Future Affair

Partly 'live' experiment, partly theoretical research.

This multimedia installation consists of two isolated hubs. One of the hubs contains a control panel sculpture, while the other hub houses the caressing machine: heated robotic silicone fingers that, once the consent button has been pushed, respond in accordance with the first hub’s interactive sculpture. Thus, it is the participants themselves who, upon entering these hubs, bring to life the defamiliarising sensory realm that is Future Affair. Their physical contact with the objects in each hub allows a thrilling abstracted communication to develop between participants. This multidisciplinary project brings together engineers, craftspeople and design specialists from TU Delft whose input, channelled through Dima’s creative vision, transforms the viewer from passive spectator to vital symbiont. This transformation refracts touch through a new prism, challenging the current trend of ever-growing interpersonal distance within society. Can art and technology combine to open an altered space for a new dimension of touch?