Collaboration with Sunghoon Song, Shaye Thiel, Katie Weitzmann. Special thanks to breathwork practitioner: Aimée Buchler.
RESEARCH TOPIC
The project aims to investigate how the relationship between technology and haptic response can distract humanity from living in the present moment?
Nomophobia is “A psychological condition when people have a fear of being detached from mobile phone connectivity.”
URGNECY
“In 2000, Microsoft Canada reported that the average human had an attention span of twelve seconds; by 2013 that number had fallen to eight seconds. (According to Microsoft, a goldfish, by comparison, has an average attention span of nine seconds.) “Human attention is dwindling,” the report declared. Seventy-seven percent of eighteen- to twenty-four-year-olds claimed that they reached for their phones before doing anything else when nothing is happening”― Adam Alter, Irresistible: The Rise of Addictive Technology and the Business of Keeping Us Hooked. In today’s climate, the access to media is constant and has individuals questioning if they can go over an hour without their device. Even when one is occupied with other tasks, we are constantly connected to others through our mobile devices. A new term has been developed,
“Ringxiety”, which refers to the condition of hearing the vibration from a device, even when it is not. “Ringxiety” can also refer to “phantom vibration” (PV) which is similar to the sensations felt by individuals after the amputation of a body part. We feel that it is critical to raise awareness to the lack of Grounding that mobile devices have positioned humanity in, as well as, commenting on the unknown attachment one has with their device. In Chinese Buddhism, it is believed that being
Grounded increases happiness and self-functioning while facilitating an altering of perspective.
INTENTION
Nomophobia aims to bring awareness to the potentially toxic and addictive relationship between humanity and technology through contradicting interventions that mimic the experience one has with their mobile device while moving through everyday.
Through collaboration between haptic technology and film, the audience will experience subtle haptic responses beneath their feet while actively engaging in a ten-minute film in front of them. The audience will be asked to store their devices prior to entering the exhibition space and will be unaware of the haptic floor mats. The floor will be equipped with floor mats that mimic the sensation of a mobile device and will be randomly activated throughout the film.
The film will poetically respond to the relationship between the human body and the notion of distraction within everyday life. The audience will have the opportunity to insert themselves into the work by interrupting the projected film.
TECHNOLOGY
Grayscale
A proven tool to reduce technology addiction and make the visible more visible.
Film
Intended to ground the participant and encourage them to engage with the mundane and typically overlooked elements of the everyday, while traveling. Visuals scroll within 8-10 seconds, replicating the human attention span while leaving the participant on cliffhangers to imitate the Zeigarnik Effect, a theory that humans remember interrupted tasks in more detail.
Haptic Feedback
Intended to disorient the participant by questioning if it is their phone
Collective viewing
Mimic the setting of public transportation, sitting close together on a single platform.
Smell
Peppermint is proven to increase concentration and alertness.
REFERENCES
ACADEMIC:
The Body Keeps the Score (2014) - Bessel van der Kolk
Self-Determination Theory (2017) - Richard M. Ryan
Irresistible: The Rise of Addictive Technology and the Business of Keeping Us Hooked (2017) - Adam Atler
Huberman Labs- binaural beat research
Sandhya Basu & Bidisha Banerjee - binaural beat research
Christine Beauchene, Nicole Abaid, Rosalyn Moran, Rachel A Diana, Alexander Leonessa- binaural beat research
Miguel Garcia-Argibay, Miguel A Santed, José M Reales- binaural beat research
CREATIVE:
The Marina Abramovic Method
Carsten Holler: Lisbon Dots
Douglas Gordon
After Yang
Radical Slowness, Anna May Kirk and Tai Mitsuji
Dean Cross: The First Second, 2019
John Cage, inc. Silence: Lectures and Writings
Luc Ferrari, inc. Almost Nothing with Luc Ferrari: Interviews
