PhD | Embodied involvement in empathetic relations, in interactive media art

PhD-Candidate: Hermen Maat | Groningen Research Arts and Society Platform; University of Groningen (RUG) and the Hanze University (Hanze UAS) | supervisors: B. van Heusden & A. Coumans

Photo Credits: Kissing Data, Ars Electronica Linz 2018 ©lancel/maat

Today, intimate technologies are increasingly part of our daily lives and bodies. How can we create a new form of ‘communal intimacy’? This artistic research aims to create an artistic platform for dialogue in (semi-) public space, to evoke reflection on experience of intimacy and empathetic embodied mirror processes in technologically mediated relations. Although this has been the subject of sociological and neurological research for some time, less research has been done on the immediate experience of empathetic relations in technological environments. Immediate experience of empathy is a key prerequisite for intimate connections and social sustainable behaviour. Point of departure is Lancel/Maat’s interactive art practice with their ‘Artistic Social Labs’ as format to create new performative meeting rituals through touch. Since the Covid-19 outbreak touch seems to become almost criminalized. In this context new experiences of togetherness will be developed and researched. Simultaneously this artistic research offers new knowledge for the development and implementation of suitable design principles. Can we create new forms of togetherness, in merged realities of presence, touch and technology?

Groningen Research Arts and Society Platform; University of Groningen (RUG) and the Hanze University (Hanze UAS)| 2020-2024 | supervisors: B. van Heusden & A. Coumans