indi­vid­u­als inter­act­ing with the system. JeL will allow imm­er­sants to explore an under­wa­ter envi­ron­ment where their indi­vid­ual breath­ing is con­trol­ling the move­ment of a jel­ly­fish. When imm­ser­ants breath­ing pat­terns get syn­chro­nized, a glass-sponge inspired struc­ture will start to emerge rep­re­sent­ing the con­nec­tion formed between two par­tic­i­pants. The glass-sponge sculp­ture will be para­met­ri­cally gen­er­ated in response to the level of phys­i­o­log­i­cal syn­chro­niza­tion between par­tic­i­pants. This inter­ac­tion will allow imm­er­sants to prac­tice con­nect to their body and inter­nal state through a bio-responsive inter­ac­tion, to each other through syn­chro­niz­ing their breath­ing and to nature through con­trol­ling a jel­ly­fish and col­lab­o­ra­tively grow­ing a vir­tual glass-sponge reef.

30 sec short video:

Katerina’s pre­sen­ta­tion at DIS 2020: