In this collaborative project, I worked with a team of designers and creative technologists to produce an installation for Dutch Design Week (DDW). The installation, named Feel The Vibe, explores the aesthetic properties and potential wellbeing benefits of haptics.
Haptics are integral to many of our daily experiences with technology, but rarely take centre stage. I was challenged to think outside the audiovisual box and develop a rich palette of haptic interactions.
The installation required a complex physical and digital system of tactile speakers, supporting structures, and control software. I designed and built custom scripts to connect these elements seamlessly.
As a public-facing installation at Northern Europe's largest design festival, Feel The Vibe needed a clear and compelling message. I produced written copy and presented the project to visitors throughout DDW.
Feel The Vibe aimed to reframe concepts such as vibrations, energy and resonance, which are often disregarded as pseudoscience, as both scientifically and experientially meaningful phenomena.
The installation concept draws upon fundamental physics and makes it tangible through an immersive, personalised haptic experience. A woven hammock structure envelops visitors and propagates vibrations from tactile speakers attached to a supporting frame. The vibrations are composed of multiple distinct frequencies, which can be altered and mixed by visitors with a purpose-built app connected to the motors' control software.
Visitors were encouraged to find aesthetically pleasing and interesting combinations, reflect on the richness of haptic experience, and speculate on possible applications in a wellbeing context.
I designed and built control software for the tactile speakers using SuperCollider and Processing.
I created a connected app using TouchOSC to enable visitors to compose unique haptic effects in real-time.
I communicated the project's vision to visitors through written copy and live presentations at Dutch Design Week.
Snapshots from throughout the design process, including the installation in action at DDW.
